Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Money and greed aren't faith

Mike at Born at the Crest of the Wave posted a very thought provoking piece today:
Babies die because their parents are poor.
The summary comment was - You cannot base public policy on "faith." It's time we all grow up.
You cannot base public policy on "faith."
I'm inclined to think the faith aspect is merely a cover for the money factor. Any reasonable offshoot of Christian/Judaic faith or Islam for that matter, puts caring first.

It's time we all grow up.
That is the real point. The monetarist policies which are the backbone of the ‘faith’ are little more than a society trapped in pre-adolescent yearnings for security.
In adults it becomes pure grasping greed, which has translated itself into dominant social institutions like government and religion.

Ironically, perhaps, this greed is the antithesis of faith, which would allow us to let go of the insecurity and look to the real needs of society.

There is a built in survival mechanism for, essentially, helpless young humans. It is effectively based on a ‘me first’ demand.

But society is not growing out of that infantile phase, and instead the young, who are still helpless, are left behind. It is a sick commentary, but it isn’t universal.


I am still reeling from the most incredibly display of selfless community coming out of the Tasmanian mine rescue. The people of the small town of Beaconsfield Tasmania has shown a very real example of how this world can really work properly.
See: Mine Rescue – amazing scenes Miners free at last below.
Not that those involved were universally wonderful.
A few, but just a few, reporters made arses of themselves.
But on the whole the two weeks of drama showed up a truly remarkable effort of co-operation and unabashed focus on what rally mattered, the lives of two men trapped nearly one kilometer underground.
Even the local Uniting Church minister showed her humanity along with her religion.
Working in a tough mining town she can cuss with the best of them, but she never forgot once that she was working as an instrument of her ‘God’. That is faith!
The picture is of one of the miners just hours after rescue attending the funeral of fellow miner, Larry Knight (inset) who died in the mine collapse.

2 comments:

mikevotes said...

I might even broaden your argument a little to say that it typifies the particular brand of "capitalism" that is practiced in the US.

The philosphy of the current version was developed under the rubric of social darwinism in the age of the US robber barons. It cleverly puts all responsibility for failure on the "weakest," removing that responsibility from the more fortunate. It was a philosophical way to rid capitalists of the "white man's burden."

Mike

Cartledge said...

Thanks Mike. I guess politicians understand the mechanism of blaming the weakest. It works everytime.