Economics as America’s Sovereign Religion: Is it Time for a Reformation?
SEPTEMBER
22, 2017 BY TIM SUTTLE
The most powerful religion in the Western world is no
longer Christianity. It is economics.
It can
actually be quite instructive to consider economics not as a science or
sociology but as a religion, complete with doctrines, priests, and constant
references to faith. So says John Rapley in his essay from The Guardian last
July.
“Think about it. Economics offers a comprehensive
doctrine with a moral code promising adherents salvation in this world; an
ideology so compelling that the faithful remake whole societies to conform to
its demands. It has its gnostics, mystics and magicians who conjure money out
of thin air, using spells such as “derivative” or “structured investment
vehicle” … it has its prophets, reformists, moralists and above all, its
high priests who uphold orthodoxy in the face of heresy.”
If the
economy is the new religion of the masses, then economists are its priestly
class replete with their own denominational squabbles and even scandals.
The economists are like priests,
“…giving us guidance on how
to reach a promised land of material abundance and endless contentment. For a
long time, they seemed to deliver on that promise, succeeding in a way few
other religions had ever done, our incomes rising thousands of times over and
delivering a cornucopia bursting with new inventions, cures and delights.”
Economics
dominates modern ethical discourse. Profitability now equates with ethical
virtue. The bottom line ethical question for Western society–the question
behind all of our other questions–is no longer “what is true?” or “what is
good?” and certainly not “what is beautiful?” The bottom line ethical question
of our day is “what is profitable?”
Read more at
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/paperbacktheology/2017/09/economics-americas-sovereign-religion-time-reformation.html#pFg6SC4xrkb1m3xr.99
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