$700,000,000,000
Seven Hundred BILLION Dollars. …to purchase (bailout)the bad debts of mortgage investments….A TRILLION DOLLARS when the bailouts of FREDDIE and FANNIE are included.. A TRILLION DOLLARS
I’m not qualified to speak on the effects of such an incredible financial maneuver, perhaps it may indeed stave off a worldwide financial crisis, or it may not.
Where have we been as the Christian church in having any input into this type of situation?
Perhaps we’ve been right in the middle of it…the problem that is.
While many of us have been scrambling to influence any number of important issues, where were we when it came to issues about the economy?
The fact is, the evangelical church (whatever that is) is smack dab in the center of the problem when it comes to allowing greed to run rampant. The conservative call to allow free markets, few regulations, freedom from taxation, the opportunity for creative financial instruments, the separation of our medium of exchange into a commodity..has been largely supported by evangelical Christians along with the ideological package of conservatism. It sounds good…freedom, personal responsibility, opportunity…but as the infomercial so loudly declares…..BUT WAIT!
While conservative Christians have supported noble causes, they have also looked the other way when it came to what may be some of the most critical economic news of the past several generations. What has caused this “melt-down” credit crisis? Greed. The pursuit of the almighty dollar without responsibility….the ability to create and sell loans to others at a profit (note–there is no new wealth produced from these transactions, just a transfer) and to issue mortgages to those who, with any common sense, could not afford them. Conservative Christians have refused to seriously engage the problem of greed, because out treasures here on earth were more important than heavenly treasures. We haven’t spoken to fellow Christians as tempted consumers, despite our propensity to jump all over personal choice moral issues such as sex, indecency, marriage, and school choice. We have refused to see systematic evil in our human institutions, despite their being organized by sinful humankind. (after all, America was founded by Christians and democracy is the perfect governmental system…right?)
No we have simply refused to speak the truth. Did we cause this crisis? No, but we contributed by our own sin. We failed to speak the truth. Bonhoeffer says in his essay in Ethics ““Telling the truth,” therefore is not solely a matter of moral character: it is also a matter of correct appreciation of real situations and of serious reflection upon them.’ We have looked directly at these situations and not correctly appreciated what was going on. And why is that? Because we do not work at learning to “tell the truth.” And learn to do that, we must, as Yoda might put it. We have not been able to discern what is happening before our very eyes. We have allowed our culture to trump the teachings of our faith. Is the word “Apostate” to harsh? But, alas, it is not new..
Exodus 32:4 “He took what they handed him (gold) and made it into and idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “these are your gods, o Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
The idol will save and make us prosperous.
Who will be the big losers in this financial debacle? One Trillion Dollars….
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