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 The nation is being savaged by the Great Recession, but many pastors are afraid to talk about its causes, some say. Preachers confront 'last taboo': Condemning greed amid Great RecessionBy John Blake, CNN (CNN) – Bishop Harry Jackson is a former college middle linebacker who can still hit hard. He once described same-sex marriage as a satanic plot to destroy the family, called on Republicans to get “political Viagra” and said African-Americans needed to abandon what he called the Gospel of Victimization. Jackson is not shy about stirring up controversy, but he stops short when it comes to preaching about greed. The Maryland bishop said he encourages his congregation to get through the Great Recession by saving and sharing. But he doesn’t want to alienate well-off members by talking about what’s behind the nation’s economic woes. "I've got to watch it," said Jackson, pastor at Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland. "I could get into some big teaching on greed, but the reality is that a lot of that teaching may wind up creating anti-economic-growth and anti-capitalism concepts (in people’s minds). ... I always talk about personal responsibility so we don't get into the blame game." The Great Recession is more than an economic crisis. It has become a spiritual dilemma for some of the nation’s pastors and their parishioners, religious leaders say. Three years after an implosion of the nation’s financial system helped push the country into its worst economic nosedive since the Great Depression, pastors are still trying to figure out how to address people’s fears from the pulpit. But first they have to deal with their own fears, some pastors and scholars say. Though millions of Americans are angry over the economy, little moral outrage seems to be coming from the nation’s pulpit, they say. Too many pastors opt for offering pulpit platitudes because they are afraid parishioners will stop giving money if they hear teachings against greed, said the Rev. Robin R. Meyers, senior minister of Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. “Money is the last taboo in church. It’s much easier to talk about sex than money,” said Meyers, who wrote about greed and the other seven deadly sins in his book, “The Virtue in the Vice.” The anxiety from the pews has become so palpable for some pastors, though, that they now feel like they have no choice. Andy Stanley, a prominent evangelical leader, said some in his congregation cheered when he launched a preaching series called “Recovery Road” to talk about politically touchy issues such as personal greed, the federal deficit and the sins of subprime loans.  The Rev. Andy Stanley says he took a risk preaching about greed to his suburban Atlanta congregation, but it has paid off. The senior pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, north of Atlanta, told his church members they should look in the mirror before they start blaming politicians for the nation’s economic woes. Any economic recovery “begins with me, not they,” Stanley said. It continues when pastors ask how such a wealthy country can stumble into such a financial mess, Stanley said. “Any time the entire country is talking about something, pastors should pause and talk about it,” Stanley said. “We know what Republicans and Democrats think, but what does the Bible and Jesus say?’’ Other ministers say an economic recovery also must involve pointing fingers. They say Jesus calls his followers to struggle against those people and policies that helped lead to the Great Recession. Charity – feeding the poor, steering people to job fairs – must be accompanied by justice, said Meyers. “It’s good to pull people out of the river when they’re drowning,” the Oklahoma pastor said, “but it’s also good to go upriver to see who’s throwing them in the river.” Should pastors speak truth to economic power? During the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist minister, inspired others to fight against the economic inequality of the time with the “Social Gospel.” During the Great Depression, Father John A. Ryan built such a national following condemning the excess of capitalism that he was invited to deliver prayers at a presidential inauguration. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spent the last three years of his life focusing on poverty. When he was assassinated in 1968, he was on the cusp of leading a nonviolent, interracial army of poor people into the nation’s capital to demand a fairer distribution of wealth. These ministers who took on the big economic issues of the day were inspired by the example of Jesus, who angered the powerful by condemning the economic exploitation of the poor, religious scholars say. His teachings are seen throughout the New Testament in parables such as “The Rich Man and Lazarus.” “Jesus took sides – he said he didn’t come to bring peace but a sword,” said Vincent Miller, a Catholic theologian and author of “Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in Consumer Culture.” Miller said pastors who are afraid of angering congregants by talking about touchy economic issues ignore the Gospel. “You can’t preach the Gospel without alienating people. That’s part of it. You’re not helping people if you’re not alienating them,” said Miller, the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton in Ohio. The recession divides preachers, not just politicians That leaves pastors with the challenge of interpreting Jesus’ message for today’s economic woes. On that front, the pulpit is as divided as the nation’s politics. Consider the cause of the 2008 economic meltdown. Was it primarily the result of Wall Street greed? Jay W. Richards doesn’t think so. Richards is a senior fellow at the conservative think-tank the Discovery Institute and author of “Money, Greed and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution and Not the Problem.” Greed was a factor in the 2008 financial crisis but not it’s primary cause, Richards said. There were other major factors, including the tendency of Americans to live above their means and policies that encouraged banks to dilute mortgage lending standards. In addition, he said, large financial institutions were encouraged to engage in risky behavior because they knew the federal government would bail them out. The causes of the 2008 crisis were so complicated that some of the smartest people in the world failed to anticipate it, Richards said. The first thing pastors should do during tough economic times is “pray for, comfort and encourage” parishioners, he said. “If a pastor suggests that the financial crisis happened because of a few greedy corporate titans and some Wall Street traders, that’s a sure sign that he doesn’t understand the crisis,” he said. Neither should Christians condemn the growing gap between rich and poor, Richards said. “Denouncing a presumed gap between rich and poor is, more often than not, a symptom of economic confusion, not prophetic wisdom,” he said. “It can also mask envy, and is usually invoked just before someone calls for the state to coercively confiscate the wealth of some and give to others.”  Bishop Harry Jackson says Americans can experience a miraculous economic recovery if they return to God. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, income disparity in the United States has increased 40% in the past 30 years. In 2010 the nation’s poverty rate rose to a 17-year high, with more than 46 million people – 15.1% of the population - living in poverty and 49.9 million living without health insurance. Despite these grim statistics, Richards said he believes people born in America today can still succeed if they work hard and get a good education. “The American Dream is still alive,” he said. “The fact that millions of people from around the world still want to come here is a sign of that. … If someone works hard in school and develops good financial habits, they’re more likely to do reasonably well financially than most people were for most of human history.” The Rev. Jim Wallis, a prominent evangelical who has worked with Democrats, has a different perspective. He said it’s clear that greed was a major factor in the economic collapse and that a wide gap between the haves and have-nots is social dynamite. “History shows that an increasing gap between the rich and the poor is a prime indicator of imminent collapse,” Wallis wrote in his recent book, “Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street and Your Street.” Wallis said he hoped his book, written right after the 2008 meltdown, would spark a movement among the nation’s churches to re-examine the country’s economic values. But he said many of the nation’s pastors operate like politicians, afraid to alienate their wealthy donors. “We said the public is ready for this. The church is ready for this,” a weary Wallis said of his hopes for such a movement. “Boy was I wrong.” Where have all the prophets gone? Joel Osteen is the senior pastor of one of the nation’s largest churches, the 40,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. His 90-minute services are broadcast nationwide each Sunday, and he’s just come out with a book, “Every Day a Friday,” which encourages people to have a “prosperous, victorious year” and be “dream releasers” by helping others realize their goals. Osteen said some of his church members have been hit hard by the recession, but he prefers to preach about the cures, not the causes, for the nation’s economic ills. Part of his message: Live within your means, don’t give away your power, live without crutches and travel light. “We go through difficult times, and it’s easy to get trapped in the past thinking about what didn’t work out,” he said. “At some point, we gotta move forward. I’m not supposed to just endure my life. I’m supposed to enjoy it.” Back in Maryland, Jackson said he tells his congregation that the nation’s economic problems are partly God’s way of encouraging the nation to return to a “biblical faith.” He said there will be a “supernatural economic recovery” if Americans practice generosity. “If you have a bowl of rice, why not share a quarter of that bowl with someone who is needy?” he said. Those kinds of sermons annoy Meyers, the Oklahoma pastor. He said too many pastors have reduced Jesus to a “financial adviser, not a prophet.” He said pastors should also call for justice. He said it’s a crime that no bankers or financial leaders behind the 2008 collapse have gone to jail. “We’ll send an African-American teenager off to the slammer who robs a 7-Eleven, but we won’t do anything to a banker who helped cause the collapse of the entire banking system,” he said. But most preachers won’t say that, he said, because much of the church is too captive to greed to address the moral challenges of the nation’s economic problems. He doesn’t expect politicians or other leaders to step into that void because too many are beholden to the rich and powerful. “There just aren’t that many prophets left,” he said. “A prophet is someone who is willing to tell us the unpleasant truth about ourselves. If we can’t bring unpopular messages, who will?” |
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AlienFactor, the wealthy utilize bankruptcy without remorse. Example: Donald Trump. The number of corporate bankruptcies, and the dollars involved are immense. Corporate owners and C-Levels bankrupt a company and still manage to walk away with millions.
Based on the headline, I was expecting an essay on how liberals greedily demand that the money of others to be taken by a greedy government, that will then skim a certain percentage in inefficiency, creating dependencies on it.
Greedy liberals are the reason we aren't burning witches at the stake anymore and the greedy government is the only reason you have the security and infrastructure to make "your" money.
Nice sound bites, but typically they're unsubstantiated and meaningless.
Or better yet go start your business in Somalia, there will be no government to impede your 100% self-made wealth.
And since every social reform brought about by liberalization can be whisked away as "unsubstantiated and meaningless" by your same sheer will that allows you to unassistedly manifest wealth into existence, due tell what conservatism has brought us. Prohibition?
Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." The only time he is recorded being violent- is when he attacked people making money in the temple. If you are a believing Christian- THIS is a more important message, than to hate gays, enforce your beliefs, or to repress others.
Read the entire passage, then see if your commnent fits. I think you will find you are mistaken.
Jesus had no problem telling people not to hoard wealth (Mark 10:21).
These preachers have already all violated Matthew 6:1-18 in their ostentatious and hypocritical piety, and they generally seem to pick and choose only the most hateful and bigoted things out of the Bible anyway, so it isn't like they really possess any moral authority preaching to people what they want to hear.
" But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow -doink- just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bulllsh_t story. Holy Sh_t!" Carlin
No doubt. Organized religion is the biggest scam ever. It's been leveraged to rob and kill for thousands of years by those enterprising enough to take advantage of the believers. People just need to be OK with the fact that there is no eternal life. I mean honestly, people actually think that they'll be raised up to live forever? Isn't that the definition of greed? Such nonsense spouted and yet people keep flocking and emptying their pockets when the collection plate is passed around.
The sooner that we discover that there is no God of any sort, only ourselves, and that the only time you have is here on the earth, the sooner we will try to help our fellow earth dwellers instead of preaching volumes of hot air. If mankind put the same effort into peace as they did praying the world would already be healed.
Tell me how you discovered there is no God. Could you offer empirical evidence to absolutely confirm that observation? I will be most interested to see your data.
What would be interesting to know is how many Pastors actually purchase health insurance and how many of them are 'sponging off the system'. Far too many use the pulpit to preach against the very things that they themselves are guilty of. I also cannot help but wonder about the sins of Jay W. Richards after reading his comments. The purpose of democracy was to keep capitalism in check. Many conservatives favor untethered capitalism at the peril of democracy. As a result, legitimate threats of socialism (and fascism) emerge because of the financial imbalance in society. History has proven this to be the case. Why should the impoverished defend democracy if it doesn't improve the quality of their life? After all, isn't the wealth transferring to a communist country – China.
If "living beyond your means" isn't a true example of greed than what is? Consuming beyond your ability to pay, borrowing to cover the difference, and then all too often going bankrupt and foisting the cost of your excesses on someone else. You don't need to be wealthy to be called greedy.
The why do we not have a living wages in the USA. Tell me you can live off of minimum wage working 40 or 80 hours a week? People have to go into debt for emergencies and then the cycle of the rich getting richer starts.
I'm with Howie.
You could not be more wrong. The type of consumption you describe is predominant among those who have rather than those who have not. If having a place to live, food on the table, healthcare, etc. are luxuries then we are beyond hope as a nation. I also say that anyone who spends as much finding ways to point fingers as some on the right do is in serious need of soulsearching and perhaps a lesson in helping their fellow man. Simply asking, "Are there no prisons?" or workhouses and then remarking how your taxes pay for these things is not the same as helping people. Perhaps discovering and understanding the stories of people who were getting by fine and suddenly find themselves on the bottom end of this economy might soften your hard heart.
Well written, AlienFactor. I can't think of anything more greedy than saying "your money belongs to me." They also assume that those with riches refuse to share and contribute to those in need.
The question is whether that should be voluntary or forced in a free society. Conservatives believe the former; liberals the latter.
It is a sad day when ministers, priests, and people of good conscious actually have to debate whether or not to speak of the great inequalities in America, and justifiably point to the systems that promote it. Just how bad does it have to get before people start to wonder if something in capitalism ought to be changed? ... even just the slightest bit.
By worrying that the condemnation of greed from the pulpit will dry up funds coming to their church, these so-called pastors exhibit their own greed in the extreme. Jesus would not recognize the crap that is spewed from pulpits in his name.
There is no premise for claiming that Jesus was interested in growing the size of government.
jasie, Christ said pay Ceasar what is ceasars/. They need to start paying taxes like everyone else.
No where, in any of the literature, does Santa Clause pay property or inventory taxes on his vast holdings up north. Why should we have to?
well said
There's a new church in town: CNN (Church of Negative Non-believers). For the past seveal Sunday mornings CNN leads with a story usually distorting some aspect of Christianity and the flock offers back their rejection and ridicule of Truth.
Go back to worshiping fox news and the Koch brothers. Hypocrite!
Honestly, who cares. Believers flock to be saved so that they can have the ultimate greed fantasy fulfilled by living forever. The fear of death fuels all of this religious BS. Honestly, live forever. Religious people will do whatever they can to try and attain that goal. People follow them and empty their pockets while they get rich and abuse your children. Please people, just live a good life and don't follow this nonsense.
Ah there I got a few AMENS from the congregation!
Jesus has already spoken....."The poor you will always have with you." There will always be social inequality. Has been since the beginning of time. His teaching was to store up treasure in heaven, because you can't take it with you anyway. Help those to the best of the ability God has given you.
John 12: Of course Jesus' foot job is worth poor people starving. He is Jesus for Chrissake!
LOL! That is because the preacher makes all his money on greed by convincing people to give him 10 percent of their gross pay, even if they are minimum wage and can hardly hold it together.
The preacher is one of the greediest people in the room! He makes his money by pointing at the sins of others, while he himself is one of the big sinners!
If he actually understood the gospel, he would understand, Jesus was NOT a capitalist. He was the opposite, an extreme opposite, he is a communist, or if not that at least a socialist. That is why he was crucified in the first place by the, dare I say it, greedy capitalists?
Amen!!!!!
agree
The ministers do not set the amount we are to give to the church. The Bible sets the amount as 10%. There are churches out there that are not good, but there are a lot of great churches-mine for one. There is much opportunity to worship God and serve him by doing for others(This does not mean give to the gov't and let them do our ministering to others.)
yep yep and yep
Right. Preachers have to have a bit of scammer in them. Get the flock to believe in the unbelievable. They know that the stories don't make any sense. Blind faith, but pass the plate because without money we can't spread our important message! This whole notion is hogwash invented by men to make themselves rich and powerful and make others fear them. Jesus may have been a great man, but honestly we'll never really know for sure. Someone else wrote those books long ago. If the same guy showed up today he would be sent to the mental ward.
Moral outcry? True, it is missing. Even to the left of this article, is Obama offering more to do for Sodomites. Not the unemployed. BTW, WWJD in the recession is a joke, why not find Jesus and understand salvation FIRST. We know what Jesus would do, he died for you.
Your biblical interpretations are unique?
People with religiously held beliefs along these lines are a terrible throw back to ignorance and intolerance. You need to go back and read the bible without an agenda to deny rights to people different from you. Name calling and denial of civil rights , oppression, and manipulation of people seems to be the hallmark of a certain strain of religion.
I said changed all your products that is already contaminated because you cannot make wise the Lord for reasoning the food you intake so that all of you will be dead in times of Delubyo or the Last Judgement Day of the Prophet of the Lord as an Stupid Cupid the original or Saint Marilou in the Philippines a Holy Family alive and kicking for you cannot used this kinds of monkey wise system but this is all about greedy in money and foods but you forget about the chemicals that think you make wise in your businesses and now look at your physical features a radiationd foods you intake inside and outside including of course the athmosphere not an original faces already a big boom inside your body. So the next seventh earth after the sixth earth this Sixth Cycle of a Sixth Sense like me and next is a dwarf race already until you reach the 100 earth for all Sinners the same blood to blood race and faces and long, long, long before the one it raptured already is the fifteenth earth last month.
Food poisoning from the veryf irst beginning of the world and until now that is why all lives is stay longer life because of the microgerms inside and outside the body and in the earth. Formalin, Acid and Radiation is connected in this speaking of the minds that people ignored the messages of Saint Marilou an Angel of God for Delubyo or the Last Judgement Day.
Just go to a United Methodist annual conference meeting. The pastors main concern is their pay and retirement. They get a church and can come and go as they please. They write or copy a sermon once a week to preach they get free housing, starting pay 35,000.00 a year, perks from the congregation, free medical care, free food, egos that are non stopable and a 401 K that most of us would die for. They are totally out of touch with how the every day person lives and are fleecing the flock in the name of religion.
Although I'm an atheist myself, your characterization of what they do is not accurate. In addition to composing sermons most of them spend a great deal of time visiting people who are sick or elderly, and a good bit of time counseling members of their congregations about personal and family problems, engaging in marital counseling, talking to people preparing to get married, and so on. In a reasonable sized congregation these kinds of "ministering to the flock responsibilities can consume a lot of time.
Well it appears you have never gone to a Methodist Annual conference. GO check on e out once a year. The elders that preach in the big churches are hired to write sermons. They rarely if ever do any counseling or helping the poor. The lay people are put in charge of these duties because the ministers are to busy. Ir really is sad that these ministers do not follow what Christ talked about. Go to a conference and see the petty bickering for pay and benefits.
This just is not true.
I wouldn't know about Methodist pastors, but large evangelical non-denominational worship band church pastors get all that plus a 1 in front of the 35,000.00.
Ministers afraid to preach on "touchy" subjects is just more evidence Christianity is a sham. If it really were what it claims to be ministers wouldn't hold back and parishioners would accept that some sermons will make them uncomfortable. I can't tell you how many "good Christians" I've heard ask, "Why should I pay for someone else's health care?'
Agree!
You're misquoting them. They (and I) don't believe the GOVERNMENT should force them to pay for someone else's health care. Many wealthy people give to charities on their own. Mandatory giving doesn't work, it creates dependants.
Scott: Thanks for the conservative sound bites. Unfortunately, in the real world charitable contributions don't come anywhere near being able to address this need.
Scott: How can I be misquoting someone with a direct quote? What you made clear is that it's more important to you to ensure you have control over how your money is spent than it is to ensure everyone has access to medical care when he needs it. That hardly sounds like a set of priorities Christ would support.
Why do we care what pastors and "reverends" have to say about the economy or anything else, for that matter? This is not news-worthy. As Hitchens said, the term "reverend" is one that our children should learn to live down to, not live up to. It's disappointing to keep seeing CNN's milquetoast nod to the religious community when they should be delivering real news from real thinkers about real issues. These pastors are not worthy of the front page.
I live in the South where religion is everything. It may not be important in other parts of the country but down here they contol how thier congregatons vote.
Your rant doesn't change the realty that tens of millions of people attend church and are influenced by their pastors. As long at that's a reality there is merit in this story.
He sound like a good guy, sending bankers who caused the 2008 collapse to jail. Pointing out society's racist judgements on people like sending many black teens to jail for robbing a liquor store, but not sending a single white banker for destroying the country and robbing America and its people