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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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This article is simply a coy attempt by CNN to tie together religion with tax hikes. It's like saying "well your preachers want it, so why don't you?"
Again, CNN tries to manipulate public opinion by creating false news. Yellow journalism.
The fact of the matter: we spend more money than we make, and we are in a recession that can be unbalanced by raising taxes. That's quite simple, isn't it?
I didn't see anything in the article about tax hikes. Perhaps you're reading your own biases into the article?
Christian pastors who refuse to confront greed have lost their way.
@Grant Yes, those who argue that social aid programs are best left to faith groups and private charities should be banging the cans HARD to raise money from those who have it. This is their big chance to show that they can do the job. And here they are whimpering about their fears of offending. Beautiful, just beautiful.
I see no difference in churches aligning themselves with the Republican party to swell their coffers than the Western world in line with the church of Rome for centuries until that yoke was broken.
You churches? You own your condemnation as surely as you helped cause the guff that's separated man from their neighbor, rather than uplift, support and speak out even against yourselves, when the cause was Just.
Now is that time.
"When I feed the poor, the call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop, Recife Brazil.
Wealth redistribution also is corporations and wealthy individuals giving money to charity instead of paying people living wages. I do believe in charity and give regularly, however, it is a game. Many charities would be unnecessary if people were just paid a living wage and could take care of themselves. It also relieves guilt from their actions, layoffs, outsourcing, etc.
Modern Christianity bears no resemblance to what I remember from my childhood. It has become a hate filled, right-wing nationalist political movement. That is probably why so many people are rejecting it now.
We need more pastors like Rev. Meyers and less like Bishop Jackson. What a breath of fresh air!
HOW do people think the POOR got help BEFORE the government took over the job of redistribution??? NOW we PAY federal workers to redistribute money to the poor with a LOT of wasted dollars in between because of layers and layers of federal mess in between
THAT'S JUST IT YOU IDIOT!!!!
Before the government got involved, virtually NOBODY was getting help!!!!
THAT'S WHY WE HAVE THE GOVERNMENT HELPING PEOPLE!!! THE CHURCHES DIDN'T HARDLY DO A DAMN THING!!!
It sounds like many churches are not ready to step up, when their pastors are afraid to condemn greed and talk about money issues.
The "Church" will always (and has always) sided with the source of their income, the Rich. No wonder the Communist party surpressed the Church after the Revolution in Russia. It ALWAYS aided the Rich. "Opiate of the Masses" was the expression. The Church taught the masses to "shutup and accept their poverty....since it will be rewarded in heaven". A great concept if your making money off the poor! The Rich will ALWAYS
Federal workers are not paid to redistribute money, they are paid to do a job. They work to benefit you, believe it or not. You may not agree with every government program but if you actually knew what the government did you wouldn't feel so sour.
Are you being funny? How did the poor get help before government programs? Uh, they didn't a lot of the time. They begged on the street wearing rags. Pick up any book by Charles Dickens, you moron. This is a joke, right? You aren't serious.
BTW, prior to the existence of social security, over 50% of elderly people lived in poverty and couldn't meet their food needs. But according to you, this is cool Yes, lets go back to the days when grandma ate cat food. Those were swell times. And they would be even better now that the elderly population is even larger! Whoopee!
Perhaps Jackson in Maryland should study some more-recent history that 2,000 years ago. He should look at cases like Enron and Tyco. He should see that Maryland has an artificial economy, thanks to the proximity of Washington. He should notice that unlike the $600k to $750k homes that surround his "faith community", most can't afford to live in a home, period.
In reality, the nation’s economic problems are partly corporate greed by moving overseas. While this isn't a new phenomenon, for example, Black and Decker left its home in Maryland last year, and McCormick Sp.ice hasn't been producing sp.ices in its home for several years, it's now starting to catch up to the rest of the country. Meanwhile, the Baby Boomers are looking to retire, and he thinks that all that needs to happen is a return to a “biblical faith.” What needs to happen is the electorate needs to get its collective head out of its collective but.t and quit being led around like sheep. Start building employee-owned businesses that control production and manufacturing, rather than off-shoring it, and working for a layer of fat-cat C-level managers, making obscene salaries. You'll see how much more affordable products are without having to pay millions in salary for people to sit in meetings all day.
You don't do anything for the country by sending emails, playing solitaire and surfing Facebook for 8 hours a day.
s/history that/history than/
Being a preacher pays too well to risk such things as talking down to "rich folk". A holy man's biggest collection donations come from sinning men of wealth. Preacher takes his cut and keeps his mouth shut.
True dat!
It isn't hard to figure out why nobody in the religious community cares. A lot of the more fervent Christians are also Republicans, who really couldn't give a rat's a$s about poor people, despite what their religion says.
dude you're an idiot.
Of all the arrogance I have seen at CNN, this takes the cake. Who should he preach against "Wallstreet?" "The Rich?" President Obama? This shows why people have lost faith in the press and CNN in particular.
Wasn't it Jesus who said that it's easy for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven? Wasn't it Jesus who told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor? I guess Jesus didn't really mean that stuff, huh?
I thought this was a remarkably balanced piece, giving several paragraphs to the conservative preacher who worked with the Heritage Foundation in addition to more liberal voices. Seemed like a refreshingly thoughtful piece to me.
the tea party wants to unload most of the government's duties onto the churches and ngo's. back to the days of charles dickens. the church can look after the homeless, disabled, elderly and teach the children. taxes on the aristocrats can be slashed to almost zero if the church takes up the slack.
So we go back to "Penny for the baby, gov'nah?" There's a leap backwards!
This Mr Harry Jackson does not follow in Jesus footsteps, who exposed the religious falsehoods and greed that permeates human society. If he "alienates well-off members", he may lose a large portion of his weekly "paycheck" through the passing of the plate. On the other hand, Jesus was forthright with the "truth", even scathingly condemning the Pharisees at Matthew 23.
In an illustrative way, Jesus says that "the lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright; but if your eye is wicked, your whole body will be dark. If in reality the light that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is! "(Matt 6:22, 23) Thus, a person has to be completely focused on doing God's will, having a ' simple eye.' Otherwise, a person will be in "great...darkness" though feeling that they are in the "light". These allow monetary distractions, convinced that what they have are "necessities" and not "wants".
In order to have a ' simple eye', Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, told his Jewish audience: "No one can slave for two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. You cannot slave for God and for Riches."(Matt 6:24) Anxiety is often tied in with wanting "riches". Hence, Jesus now says: "On this account I say to you: Stop being anxious about your souls as to what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your bodies as to what you will wear."(Matt 6:25) Many are concerned about having the "latest and greatest", or even a comfortable life-style and not being content with "sustenance and covering".(1 Tim 6:8)
Jesus now brings home of how to have a ' simple eye', saying: "Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his (God's) righteousness, and all these [other] things will be added to you. So, never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties."(Matt 6:33, 34) Everlasting life on a paradise earth, in perfect health, among those who are "meek" or teachable, is what Jehovah God has promised and requires a ' simple eye' to attain it.(Ps 37:11, 29; Matt 5:5)
There is a balance between greed (the love of money) and the love of wisdom. The less greed we have, the more love for people we do. They are not apart, they are a part of human history as long as we exist.
Leave it to a bunch of immoral church pastors, who don't pay taxes but happily take people's money to shoot their mouths off.
leave it to a non religious person to judge churches and pastors as evil when they know NOTHING of the GOOD a church does for the people...........it's kind of like saying ALL government is corrupt when that isn't true either!!
Wait..............ALL church pastors are immoral??? In your infinite wisdom.......... HOW do YOU know this is true???
I agree, wouldn't we all be in different financial straits if WE didn't have to pay taxes. ren't they always so high and mighty.
I am a believer but I have given up on church. The reason why the talking heads in the pulpit won't confront greedy people is that those same greedy people are some of their biggest donors. The plutocracy in the church is behind "conservative" movements like the Tea Party and Dominon Theology, telling Christians that it is God's will for them to let the fat cats suck the economic life out of them and pay them a pittance. So I worship God at home on Sundays. Better that then listening to a corporate clone masquerading as a man of God.
Douglas, I agree with what you are saying but I am blessed to have a church that does confront greed. I am absolutely appalled at the behavior of Christians who have come to believe that their success is their own and not God's. When you believe that everything you have is given to you by God, you don't crave greed, you feel blessed. I don't worry about taxes or giving to others because I know that everything I have is from God. I am so tired of so-called Christians whining about taxes, whining about the government, whining about having to pay for healthcare for others instead of focusing on thanking God everyday for what He provides. All I can say is that I would rather be helping others and reliant upon God for money each paycheck then I would being well off financially and worry about giving too much away so I could afford to buy a new car or because I thought others were too lazy to make money the way I did.
Do you still give 10% of your income to help others or does your home Church let you slide on that one? What else does your home Church let you slide on? Pretty sweet deal you've got going, ugh?
There are some tremendous comments. I especially appreciated the words of Margaret A. She is one of the few who truly understands the impact of these economic times on the poor.
Thanks. I don't often get positive reviews.
Preachers and ministers are afraid to discuss greed because most it's congregation have embraced greed and prosperity gospel. The evangelicals have embraced the right wing which is all about avarice and greed and tried to put a biblical spin on it. If Jesus were alive he would be hanging out with the poor and powerless. Not the Wallstreet bankers. He would be condered a socialist.
I see a lot preachers here rationalizing and making excuses for greed.
Its greed when you give out sure to fail loans for short term profit.
Its greed when borrow money you probably cant pay back.
Its greed when you pass debt on to the next generation.
Consider the parable of the workers in the vineyard and this statement therein: "But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen." and the tenth commandment "'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
Some how the "greedy" rich people are bad, but we're good when we covet what they have.
Christianity has been designed and used as a tool to keep the poor workers in place.
Christianity should focus on the Gospel's core message, which is to teach about salvation and immortality. The issue behind today's Great Recession is the absence of stable legal system that protects society from injustice. Unstable legal system that crushes a nation's economy is not new. The Asian financial crisis of 1998 happened because the law ignored bankruptcy issues, which was caused by investors pulling out funds from inaccurate speculation.
Similarly, the laws on securities regulation is problematic in most advanced countries. Many courts let the regulator develop laws that sets bounds in the investment market. The result is an "alienation" of the market from rest of society. Common Law jurisdictions have been known to make laws that embody democracy in the decision of a judge. In contrast, laws on security regulation are set by regulators (i.e. law-makers) who increasingly render justice on behalf of courts. If a case do make it to courts, most judges side with the mindset of regulators without weighing the outcomes of society. As a result, justice is skewed towards investor protection. For example, there is no criminal prosecutions against perpetrators of the Great Recession.
The laws on securities regulation is increasingly harmonized across national borders. Without proactive efforts to control and integrate Common Law, advanced economic countries will remain at the mercy of the investment market. Justice will be served without consideration of victims. The market will continue to grow while alienating the rest of society.