AZspot AZspot

blue bits. red rocks.
Monday 20 September 2010

Working through the list of prominent conservative Christians and financial planners who have touted one or another of Rand’s dictums reads like a who’s who of Christian financial planning, and TV evangelism. Thus we often here the rhetoric of a ‘nation under siege by its government and an oppressive tax burden’. We hear this from wealthy Christians like Pat Robertson and Larry Burkett (who once famously said “as cruel as it may sound, it would be better to raise taxes on the poor, than on the wealthy”!!!). What has happened to Christian financial planners influenced by a combination of Randian philosophy and libertarianism is the divorce of business from ethics, including the divorce of investing from ethics. For example Austin Pryor publisher of a popular investment news letter for Christians says “I want you to shift your thinking away from ethics when investing”. He adds: “I receive more questions asking for suggestions on ethical investments than any other topic….Unfortunately I must tell them I can be of no help.” !! Gary Moore says as well that Dave Ramsey’s website, despite promoting Biblical fidelity, takes much the same tack as Austin Pryor. Just close your eyes and invest in whatever makes money. As Bobby Dylan said, “Don’t think twice Ma, its alright.” If this is the advice of your Christian financial counselor, you should run, don’t walk in the opposite direction. Moore points out that the Social Investment Forum says only 10 per cent of institutional money under management is integrated with a traditional Christian ethic. And we wonder why it is that things go wrong on Wall Street and main street, and we blame the government, instead of where much of the blame belongs—- with greedy investors and greedy investment firms determined to play by their own rules—- which is ‘whatever they can get away with’. I am not an economist, nor the son of an economist, but I do know when an economic philosophy flatly contradicts what the Bible says about this, that, or the other subject, especially about the ethics of care for the poor, about loving neighbor as self, the ethics of self-sacrifice and the like. At the end of the day, Ayn Rand was clear eyed and right—— godless capitalism of the form she advocates—- a market without any rules or ethical restraints, business without ethics, is flatly contradicted by the Bible and Christianity. This should have given many conservative Christians who listen to libertarians and financial gurus influenced by Randian libertarianism pause. Maybe their problem is not too much government…. Maybe their problem is too little Bible filtering through their economic and political philosophies. It’s worth a thought. Ben Witherington

7 notes

  1. shortercredo reblogged this from azspot
  2. silas216 reblogged this from azspot
  3. azspot posted this

A GNT creation ©2007–2012