Are Money And Religion More Comparable Than We Realize?

Have money and religion grow to be so intertwined that we see them as almost one and the identical? Lumina Imaging/Getty Photos

There are a whole bunch (by some estimates, hundreds) of religions across the world. The Oxford Dictionaries defines religion as "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, particularly a personal God or gods." Based mostly on this definition, we can draw some fascinating comparisons between the worship of a god and the worship of the almighty dollar. What's money if not a "superhuman controlling energy"? That is what Matt Frederick, Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown talk about on this episode of Stuff They Don't need You To Know: Is money a religion?

It isn't that (all) folks outwardly worship cash - or the financial system or financial institutions. However lots of the trappings of organized religion are primarily based around them. In his ebook "The Theology of money," philosopher Philip Goodchild points out that our complete monetary system is built on faith. Our cash has value because we agree it has value. Especially as cash goes more and more digital - like debit cards and Bitcoin - that thought of trusting the financial values is important to the economic construction in place. Currency basically represents a promise to pay a debt that is backed up by a monetary establishment like a financial institution or the Federal Reserve. With out confidence in that promise, our money is not definitely worth the paper it's printed on.

And it hasn't at all times been printed. Up to now, precious items like chocolate, salt, peppercorns and other valuable goods have been used to commerce for different products or services. This is named commodity money as a result of the worth is within the precise material from which it's made.

So besides principally having a faith-based mostly economic system, there are other points of finance that mirror religion. Many religions, for example, have temples or holy places the place one can go worship, or converse to a priest or high holy member to help interpret the will and the methods of their god or gods. Some would possibly interpret Wall Road, or the inventory market, as simply such a spot: a buzzing middle of economic system, with investors calling out to buy or sell stocks based on nothing greater than investor confidence - or primarily, perception in one thing's value.

The mysterious energy of the free market or the economy also must be translated into layman's phrases for many of us, particularly since the trendy creation of money is so complicated. It encompasses credit score, lending, fractional reserve banking and so forth. We rely on financial advisers to interpret the need of the market for us. And mismanagement or misinterpretation may end up in a "smiting" from that highly effective pressure in the type of financial recessions and depressions as we saw in lots of international locations throughout the global financial disaster of 2008.

Religion has been used to manage human behaviors by way of the threat of hell or the promise of eternal life in heaven. But philosopher Goodchild argues that cash, and debt, are now the main motivators for human cooperation - so much so it is begun to intertwine with religion. There's an enormous sect of Christianity generally known as prosperity gospel that equates private wealth as a sign of being blessed by god, tying money and religion ever nearer. Does this mean an official sect will ever be established? Or that  ソフト闇金えびす  of religion will peter out in favor of a theology of money? You may should tune in to see what Matt, Ben and Noel need to say on this pious podcast.