I know I have some devoutly Christian readership. Guys, please, you *have* to do something about this. I got it from Matt Taibbi’s blog, which is excellent:
Goldman One-Ups Gordon Gekko, Says Jesus Embraced Greed
“The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest,” Goldman’s Griffiths said Oct. 20, his voice echoing around the gold-mosaic walls of St. Paul’s Cathedral, whose 365-feet-high dome towers over the City, London’s financial district. “We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all.”
via Profit `Not Satanic,’ Barclays Says, After Goldman Invokes Jesus – Bloomberg.com.
I didn’t believe this story was true at first — thought it had to be a spoof. But it turns out to be true. The great banks of the world have gone on a p.r. counteroffensive in Europe, and are sending spokescrooks in shiny suits into churches to persuade the masses that Christ would have approved of the latest round of obscene bonuses.
Go ahead, read the whole thing. I’m not even Christian, and I found myself being offended beyond belief.
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As a Christian (well not so mainstream, but a believer in Christ anyhow), all I can say is this is a self-serving statement this man is making to justify his actions to himself and hopefully delude everyone around him into somehow thinking a few getting rich while producing nothing somehow benefits everyone.
Jesus Christ (as I’m sure you know…even if not a Christian you are one of the most well-read people I know) did not so much as even own his own house, or have a regular place to sleep; he did not really own any assets except the clothes on his back. Even when he had only a little food, he shared it with everyone. He didn’t hoard it for himself and equate that with loving his neighbors!
Maybe this guy defines “neighbors” the way the lawyer did that prompted Jesus to tell the story of the good samaritan ~ people that *I* deem worthy of my love/interest/ investment, as opposed to Jesus’ definition of all humanity.
Either way, this guy is delusional.
You say we should *do* something… other than denouncing what he says, what do you suggest? There will always be morons that say things to further their self-interest and justify their own actions, it’s true in any time and any religion (or belief). I can assure you it’s not a Christian teaching however, well, if it is, not at my church and it’s definitely not Biblical.
Yeah, apparently he missed that part of the Bible where Jesus went through kicking the shit out of the money lenders out of the temple.
Hey Anne…
What I want Christians to do, specifically, is to spread the word in their networks. I want to see these bastards denounced from pulpits across the world. I want to see people of the faith that is being so misused rise up and draw the line.
I get it!
I hope they do too!
At my church, we don’t have clergy, it’s lay people that do all the exhortations. I am near positive someone will mention it in this light… now, where clergy are concerned, I am not sure how this works…again as I say I’m not in a mainstream group so I’m not sure what to expect there.
Part of the reason I responded to this blog post, was to continue the chatter. I am as offended by this man’s statement as you are (and thanks for being offended by it…as Jesus said, not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian…a tree is known by its fruits…I am glad you realize that and don’t think we all think like this nut!).
I likely wouldn’t have heard about it if I hadn’t happened to read this blog, so hopefully others will, otherwise we won’t hear anything. For that reason, I will link to this blog entry on FB next time I’m on (if you’re ok w/that), provided I remember I was going to do that, to get the word out. Hopefully someone will pick up on the story from somewhere and you’ll hear it denounced…I just don’t know if you’ll hear it so much from the big houses that draw the media attention and large donations. But we can at least try to get the info out so people are talking about it! That much I can do.
Thanks for posting…as always your thoughs are insightful (is that a word?).
Greediness is next to Godliness?
I’m sure that if it suited his interests, Griffiths would be arguing exactly the opposite. The greedy and power-hungry will pervert whatever message they can in order to get what they want. They have no shame and do not feel compelled to present any kind of logical consistency. A notable example being the recent demands for both deregulation and government bailouts. Let’s see…no shame, inflated ego, lack of empathy, failure to accept responsibility…as Taibbi suggests, it seems that many of our business leaders are well on their way to sociopathy.