AskProfWolff: Religions Reflect Social Divisions of Their Time & Place

A patron of Economic Update asks: "I've heard the argument that Jesus today would be a socialist. Why doesn't American religious "social doctrines" (helping the poor, sick and needy, ending homelessness) allow the American economic system and its inequalities? Put another way.... does religion (mostly Christian) favor capitalism?"

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[smhsophie]

I must say professor, you would make an excellent politician. You are very skilled at taking any topic and redirecting it toward the main focus of your work, that is, the power dynamics of dominant powers, and how it's changed over history to where we are now. Honestly, brilliant!

[Yyyy]

prof. richard is one of those people that makes you afraid of every day that passes that you will loose such a knowledgeable figure who touches with his knowledge and humbleness people from all around the world he is not just a phenomenal professor of economics he is like a father figure to a lot us. i just wanted you to know that you will be really missed prof. and i wish you the best health as long as you are living. i had the honor to translate a bunch of your videos and i hope i can continue to do so for the next generations to benefit from your fountain of knowledge. thank you for every thing that you are doing

[ParcelOfRogue]

Watch Monty Python's "Life of Brian" are the cheese refers to all producers of dairy products"

[kingmichaelthelastwarrior]

Thank The-Great-Goodness for Richard Wolff

[dinnerwithfranklin]

Very compassionate explanation, thank you

[Bisquick]

Very well said.
'Economics' much like religion is a reflection of and justification/filter for all of our social interactions.

I do wonder if any of these "prosperity gospel" or "evangelical" folks have read, say, Leviticus 25 or something, and how they twist that message of debt forgiveness/jubilee/reset of social power into some contradictory notion that seems to be the focus of their interpretation.

[chris]

SOMEBODY, PLEASE SAVE US FROM RELIGIONS, and religious people, especially the latter...
Just my humble opinion.

[milesobrien]

You missed the Vatican Bank working for Hitler and the Nazis. The Catholic Church was fully supportive of the Nazis throughout WW II. Wehrmacht uniform belt buckles were stamped "Gott Mit Uns".

[sergest-amand]

That was very refreshing ty. If you get a chance to develop more on this question of ideologies as "reflexions, filters, mediations" between social tensions and people it would be great...

[hadilee]

Very well put Professor...Let religions stay in private domain.

[stihlhead]

Great short lecture Dr. Wolff. Where the hell is the religious left?

[luminositymusicbrianpricka]

It’s all about Hendrix.
He knew the power of feedback
My only true savior.

[jiacov]

"the slaves, the serfs, the workers", how telling.

[zzRider]

Who ever asked the question most likely was curious if Richard was agnostic or not.

[tommackling]

If you are a member of a choir, or an orchestra, there is a chance that you come to appreciate the phenomenon in which you are participating, and to simultaneously realize that what is in that moment being created is more magnificent and wonderful than what you alone could accomplish. So it is with our lives more generally. We participate in something grander than ourselves. We are part of something greater.

I don't know if Christ would declare himself to be a socialist, perhaps only because of the association between socialism and materialism and atheism. I'm confident though that he would not be a capitalist.

I believe he would try to explain that each one of us, every living person, has inherit value that is greater than all the gold in the world. That only a fool seeks riches above all else, and that such fools waste and forsake their own lives.

I believe the basic idea, is that there is a greater mind, a greater being, with which or whom, we may become acquainted, and the acquaintance, or not, is the difference between continuance beyond the degradation on one's body, or not.

I believe he would try to explain that we should not seek to measure the value of another in terms of our own purposes, but accept the potential value of others to a cause and purpose that is greater than our own. He would inform, that someone without food should be fed, and those without shelter should be sheltered, and that money is irrelevant except to those who give it undue relevance.

Unfortunately, even today, as it has been for millennia, our world is full of fools who lack humility, failing to observe their wretchedness before that which prevails above them, wanting instead to be themselves held high as superior to others. Many of such saw fit to mislead others, so that they could gain advantage over them, and much of our history, culture (including religions), society and world has been mishaped by such folly.

People should not seek power over others. Only to the extent justified by a genuine desire for another's wellbeing are we justified in exerting control over them, and even that impulse must be checked and reigned in by an apprehension of our own ignorance and the paucity of our understanding.

I think Christ would say yes, we should seek our own betterment and the betterment of the lives of others, but that we should do this humbly, with mercy, love and compassion; gratitude for having received His grace, and with a persistent willingness to be open to His merciful influence.

Personally, I wrestled with religious belief, after supposing a morality based on "rational self interest" ought to suffice. I was also wrestling with "fate" and "free will". I was antagonistic to the notion of God. I thought that if there was a god, then surely it was time for him to "step down". But I was beset with events and experiences that defied rational explaination and psychological integration within a purely rational, deity free, framework.

I think I have seen the spirit of Jesus Christ. I think even that He bore the indignity of donning my own fleshy body. I received grace, and for days, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude. I came to understand, how to rationally and logically understand the existence of an intelligence that was not confined by, or dependent on, any single human brain and that necessarily dwarfed my own.

I now understand why I can know for certain that such an intelligence (necessarily) exists, and simultaneously, why I can never hope to comprehend it.
I've been extraordinarily lucky, I think. I believe I have been allowed to understand a great deal more than is commonly understood, and I want to share more of this understanding, but I've hesitated, unsure of the right way to go about it. I thought perhaps I will write some books, once I am ready, although I'm not sure that day will come. I want to help, but I also wish to remain, somehow largely unnoticed.

Oh well, I think I actually have "special insight" on such questions as were the subject of this video, so I thought I should answer. But then I thought I should perhaps try to explain a bit on how I came to my knowledge. And so I tried, but I can't do justice to the cause of that explanation here. I'm sorry if I let you down and I love you, and hey, I also had this weird experience which lead me to suppose that "Grace will come to all, in the end". So be of good cheer and fear not the darkness.

[SlackKeyPaddy]

The 'orthodox exoteric propaganda of Christian institution is one story among many others of the time; The 1st 2nd and 3rd Century Gnostics had a very different story to tell. The Gnostic teachings weren't faery tales told to children (illiterate slaves), but spiritual and psychological teaching and practices for adults seeking Wisdom (Sophia) Understanding and Enlightenment.

[adrianjanssens]

I gave up on my relgious beliefs years ago. I removed a layer of thought that had no basis in reality. I have been better off since. When anyone suggests a supernatural power is in charge, I ask them how they know this. They are as befuddled as I am.

[thomasjamison]

This is largely correct. Religion reflects the social struggles, in very much the same way that we see the same social struggle now taking place in the Democratic Party. There is of course a very different slant on this struggle in the Republican Party, one very much more based among those with less education. Of course, we see the same reflections in our educational systems. There are limits to what can be known as science, or merely as proven fact, and religion covers the need to fill in the rest of the picture as it is the way of humans to desire to fill in the picture. This process tends to reduce fears or is often designed to reduce fears of the unknown, but of course, there are always those who would try and take advantage of fears for their own benefit.

As Napoleon once pointed out, we can do without God, but we can't do without religion. Atheism, Agnosticism and Secularism are all religious points of view. So really are cosmological belief systems like the belief in black holes, dark matter etc.

[cogentP]

Professor Wolff is always so reasonable, appropriately nuanced, and detached from dogma. George Galloway was right, Richard Wolff for president!

[arthurmorgan]

In ancient societies, rulers claimed to be gods to maintain their power. In medieval societies, rulers claimed to have the divine right of kings to maintain their power.