Envy is a sin long targeted by Christian dogma, and is rooted in the Mosaic Decalogue, which commands people to "not cover thy neighbor's goods". The Apostle Paul rightly pointed out that envy undermines Christian fellowship. In Catholic doctrine it is a "deadly sin", because they define it as a desire by the sinner that a person who has something the sinner lacks be deprived of that thing. Now we have political candidates using Biblical and theological language to characterize the outcry against greed and the gross imbalance in the distribution of wealth (which has become a 99 to 1 ratio in the United States), as the "sin of envy".
Is it really defensible on a Christian basis to justify the siphoning of wealth from the many into the hands of the few, and to call the righteous indignation of the poor, "envy"? I have yet to find the model in either the Hebrew or Christian Testaments for this concept of "divinely favored" capitalists "rightly" quashing the "whining" throats of the "unworthy" poor, as though the poor were enemies of God, "the Giver of Wealth". Where is this gospel, this epistle, this proverb, this psalm, this legendary exemplum in holy scripture that justifies or alludes to such a reading of our present circumstances? I find it nowhere in either the canonical books of the Bible, nor even in any of the ancient Christian or Jewish texts that were at one time or another used for religious guidance but didn't make it into the Bible.
Jesus humorously said that it is easier for a poor man to enter the kingdom of God than for a rich man, for whom it is like trying to push a camel through the eye of a needle. The Hebrew Testament decries those who worship the pagan deity, Mammon, who was a god of wealth, seeing such worship as an abomination to those who worship a moral deity, namely, the One True God. So we really need to back up from the claims these politicians are making about the religious connotations of "covetousness" and "envy".
The Bible is full of compassion for the poor, and does not fault them for their poverty (a point I have addressed in an earlier article of this blog). In fact, the the prophet Amos specifically blames a rise in poverty on the gratuitous actions of the wealthy, whose corruption he deems sinful in the eyes of God. In light of this, we must qualify that "envy" and "covetousness" in an accurate Biblical and religious context must mean not merely the desire for things one does not have that another does, but actually, a desire for things one does not need, if it is to be considered sinful.
The outcry of the poor is not for the private planes, helicopters, limousines, villas, beach houses, expensive clothes, precious jewels, rare wines and exotic cuisine of the rich. Rather, it is the reasonable desire for decent jobs, decent health-care, decent schools, decent housing, clean water, clean air, proper transportation, and the financial ability to have enough leisure to spend quality time with family, loved ones, and even alone with oneself. A demand for such basic human needs hardly constitutes "envy" or "covetousness", that is, if we are invoking Biblical authority or the time-tested religious doctrine of any Christian of Jewish denomination.
These politicians are distorting, even perverting the context and meaning of holy scripture and established moral teaching in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. To so cynically undermine moral principles in the name of God for such mercenary purposes as to obtain a seat of power constitutes more than heresy. As Christians, as Jews, we must not allow politicians, much less pundits posing as preachers, to hijack unchallenged our faith traditions in the world of public discourse and political action. Jesus was not afraid to call hypocrites by their proper descriptor.
No comments:
Post a Comment