The Religion of the Benevolent Invisible Hand

The word "religion" has no fixed meaning.  We usually think of religion in narrow terms as the worship of an all-powerful God, who has a strict moral code and blessings for the righteous. But this is just one type of religion.  An economic or political system can also be a religion when it is an object of adoration and cannot be questioned.  In this sense Adolph Hitler's ideology of Aryan superiority was the religion of the German people during the 1930s and he was their God.  Some Americans have a secular religion whose primary doctrine is our nation's superiority to all other countries.  These Americans believe that our culture, institutions, and economic system are without equal and they sometimes speak of the U.S. Constitution with the same reverence that fundamentalist Christians have towards the Bible.  They sneer at Europe because business activity in Europe is subject to a much greater degree of regulation than in the U.S. They believe on faith that unfettered free market capitalism is what makes America great and prosperous.  Their religion of free market capitalism -- with only minimal regulation by government -- can be traced back to Adam Smith, the famous 18th century economist.  He taught that society as a whole would prosper if each individual was free to pursue his own self-interest and that a free-market economy would always regulate itself, as if guided by an Invisible Hand.  Belief in the benevolent Invisible Hand and unfettered free-market capitalism is a religion.  Those who believe in this religion somehow overlook the fact that the U.S. economy has failed on numerous occasions to "regulate itself" and government has had to come to the rescue each time.  The two most obvious economic failures are the Great Depression of the 1930s and the economic catastrophe of 2008 and early 2009.  Adam Smith's notion that the pursuit of self-interest is good for society was expressed by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in the movie "Wall Street."  Gordon Gekko's speech is powerful.  He says, "Greed--for lack of a better word--is good.  Greed is right.  Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms--greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge--has marked the upward surge of mankind.  And greed--you mark my words--will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."  I love hearing those words and you can see his performance in the video below.

Religious Rant on the floor of the House of Representatives in October of 2013

Religious speech is usually predictable and boring.  We know what our minister is likely to say in his sermon or at a funeral.  We know what types of prayers will be uttered at prayer breakfasts, city council meetings, and Presidential inauguration ceremonies. But once in a while spontaneous and unusual religious speech occurs and it gets our attention.  One such instance took place on the floor of the House of Representatives in October of 2013.  The federal government had been shut down because the two parties could not agree on spending priorities and there was no longer any legal authority to spend tax dollars.  Eventually an agreement was reached and House members were voting on the proposed legislation.  During the voting Diane Reidy, a stenographer for the House of Representatives, interrupted the proceedings with a loud religious rant against the legislation. She walked up to the podium and angrily said things concerning the devil and freemasons.  The meaning of her rant was unclear. She said, quoting Jesus, "You cannot serve two masters [God and money]."  She was removed by Capitol Hill police and taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.  For more information go to http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-ids-reports-new-details-on-stenographer-who-went-on-bizarre-rant-on-house-floor/ and watch the video below.

Baptist minister and former governor Mike Huckabee explains the mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

When tragic events occur, religious people often say that God works in mysterious ways.  They don't try to explain the tragedy, but simply say that "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."  But pastors and theologians sometimes try to explain tragedies such as earthquakes, school shootings, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.  There was a school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.  Adam Lanza killed 20 children and 6 adult staff members before killing himself.  The former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, was asked about this tragedy.  He is a Southern Baptist minister.  He said that God allowed the deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary School because "we have removed God from the schools."  In saying that "we" have removed God from the schools, Huckabee was referring to the Supreme Court Justices of the 1960s, who ruled that prayers and Bible reading in public schools are unconstitutional.  Is God still angry about Supreme Court rulings from the 1960s? Apparently so, according to Governor Huckabee.  If God were logical, he would have killed or punished the Supreme Court Justices who sinned by banning prayer and Bible reading in schools. Instead Huckabee tells us, in effect, that an irrational and angry God waited patiently for 50 years and then vented his anger at the Supreme Court of the 1960s by killing the innocent children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Such is the "explanation" of Mike Huckabee. Some may say that Adam Lanza is responsible for the deaths, but from a Christian perspective an all-powerful God is responsible for the deaths.  An all-powerful and loving God could have intervened to protect the adults and children from Adam Lanza, just as God intervened to protect the children of Israel from the Egyptian Pharaoh.  Above is the video in which Huckabee gives his repugnant explanation of the Sandy Hook shootings.

Hypocritical Evangelical Pastors

If pastors cannot conduct their own lives in accordance with the strict sexual morality taught in the New Testament, why do they teach church members to live this way and why do they condemn homosexual acts?  The New Testament says that Christians are "new creatures" in Christ and their lives are transformed by being "born again."   The promise that your life will be transformed when you are "born again" is at odds with the reality that evangelical ministers behave just like non-religious people.  Jimmy Swaggart spent money on a prostitute. His confession of sin has been viewed many times and you can see it below.  Evangelical pastors often get divorced despite Christ's condemnation of divorce.  They have affairs and sometimes physically abuse their spouses.  They watch a lot of online pornography, as noted in the article below.  The article cites a 2001 survey by Leadership Magazine, a trade publication for evangelical pastors, finding that nearly half of pastors admitted viewing online pornography. 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/evangelicals-527287-gay-marriage.html?page=1
For more instances of clergy sexual misconduct involving Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, and others, watch the second video below.