Friends,
I'd like to have a word with those of you who call yourselves Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can read along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied to your own spiritual/ethical values).
In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. After all, we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades about how one should "behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned out on pieties and platitudes considering we are a violent nation that invades other countries and punishes our own for having the audacity to fall on hard times.
I'm also against any proselytizing; I certainly don't want you to join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I have much to say about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for another day (or movie).
Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress exposed in Capitalism: A Love Story, I pose a simple question in the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1 percent to have more financial wealth than the 95 percent under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.
At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1 percent!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist and a Christian -- because you cannot love your money and love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.
When you are in church this morning, please think about this. I am asking you to allow your "better angels" to come forward. And if you are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to make it from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to stop this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until everyone has a seat at the table.
Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours. I'll be sure to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How else did he divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish equally amongst 5,000 people? Either he was the first socialist or his disciples were really bad at packing lunch. Or both.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
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10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
Followers should give ten percent to their church and above and beyond that to the institutions and people that they feel led to. But not to the government. There is nothing God.ly about government.
In terms of "those who will not work...should not eat" - do we REALLY believe that in this country? So, rich people who spend all day golfing, sailing or otherwise indulging themselves - and living off of their inheritance or investments - should they eat? Are they really working? Do we consider periodically reviewing one's financial statements "work"? How about the poor who work multiple jobs and still cannot afford to pay for their basic needs (safe shelter, food, clothing, medical care, transportation, etc.)? Do we not consider low wage jobs "work" that should allow people to live beyond simple survival? At what point should society step in and help those who are "working" but not "making it"?
Followers of Jesus would be wise to read Matthew 25 - "The sheep and the goats". Is tithing really "enough"? Or are we called to do more?
There is no argument that capitalism has been revolutionary, in terms of the development of productive forces, but witness the current irrational limits to the system, as an economic crisis has brought these forces to an idle state because the climate is not safe for investment opportunities. Meanwhile, people suffer and get thrown on the street, losing their homes, and their health care, and unemployment rates continue to skyrocket. Under such a system very few people get to develop their full human potential. In reality, the system mainly reinforces our worst aspects, as greed and callousness gets multiplied.
We are also free to give to our church or the charity of our choice and Americans do in numbers larger than any country in the world. Don't confuse compassion and Marxism. Compulsion is not compassion, and once the government owns it all, no one will have anything. EVERYONE, not just "the rich" will be worse off than they are today.
Many Christians deny is that this applies to all Christians.
But the people of Jesus' time who believed this very same thing were the Pharisees, and Jesus was savage with them on this issue.
Jesus considered the tithe insufficient: "How terrible for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of everything, even the seasoning herbs like mint and rue but you neglect justice and love for God.' (Lk 11:42)
Jesus did not wish to abolish tithes. He wished only to go beyond the level of easy fulfilment and easy moral self satisfaction by giving only the tithe.
What did he mean by these last three phrases? The act whereby the disciple gives away his or her means of ‘security’ - capital.
Yoder translates the lesson from the parable of the poor widow: ‘The quantity of money that you give is of little importance. What is important is what you give. If it is only a part of your income, then this is not yet righteousness, goodness, and good faith. If it is capital, savings, security that you give, then everything is in order.’
When he said ‘sell what you possess and practice compassion,’ he wasn’t creating a constitution for a communist state.
He was calling for a jubilee levelling in AD 26, a ‘refreshment’ giving a taste of the ‘re-establishment of all things.’
For too long, we've been forced to listen to leaders and influential people talk about religion and how much their "faith" means to them....while their actions have been decidedly "un-Christ-like".
It's about time we see "people of faith" following through with action. I'm glad Michael Moore spoke out about his spiritual beliefs and is asking us to examine what Jesus would think about today's society.
We need to look around and discern between those who call themselves "Christians" and those who are actually acting "Christ like". Jesus healed the sick. Jesus fed the hungry. Jesus listened to the sinners. If we choose to call ourselves "Christians", we should fight for the things that Jesus cared about.
Our churches are no longer able to meet the needs of those struggling within their communities. While some congregations are doing remarkable things, no one church can afford to cover the expenses for a family facing a serious health issue like cancer or autism. Also, most individuals - no matter how generous they are - cannot meet their neighbors' "needs" through their donations. All generosity is wonderful; however, we must really look around at what is happening to the "average family" in this country. Our "tithes" alone will not help someone facing unemployment, foreclosure or bankruptcy due to medical debt - unless, maybe, we're Oprah or Bill Gates.
When 1% of the American population has more wealth than the bottom 95% combined, the only thing that can help those "at the bottom" is a system of taxation that allows the government to provide for the "general welfare" of it's people.
"6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."
Perhaps God wanted the governing authorities to regulate businesses so that they didn't oppress the workers. Maybe God wanted the government to help those who could not meet their own needs all by themselves. God knew that there would always be sick, disabled, alien, widowed and orphaned people. It seems that if the people wouldn't share and meet one another's needs voluntarily (and compassionately)...and the churches lacked the financial resources to do so...then, maybe - just maybe - the government would at least ensure everyone got a little bit of help.
I have yet to see, "Capitalism" and I do intend to do so. I am hoping that in your movie you address "Prosperity Theology." This is a theology that gives wealthy people a sense of entitlement, self righteousness, and feigned authority over others to rule. You can thank preachers like Joel Osteen and books like, "The Secret," and talk show hosts like Limbaugh and Oprah Winfrey.
It is decidedly anti-Christ.
Social welfare and all of Christianity stems from Catholicism. I agree, you cannot call yourself a Christian and yet tell your neighbor they do not deserve health care or fair pay for a day's work.
"The Politics of Jesus", by John Howard Yoder. According to Yoder, Jesus' ministry was based on the fulfillment of the Jubilee prescription, as found in the "Old" Testament writings. Among those was the admonition to free the slaves and literally to forgive everyone their debts, to create a clean slate and start from scratch. This was supposed to happen every so often, as a continual format for the application of social justice within the Jewish community. In other words, the repeated redistribution of wealth every fifth generation ? (can't recall the exact number) was part of God's plan.
You only need pick the bits you want.
i.e. The meek shall inherit the earth.
About six feet by two feet of it.
And only after the strong have finished with it.
"You can fool some of the people some of the time ..and thats enough to make a good living"(WC Fields)
But brokenness is actually a path toward wholeness. We Americans we have been cutting corners and selling our futures short and now we are feeling the pain as the seeds we have sown are growing into pretty weak and unsustainable plants.
For a while, in despair, I imagined what my Grandmother Lillie (who lived through depression and never lost her ability to scrape a butter wrapper clean) would think about how we have wasted all that has been handed to us. How ashamed she would be if she looked in my closet and then in my bank account.
But then my thinking changed, if Grandma Lillie were alive today, she would not waste her time hand wringing, nor pointing fingers. She would roll up her sleeves and get to work -- doing whatever was being asked of her. And she would never complain about it -- instead she would proclaim: Elbow grease! That's all we need!
As Americans, I think our time for hanging our heads is all over. No more: "why me? why isn't my shallow life of shopping and overspending no longer sustaining me?"
I am going to take a lesson from Grandma Lillie and spend my energy in ways that will get my own life on track. Hopefully if enough of us do that, our country's fortunes will follow
But, I had no idea until leaving how difficult/expensive health insurance was without a spotless health record. Because capitalism was good to me, I can afford $1,000 monthly for a bare bones policy. But how many can?
Some say the government can't do healthcare well. I, for one, am reasonably happy with government-sponsored police, fire and EMS - even the USPS. And private alternatives abound for those who can afford them.
What if the police were a private enterprise? What would they charge to roll a squad car to your neighborhood? Imagine negotiating with a 9-1-1 operator as your house is burning ("Gas leak, you say? We'll need to run a credit check first.")
We have no problem expecting and paying for the government to provide these basic and universal necessities of life. What's more basic and universal, more necessary to life than health?
If you have great, cheap insurance through your employer, congratulations. But, think about the other half. To paraphrase George Bailey, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this country. Is it asking too much to give all Americans a shot at a healthy life when Aetna kicks them to the curb? I don't think so. If you lost your insurance, you'd probably agree.
After all, part of your premiums pay for their care!
If someone without insurance goes to the ER, the hospital has to treat them, even if they can't pay, even if they are an illegal alien. Joe Wilson was correct, Obamacare will pay for illegal aliens, just like the current system does.
Of course, ER care costs a lot more than seeing someone when they first get sick, that is why we pay $7000 each per year for $3000 of coverage (well, that and paying huge administrative costs to the health insurance companies).
Universal health care would cut the cost of insurance to folks who have it (as long as there is a public option to keep the companies honest, otherwise the insurance companies will just pocket the savings).
But Michael is off base, too. Jesus is talking to those who take up their cross and follow him, not everyone, and certainly not to an entire national government. We cannot and will not be able to produce the effects of what Jesus was talking about through national policy - Jesus called it "dying" to our own lives and giving our lives up to him! Pretty radical stuff. Michael IS right that those who call themselves Christians ought to be taking Jesus' prescriptions pretty seriously - he meant it.
We have a clash of worldviews going on, and I agree that we need to be asking ourselves whether this is really the kind of society we wanted. As a Jesus-follower, I have to apply his teachings to myself - but I will call my fellow Americans to at least ask themselves if they are willing to follow the "Golden Rule." Because any of us CAN be in need of health insurance, no matter how blessed we may be right now.
I saw your new film, "Capitalism: A Love Story" Saturday and read this blog yesterday morning.
I just want to thank you so much for making your films and doing what you do. It makes all the difference in the world, and I wanted to tell you that personally. Your film's analysis of capitalism and your courageous words about capitalism's incompatibility with the teachings of Jesus Christ (and the Buddha as well, we are Buddhist) are spot on and couldn't come at a better time.
Don't ever give up, don't ever stop speaking out and making your wonderful films. You are making a difference, and I am telling everyone I know to see your new film. God bless you!
He had a 98% blockage.
We had no health insurance.
The hospital still helped us.
The bill was a $110,000 and we didnt have to pay a dime b/c we were a tax right off.
If obama really cared abou the uninsured in America, he could have use that 787 billion stimulis plan to pay for the small uninsured Americans !!!
This is about gov. control !!!
Part of why costs keep going up is that insurance gets less and less affordable, and so more and more folks drop their insurance, and go to the ER for emergencies. They can't pay, so their costs are passed to the folks who still have insurance, which makes it less and less affordable.
Eventually only the rich and goverment employees will be able to afford health insurance, and then the rich will agree to socialized health care so they can stop paying more than their share...