To Loose the Bonds of Injustice: The Common Good
In a world whose global economy straddles a wide chasm between abundance for the few and scarcity for the many, the question of what constitutes the “common good” is inescapable for Christian discipleship. The meditations for this week range from an exploration of competition versus mutual support, to a consideration of the nature of ownership, taxation, individual responsibility, and the re-emergence of usury in a global setting.
[Friday in the First Week of Lent] The Common Good: What Does It Cost to Borrow?
Read: Deuteronomy 23:19-20
You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent. On loans to a foreigner you may charge interest, but on loans to another Israelite you may not charge interest, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings in the land that you are about to enter and possess.
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Reflect
The Judeo-Christian tradition long opposed the lending out of money at interest because it was a breach of the responsibility that people are to have for one another. Is it right for the rich to benefit from the need for money for living expenses that the poor have? Deuteronomic law states that it is wrong to benefit from your neighbor in need. But the gospels seem to indicate that there may be a place for earning interest for money that is loaned.
What we know is that today’s financial world of capitalism is built on interest and rates of return. In spite of the church’s long history of opposing usury, that opposition has lately seemed silent, especially as credit markets came to dominate the world of commerce.
Financial companies represent more and more of the wealth that is created each year. The worldwide Great Recession of 2007-8 was exacerbated by complex transactions in which interest itself was bought and sold independently of the underlying loans. Such transactions are more and more frequent in a complex capitalist world. Remaining constraints on benefiting from the needs of the poor, such as the limiting of usurious rates of interest, were largely swept away within the last thirty years, although there have been a few recent instances of practices such as high-interest payday loans being outlawed.
In a world in which finance is a driver of the economy, Christians have begun to think more carefully about how they invest their money. Some groups now make small loans to residents in the developing world to help them market their goods and thus be able to support themselves financially. What practices might we explore that put people above profits, with grace as a fair return?
Pray
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the laws and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 826)
Author
Larry Benfield is the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.
[Thursday in the First Week of Lent] The Common Good: Who Will Be Taxed?
Read: Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
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Reflect
How we pay for the costs of living in a civil society has always been a contentious issue. Who will pay for public safety and health, education, and the common defense? Prior to the nineteenth century, much of the income needed to support public services came from tariffs on goods, wealth taxes, or property taxes. Property taxes themselves are a form of wealth tax that often fall most heavily on the middle class because their single largest asset is usually their home. The idea of an income tax came about as governments needed more money to fight wars, and it became possible to calculate how much in wages people earned.
Ostensibly to encourage more capital formation, taxes on the profits from selling investments (usually held by the wealthy) are sometimes much lower than taxes on the earned income of the less wealthy. Some economists raise the point that the current mix of income, sales, and property taxes is so structured that many poor people pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes than the wealthy.
The Israelites paid their tithe in order to support both the priests and the poor around them. Thus, there seems to be a biblical precedent that taxes are necessary to support the common good. Jesus did not fall into the trap of saying that taxes are bad. But what will Christians in this generation say about a faithful way to share the costs of public service? What will we say about how much in public services—from health care to good education—are needed to support the common good?
Pray
Almighty God, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society; that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name. For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 822)
Author
Larry Benfield is the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.
[Wednesday in the First Week of Lent] The Common Good: To Whom Are We Responsible?
Read: Deuteronomy 22:1-3
You shall not watch your neighbor’s ox or sheep straying away and ignore them; you shall take them back to their owner. If the owner does not reside near you or you do not know who the owner is, you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until the owner claims it; then you shall return it. You shall do the same with a neighbor’s donkey; you shall do the same with a neighbor’s garment; and you shall do the same with anything else that your neighbor loses and you find. You may not withhold your help.
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Reflect
Most of us have heard the word “shareholder.” It is a person who owns shares of stock in a corporation. But there is a similar word that is broader in meaning: stakeholder. It is a person who has an interest in what a company is doing. It might include a company’s employees, the neighbors who live nearby, and the company’s customers. They all have an interest in what goes on in the company and its role in civic life.
A long-standing ethical discussion has focused on whether the corporation has a duty only to its shareholders or also to its stakeholders. Should corporate executives look out for the welfare of employees and customers as well as work toward a reasonable profit for their shareholders? At one time, corporate managers were taught that they had a responsibility to the larger community because the larger community supported the existence of the company. In recent years the emphasis has changed.
Now we hear that, in the name of economic efficiency, the only responsibility that a corporation has is to its shareholders. Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, argued that the fundamental obligation of managers is to return profits to shareholders—not
to invest corporate funds in endeavors that they find socially beneficial but that reduce shareholders’ returns. Shareholders themselves sometimes demand that companies cut the costs of things such as employee benefits so that more money is available for dividends or acquisitions of other companies.
The Israelites had a duty to watch out for and take care of the property of their neighbors. Is this duty the sort of obligation that a manufacturer has toward the people who live near its plant? Does looking out for shareholders only, at the expense of stakeholders, exhibit selfishness that is condemned in the parable of the rich fool? Christians have lived as faithful witnesses in every economic era. How do we live as faithful witnesses in this one?
Pray
Heavenly Father, in your Word you have given us a vision of that holy City to which the nations of the world bring their glory: Behold and visit, we pray, the cities of the earth. Renew the ties of mutual regard which form our civic life. Send us honest and able leaders. Enable us to eliminate poverty, prejudice, and oppression, that peace may prevail with righteousness, and justice with order, and that men and women from different cultures and with differing talents may find with one another the fulfillment of their humanity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 825)
Author
Larry Benfield is the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.
[Tuesday in the First Week of Lent] The Common Good: Who owns what?
Read: Deuteronomy 24:19-21
When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.
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Reflect
In medieval England, a portion of the land was set aside as “common” or “waste” land. Common land facilitated the grazing of animals and other similar uses by the residents of a community. Waste land was where landless peasants often turned to grow food for their families. Gradually though, landowners began to search for more profitable ways to farm, and the common lands became private lands, a process supported in large part by the passage of legislation that enclosed the land for private use. Landowners then charged rent for those wanting to farm the land, and many farmers ultimately moved to cities to work in factories. The gradual turning of common land into private land hastened the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism.
Our own age has seen its versions of enclosure. There is heated discussion on whether or not parkland should be open to mineral and oil exploration undertaken by private companies. Formerly publicly held utilities are sold to private corporations. For-profit companies buy religious hospitals. Military operations are supported by independent contractors, which are often not under strict public oversight. We undertake these twentyfirst-century variants on enclosure under the theory that private companies are more financially efficient than publicly owned institutions. In each of these instances, assets that were at one time held to be part of the common good, for the benefit of or under the control of society at large, are no longer seen as such.
Is this privatization consistent with the biblical injunction to keep fields open to the alien, the orphan, and the widow? Was the first-century experience of Christians sharing all their goods in common a practice that can find traction today? Christians have lived as faithful witnesses in every economic era. How do we live as faithful witnesses in this one?
Pray
Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 827)
Author
Larry Benfield is the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.
[Monday in the First Week of Lent] The Common Good: How Do We Define It?
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:20-27
As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
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Reflect
Capitalism views the world primarily in terms of economic value, with an eye on economic efficiency. How much can an entity—human, mechanical, or natural resource—contribute toward profitability? This perspective raises numerous questions: What is the lowest cost method to get the job done? How much is a company worth if it can be split into pieces and sold as parts? What is the financial advantage of moving operations to a new city or country—and leaving behind former employees and abandoned facilities?
Competition, rather than mutual support, is one of capitalism’s driving engines. Christianity, though, has frequently seen the world differently. We ask ourselves how we are called to live in the world but not be enslaved to the world and its priorities. Scripture helps us in our questioning. One focus of Genesis’s creation story is that God calls human beings to be stewards of the created order. Adam gets the opportunity to name each individual animal that God sets before him. Similarly, Saint Paul tells us that the members of the body of Christ are many and varied, but each one is important in order to help build up the whole.
Liturgy also shapes how we live. At baptism we individually name new members of the Christian community and pledge ourselves to support the newly baptized as they grow into the full stature of Christ. Mutual support eclipses competition. The Christian message is that we are not anonymous, unknown, unconnected beings, but rather God calls us to be in relationship and support one another, in much the same way that the Persons of the Trinity are distinct but always in relationship with one another.
Conflicting views of what it is like to live in society comprise some of the hard realities of life in the twentyfirst century. Christians have lived as faithful witnesses in every economic era. How do we live as faithful witnesses in this one?
Pray
Almighty God, whose loving hand has given us all that we possess: Grant us grace that we may honor you with our substance, and, remembering the account which we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 827)
Author
Larry Benfield is the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.