But the Question Is: Do we Trust in God, or Must God Put His Faith in the Almighty Dollar*
What a difference a Dollar makes.
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| Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam was altered using chat GPT as well as some textual adaptation. |
In Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam, the almost touching hands capture the instant when the divine reaches towards the human. But imagine replacing that sacred spark with a Dollar bill: Adam is no longer reaching to God for life, meaning and human values; he is offering him money. The image becomes a dark joke about changing times with materialism trumping human virtues. The question is no longer simply “In God We Trust” but whether, in practice, money plays a greater role.
There is nothing wrong with free enterprise, commerce, profit or wealth, but there is something wrong when the accumulation of wealth becomes a goal in its own at the expense of other human values. Corporate expansion and reach can make this especially stark because enormous corporations can pursue growth while the human consequences----inequality, environmental destruction, exploitation, or suffering, are reduced to collateral damage on a balance sheet.
That is what makes the altered Michaelangelo’s image so unsettling. Adam handing God a Dollar reverses the original relationship between material pursuits and human values of love, justice, meaning, morality and obligation to others.
Adam and God become a question rather than an answer. When material growth conflicts with conscience and morality, which one do we actually obey?
The image illustrates a human weakness. Money has meant power for millennia, sometimes rivalling religion. Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The US bought Alaska for $7.2 million. That money buys loyalty, territory and influence is not new.
ReplyDeleteWealth can cause harm. But money also provides security and independence. Invested well, it builds businesses and creates jobs and innovation.
Inequality may be bad, but abject poverty is worse; that is where the priority should be. A country does not become fairer by making the successful poorer. It becomes fairer when those at the bottom can improve their lives.
The political power that comes with wealth should be controlled. Transparent political funding, competition and other laws can limit that power without discouraging investment and economic growth.
Greed may be a problem. But an economy should be judged by how it reduces poverty and expands opportunity.