Thread: Is capitalism a religion?

religious - definition of religious by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

1. Having or showing belief in and reverence for God or a deity.
2. Of, concerned with, or teaching religion: a religious text.
3. Extremely scrupulous or conscientious: religious devotion to duty.

I seem to remember marriage being stretched to fit another agenda. Shall we try it again?

Originally Posted by Muninn

Oh for the of God why must people refer to everything under the sun as a religion?

Because everything under the sun is shaped by the sun-god Re.
Re Cycle

Originally Posted by Blueneck

Neither is environmentalism.

Unless you worship Algore the global warming god

Originally Posted by Divine Wind

No more than socialism. While I do think too many people worship materialism, I also think too many people worship Socialism thinking it, like Christ, is the cure for all of man's ills.

Humans are funny, eh?

No, much less than liberalism/socialism/communism. I live in Oaxaca, Mexico, and I love it when the communist take over the town square, the zocalo. I get to watch the Maoist ragging on the Leninist and the Leninist insulting the Stalinist and all of them hating the Trotskyites. Castro, Hugo Chavez, and President Obama get no attention.

Some of their arguments remind me of the protestants bickering about total immersion versus sprinking.

Originally Posted by Blueneck

I see some similarities especially when we talk about reverence. The recent uproar that Obama may have *gasp* spoken ill of capitalism to be quite telling. In this country you are less likely to be burned at the stake for speaking ill of God than you are for promoting Communism.

The strange thing is that so many Christians have incorporated the worship of capitalism into their religions.




And many religions, such as Mormonism and Scientology literally charge you money to be a member.



Capitalism As A Religion - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast

Can one worship both at the altar of capitalism and Christianity without conflict?

What say you, @kmiller1610 ?

You have a point -- in the sense that capitalism ascribes to money something 'supernatural' -- that is, money has the ability to make more money.

What started during the age of enlightenment was that man severed all ties with the divine only to replace it with something else.

Its odd that Christians God told them the Love of Money is the Root of all evil, yet they love money....

Originally Posted by Neomalthusian

Capitalism is the natural, aggregate effect of people freely trading with each other.

That is nonsense. There is nothing 'natural' about capitalism.

And mankind has been 'freely trading' since the start of recorded history. It would be idiotic to say that capitalism has existed since the beginning of history, now, wouldn't it?

Originally Posted by Muninn

Oh for the of God why must people refer to everything under the sun as a religion?

Not everything -- only those that we ascribe with the supernatural power over the destiny of mankind.

Originally Posted by justoneman

No capitalism is just exchanging money for a good or service. Thats it nothing more.

Of course not. The mere exchange of money for goods and services is not what makes capitalism what it is. Surely, the most primitive of civilizations have learned to use currency from the beginning. You cannot really call them capitalist societies, now, can you?

Nope. Albeit, Objectivism endeavors to raise it to a religion-like state, positing laissez faire is a moral imperative.