Idea for a New Religion - Chapter 25 - Money and Industrial Disputes

MONEY A 1) There is no shortage of money in the world; only a shortage of compassion in the hearts of an over privileged few and, while poverty is a cause of wide scale suffering and death, the possessions of the rich and powerful are stained in innocent human blood. How long will this grave inequality last? Only as long as the fair and humane majority in the world remain silent and passive. Only as long as we idolize the obscenely wealthy instead of abhorring them for their vile selfishness. Only as long as we are motivated by the dream of joining a privileged minority rather than the dream of sharing the wealth of the world fairly and equally with all of our neighbours. Does God favour the rich? Ask a mother which of her children she would wish to suffer? God is the mother of us all and she will not choose between us. When there are the homeless and the dispossessed; none should live in a mansion without feeling shame. When there is starvation; none should feast without feeling an uneasiness at the pit of their stomachs. When there is conspicuous poverty then there should be no conspicuous wealth for it is nothing less than an insult to the poor. 2) All those who wish to serve God sincerely, must boycott any company which is involved with unethical or inhumane practices. 3) No individual or company should profit from blood or suffering; from the selfish and unfair exploitation of the poor; from callousness and cruelty to animals or from the pollution and devestation of nature. Life must always come before money. Man must always come before businessman. 4)Why does one child deserve less than another? - If you truly love children, it is difficult to accept the irrational and inhuman notion of a ‘rich child’ and a ‘poor child’. If you truly love children, you want all children to have the same quality of life; the same opportunities; the same standard of education; the same happiness. We often say, “I love children” but the acceptance of child poverty is incompatible with a love of children. It is this blindness people have to the unfairness and cruelty of capitalism, and the economic divide, that perpetuates it. Why are we so unambitious, that we only aim to be more wealthy and have better things for none but ourselves and our own families? Why don’t we aim for a world where everyone is happy? Why do we let ourselves listen to the wealthy and powerful when they dismiss any vision of a more mature world as an adolescent fantasy? Man must end his unquestioning acceptance of this unjust system and he must start by ending the notion of ‘rich child and poor child’. The children of the rich and the poor should not grow up in separate worlds and become alienated from each other; they should be educated in the same schools; they should play together and become friends and then, perhaps,
they would grow up to see each other as brothers and have respect for each other. 5)Advertisers who create artificial demand for unecessary goods are, like bookmakers and peddlars of alcohol, confidence tricksters who encourage the poor to pour away the money, which they have worked hard to earn, on things of no use or value.

MONEY B 6) Self-sufficiency - The more goods and services which an individual or community are able to provide for themselves, the less they need to spend on buying the goods and services from others and the more they are able to save and the better they are able to survive. 7) To avoid industrial disputes, workers should be involved in how their company is run. There should be workers representatives on the board of directors for every company. In this way, the workers would be responsible for making the money to give themselves pay rises and improve their working conditions. 8) When industries or companies collapse, the workers who have lost their jobs must unite to find a solution to their predicament, for example, by starting a new company 9) Too much conformity is like a cancer. Mass produced culture creates conformity and kills individuality, Mass produced culture robs the common people of imagination, creativity and self sufficiency because when the people buy a pre-packaged culture then they have no incentive to create their own. Culture should not be created in the boardroom, it should be created by the people and evolve out of time and circumstance. 10) When upward mobility occurs it should serve a good purpose to all. Those who climb to the top of the tree should only do so in order to throw apples down to the hungry below. The poor have a soul which they should not sell just to become like one of the soulless elite. Those at the bottom must celebrate themselves; see the value, the beauty, the elegance, the creativity, the wonder within themselves. They don't need to sit upon piles of gold to make them important because they are already truly amazing.

MONEY C 11) A limit must be placed upon how much a person can earn and how much property they can own. God sees no reason why some people should have two or three houses when there are those without any house at all. God sees so many in so much poverty that God cannot bear the sight of the few with too much wealth. 12) Economic Migration - Aslong as there is global economic inequality, there will be economic migration. Aslong as there are poor nations and rich nations then the poor will travel seeking a better life. Create more global economic equality. Improve the lives of the people in all nations and there will be fewer economic migrants. 13) Entrepreneurs for the people - There is no reason why all entrepreneurs should be capitalists. The state has an obligation to encourage entrepreneurs who have a love of the people and of principle. 14) Spendingfasts - Man has an unhealthy addiction to material things. Consumerism is a modern form of gluttony. The desire to buy and buy and buy more and more pretty, useless objects; encouraging us to be like spoiled children who always want more and more toys and sweets and shiny trinkets and who never learn to be content with what they have or appreciate the simple joys of life or the wonders of the world that nature has made. Those who are addicted to spending need to go on a spending fast; live on less, enjoy what they already have, share with friends and save up money to donate to the poor. 15) Morals should be printed on money- Printed upon every pound note or dollar bill should be the words, "Be kind" or "Be generous", so that we are always reminded of the true purpose of money. Money is a tool for doing good in the world.

INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES 1) Striking is a natural thing. Workers are the body of a company. If you do not feed a body, or give it water, then it will cease to function. If you mistreat any living thing, wether it be a human being or a horse, then that living thing will refuse to cooperate with you. You must give in order to receive. 2) God is all, but God is on the side of need rather than greed. God is both the employer and the employee, but God is on the side of the honest and the fair, whoever they be. God is classless, both rich and poor, but God made the rich to help the poor, not to cheat them or exploit them; to use their money, power and influence to improve the conditions of their fellow human beings. Money is a tool for doing good and God makes men rich, as she makes men strong or clever, to help others; to contribute to the greater good. 3) If strikers have a legitimate grievance, then it is the duty of the public to support them in whatever way they can. Support all who are standing up for their rights, wether they be a striking worker or a woman fighting discrimination or a black person fighting racism or any ordinary person who is fighting oppression. 4) Forgive the wrongdoer. Forgive the adulterous spouse, the enemy in war and the strikebreaker. Both right and wrong are a part of god; and the wrongdoer is like a delirious man, controlled by what sickens him and lost to truth or reason.