The Atheist in the Church of Capitalism

Why do I not worship in the Temple of Capitalism?

I am not anti-money or anti-business. I'm not even anti-corporation, though corporations need to be treated like predatory animals and a close eye kept on them. No, not a predatory animal; rather, like a sociopathic human. But economic activity is normal and healthy and eminently human. It's one of our cleverer tricks.

It is Capitalism the ideology, Capitalism the faith that I abstain from. Treating it as some absolute truth is as dangerous and pernicious as treating a mythology as an absolute truth.

Capitalism, you see, is an invention, just like any other religion. People have always worked to make money. People have always engaged in enterprise. So why do we speak as if once upon a time there was no Capitalism and then there was? What are we talking about here?  As we can do with other religions, we can break this one down into component parts.

First, Capitalism pretend to something called the Free Market. This imagined entity operates according to a mysterious law known as the Law of Supply and Demand, but it is no law. Economists have observed a relationship between supply and demand, and they theorize some force at work. When they measure actual economic transactions over time and place, of course, it turns out that this so-called law bends and flexes and sometimes behaves in quite contrary ways. Then the economists reference mitigating factors and outside forces, the evil influence of governments and the regrettable ignorance of the consumer--in short, the economist's version of demons. Oh the world would be restored to a state of purity, were it not for these demons. But look again: what we see are humans behaving in human ways. Sometimes we discern a pattern, sometimes another pattern, sometimes no pattern at all. This is the historical reality, and the Free Market is as much a myth as Eden. By inventing these laws and these mystical states of being, though, Capitalists thereby create tools for influencing society to their own ends. The man with money invents an ideology that serves to keep him in money. The man without money adheres to the ideology in hopes of also gaining money. It is the same racket engaged in by priests.

Second, Capitalism justifies wicked behavior. It enables a man to call himself a "self-made man".  What an absurd phrase!  What an arrogant phrase!  No man is self-made; every one of us lives in and because of society. When I call myself a self-made man, I absolve myself of responsibility to my fellow human beings. Anything I do for or with them thereby becomes a favor, an act of philanthropy, instead of what it really is, which is an act of neighborliness. Capitalism would have us pretend we are all islands, every one of us; blind, grasping bacteria who can think no further than the edge of our cells. The Capitalist is a ravening beast, devouring all he can for the mere sake of devouring, until he should either die or society should in its horror restrain him. I do not worship in such a house.

Third, Capitalism denies our humanity (as does every religion) and profoundly misunderstands our relationship with the universe. It does not recognize that we are frail creatures standing in the face of titanic forces that can sweep us away in a heartbeat. Our one and only chance, the chance we have played since we strode through jungles and trudged across glaciers, is that we might survive if only we all work together. When we do this, when we cooperate, when we form a society, then we are at our best. Alone we are weak or vicious or merely dead. In every society and every time and every place, the most terrifying and awful fate is to be left alone. Capitalism would have us believe and behave as if we are always alone. The Capitalism invokes not society but self-interest, and in so doing leaves us less than human. I will not enter that temple.

Last, at least for now, Capitalism is repugnant to me because it is certain. The Capitalist knows how the world works. He knows what humans want. He knows the bottom line. He would reduce all human complexity to a single measure, a single formula. He would simplify the world until it's nothing but a wasteland. Certainty is dangerous, deadly. The man who is certain permits to himself all things. The arrogance of the Capitalists grows from this certainty. There's an ugliness to Capitalism that drapes itself over the very human impulse to make and trade and build. I don't have to sing in that choir. We were doing fine before that religion came along, and we'll do even better if we could rid ourselves of it.

Losing a religion

I recently realized that I have overlooked a religion.

I frequently tell my students that we live in a secular society. That's a good word, "secular."  It comes from the Latin saeculum, which literally means "the world" and specifically the world in which time exists, as distinct from worlds of the eternal. Just though you should know that.

Anyway, we live in a secular society, I say, mainly to draw contrast between our modern values and those of the Middle Ages. It occurs to me, however, that I am being somewhat unfair to modern society. We are without a religion of the supernatural, without gods and heavens and hells and afterlife, but we are not without faith in a system. Ours is a secular religion, and its name is Capitalism.

Since this is a blog about atheism, I figure it's high time that Capitalism had its turn in the dock.

First, let me establish in more detail what I mean when I say that Capitalism is a religion, then proceed to the way in which it is our religion, and finally to explain why I do not believe in it.

How is Capitalism a religion? First, it claims to be universally and eternally true. Second, it claims there are unseen forces at work in the world that cannot be measured. Third, it claims to know the True Nature of Man.  Fourth, it claims that all who are not believers are doomed. Fifth, because it's always a good idea to have a fifth, its high priests form a protected caste in society. Sixth, it claims that those who suffer deserve to suffer, and those who prosper deserve to prosper, according to a set of rules that are beyond the reach of Man to alter. Seventh, it claims that its institutions (e.g., banks) ought not be subject to the same laws that govern men. Eighth, we wage war in its name. There's more, but eight is not a bad place to stop.

It can be said that Capitalism is our religion because we have sanctified it in our laws and glorified it upon our tongues. We cling to it as the only possible explanation for the world-as-we-know-it, and condemn all doubters as heretics. We do not worship money, as some claim; these do not perceive fully. Money is a mere object, a manifestation. We no more worship money than a Christian worships an icon. It is Capitalism, the invisible god of the Free Market, that we venerate.

I don't like long blog posts, so I'll stop there. I'll explain why I'm an atheist when it comes to Capitalism in a subsequent post. I'm awfully busy and it may be a while.

We actually worship a second god. Its name is Nationalism, but I'll put that off for another essay as well.