Interdisciplinary Article Summation

Sekou Williams

FCIQ 101

Professor Ann Marie Klotz

Interdisciplinary Project Article Summation

Topic : Money and Religion and Corruption Within

 

Central Question:

 

The central question to my topic of Money and Religion and Corruption Within focuses on religions around the world and the effect that money may have on it. Does money corrupt religion? Does it just corrupt the people involved? Have our churches been assaulted all these years by a force that can weaken if not decimate the proper values of churches?  Over the years the church has changed, especially during these modern times, and much of it not really for the better. Current politics, financial hardships and such, have definitely had an effect on all religious organizations. These are some of the questions that I will be dealing with in my topic.

 

 

My stance:

 

I have believed mostly in Christianity all my life and I have seen and read news articles, radio reports and television shows that have asked the above question many times. I feel that my stance is correct and that the religions around the world are basically “under attack” when it comes to dealing with money, which is a necessity. We are all human and make mistakes, even those that govern the church. In any country or nation, the church is supposed to be a safe haven from political, economic and religious attacks. We are to feel safe at our center of belief and praise. “God” is her to guard us and protect us and if that situation changes due to any reason we will want to know why the church failed. In this summation I will show that the church is a power which has, in certain times and situations, was weak and has lost some of its respect.

 

Supporting arguments/articles:

 

I have gathered several articles from newspaper and magazines, most of which are peer reviewed, which deal with my argument that the church has, in many cases, lost its trust with its people and become corrupt. The first one is called Religion and Society by Sharon Parr. It explains how over the years the church has changed in much of its diversity between religious practices, especially after the baby boomer generation in the 1960’s.  Its influence and its followers have dealt with the changing world and their place in it. Spirituality as already complex and does not hold the same influence previously held and observed in society. When money comes into play, decisions necessary to the survival of the church must be more open, reasoned and handled with more care and thought. The mere appearance of improper dealings, whether buying from a local vendor, or which people in the church to help, may have repercussions that may bring down a church.

My second article, by Lisa Keister, “Faith and Money: how religion contributes to wealth and poverty,”, states that a growing body of research provides strong evidence that religion affects important economic outcomes for Americans, such as in education, income and work. She states in her article how, depending on your faith, how religion can directly influence many things among its followers. Upward mobility, work and occupations, indebtedness, home ownership and many other aspects including the flow of money from and to the church.  Apparently, there is a difference in power and stance of many churches, from Catholic, Protestant, Jews, Mormons and even subdivisions of churches. White Catholics, Black Catholics and Hispanic Catholics may each vary on their spending and associations with the church. One group may give more, spend more of the churches money, or receive monies that are given to the church as donations or for other reasons. The “all powerful church”, in certain cases, decides hopefully what will happen to these funds. The people following these churches, may definitely be a factor in the process as well.

 

“Of Virtue and Vice, and a Vatican Priest” by David Casati, tells of a very modern situation involving the Vatican and corruption within the Catholic Church. A trusted Monsignor, who had the honored position of being a top accountant at the Vatican office and managed the Holy See’s real estate and investments, was arrested. He is currently on trial, accused of money laundering and trying to smuggle over 26 million from Switzerland to Italy in a private plane, even with the help of an Italian secret Service agent. This particular person, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, whose own personal wealth totals over 8.2 million, was paid by the church roughly 41,000 a year to manage Vatican funds. He abused his position, and used funds to maintain illegal dealings.  One statement Quoted from the Monsignor states he felt as if he was “Robin Hood” and took from the rich to give to the poor. This article goes on to state that this is not the first time well trusted people within the church have pilfered or robbed the Vatican. It has gone on for years. The present Pope has already responded to this and other allegations by reformatting the church and its banking dealings, lessening the amounts in certain cases and cutting down on the numerous accounts the church holds.

 

 

Dylan Matthews who wrote the article “You Give religions More than 82.5 billion a year” focuses on many religions and churches that a person might see on Sunday morning television.  Hundreds of programs that have been in existence for decades and have many true believers seem to have more capital than established religions on this planet for centuries. The writer of this article asks the question that if these churches and synagogues, mosques and the like lost their tax privileges, how much tax revenue they would generate. We have all heard scandals around these televangelists and know they make fortunes, but can this be a factor in what churches around the globe are dealing with? Organizations making billions and falling short of their common core beliefs? Losing touch with their faith for the comforts available due to their available flow of cash? A study was done and many of the churches here in America have over an estimated $600 billion in property scattered across the 50 states.

 

A very good article entitled ”The Business of Religion” by the money.co.uk team has taken a good approach to modern day churches and institutions by breaking down the finances of many of the religions and groups we have known around the world. It starts off by saying that money and religion is a grey area fraught with conspiracy and scandal. Some of the wealthiest organizations on the planet are religious or religious movements, ancient and modern, but their followers are the poorest, leading one to think where is all the money gone.

The article further goes on to show some of the vast wealth collected by these organizations, such as Scientology, which claims to have over 8 million followers worldwide and Hundreds of millions of dollars in assets. Many famous people have joined them but most of their members are very poor. The largest church the article mentions is, of course, the biggest. The Catholic Church has supposedly over 1.81 billion members across the world and its scandals are well known. The main point of this article is that organizations with huge amounts of money seem more geared to problems with their finances that their beliefs. Some with groups like Scientology have questions on both aspects.

 

Opposing stance:

 

The stance against my argument shows that the church, religious groups, and organizations have always fought against corruption and that this is something they have dealt with for years. It is an attack against the church that have may “shaken” things up a bit, but the church is strong and has dealt with worse over centuries of existence, in many cases. The power of belief, helping citizens of many countries and supporting generations cannot be defeated just by a few attempts by the weak, the greedy or corrupt people can bring a church down.

 

Opposing Arguments/articles

 

“Money: Though for God’s Stewards”, by Reverend Andrew Murray, will focus on the sanctity of the church. He writes that in the world of money there is a standard of value and that it is difficult to express all that money means. It can be a blessing or it can be a curse. Even in the kingdom of heaven one is judged by the money he has, how he obtained it and uses it are factors as well. Money can be tempting but the church must manage it and not fall to temptation. It is to be sacrificed to God for the good of the church and man and the church must be strengthened by the way they deal with money. As much as money is spent on self,” God may help the soul in the victory that overcomes the world and the flesh.” This is an important statement he makes in showing the church is powerful and must make right with what they collect, raise and supply the people they support with. Every effort must be made to resist temptation and the few who fall in the cracks will not bring the church down. It is strong, in this case his church and is here to help the people.

 

 

There is an interesting point in the article “The Corruption of our Churches” by Jackie Patna. It brings about the church and its ongoing involvement with the government or different governments. For centuries, the church in many ways had to follow government dictates, pay taxes or follow doctrines to survive. In order to help the people that follow that particular religion, the church had to go along with any scenario, even if it means breaking with the churches own rules to exist.  Those in power may not act in our favor and we sometimes must “stand up to the system” in order to deal with survival. Many times it is the government in control and religion is given a second standing. Additionally, people in power in the church may give “order” to the situation in order to keep the peace. A follower may not know it, but the church basically saved his or her life. By adapting to their environment, the church exists to save the people.

 

My third peer reviewed article in my opposing stance is by Mara Einstein which is called “In Brands of Faith”. She deals with the marketing of religion in the twenty first century and how it can affect and interact with modern society. According to her and the American Marketing Association, marketing can be described as the process of planning and executing the concept, planning and pricing and promotion of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfies individual and organizational objectives.  The marketing of religion has gone on since before the printing press. The church, institution or religion is trying to reach the people in order to help them get closer to god. This is a noble goal and can only be questioned if there is something wrong with which the marketing may be deployed. Not only can money can corrupt, but the marketing to the people as well. Truth in advertising is a concept that has been bantered about for years, but can we find which truth in which religion? This is a subject which may not be able to be answered satisfactorily. A church must survive with members. The church must let the members know in certain cases they exist, and “marketing” must be fair, especially if they are marketing just to get the patrons money. Marketing is a business and the church does in many ways market it well.

 

This fourth article, “Corruptions Is a Greater Evil that Sin”, shows how the Pope and other leaders have been fighting back for many years in dealing with corruption and what has been going on with financial problems within their organizations. It has been governments and banks over the years that the church has dealt with that have in fact allowed corruption to continue concerning the church. Government in many cases have been told or found that the banks knew of fraud, corruption and greed against the church and basically have turned a blind eye to what was happening. Even the President of the New York Federal Reserve has repeatedly stated that bankers must improve their ethics. No one seems to be listening and the church can only do its part in monitoring its financial dealings. The church, like many other organizations must keep its money in banks. Too much cash around may lead to the very thing that churches want to avoid, which is scandal. Additional laws and regulations have been put in place to stop the attacks on the church monies, and many religious groups have taken similar actions to ensure their wellbeing. In fact, as this article states, the bible asks us to stand up and do justice to anyone who would do injustice or oppress the people. There is even a cartoon at the beginning of the article showing Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple with a modern day interpretation. Instead of old world moneychangers, they show people from Barclays, Citibank and JP Morgan chase.

 

 

 

Connection to two or more disciplines:

The two connections to our Foundations of Inquiry class disciplines are political Science and Sociology. I have clearly defined that my topic. Money and Religion and Corruption Within has shown a definite connection to political science, being a social science that studies the state, nation government and politics of government. In many ways the government has involved itself with the church and what may or may not go on with church dealings. There are underlying facts and connections between the church and whatever government it associates with. Both deal with the people under its realm, or “jurisdiction, if you will. Both are supposed to have a relationship with the people and both the church and government have a control over what happens. 

 

Also, Sociology plays a factor in this topic as well. The academic study of social behavior tells us that various methods of beliefs and how we connect ourselves to our society and class and structure forms many of our beliefs and customs. Subject matters range from one individual to many people involved in our region, area countries and interactions with each other.  Even Psychology, the way we think is connected in this topic of religion. How we believe and what we believe is a definite connection.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

I believe that my topic may be a little touchy and cause some insult to people, but in the end perhaps it may strengthen their belief and help clear out any doubt that money, or the love of it, is the root of all evil. The church has weakened in many years, its population has shrunken and more and more scandals will be shown. Only by strengthening its resolve, the church must more than ever fight to keep its people, its trust and its use of money proper and whole. There is a constant and continuing problem and the churches, religious institutions, and groups must fend off what will be an ongoing fight. One side may state that the church has constantly fought against corruption and that governments, banks and greed alone are the cause of monetary loss. Other articles I have submitted here deal with churches “covering up” many situations and putting them under the proverbial rug, allowing the corruption to continue. In certain cases the organization itself may be questionable, Like Scientology.

 

In any case, modern day leaders like the Pope have put in place procedures to stop banks, criminals, and even unfortunately its own members, from pilfering. Certain groups have monitored these religions to see where the money goes, does it go to the people, how much is there, or is there questionable ethics involved in the church practices themselves? One cannot truly say with one church, for this problem involves many churches, many people and many governments. I feel, though, we can find a piece of the answer in my Interdisciplinary report.