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Importantly! Each Power Point is accompanied by Gary’s commentary to incorporate it into the larger picture. To see and/or read those comments, click on
Importantly! Each Power Point is accompanied by Garys
commentary to incorporate it into the larger picture. To see and/or
read those comments, click on the view button and then the notes
page drop-down. 1
Slide 2
2 This seminar was developed for our nations churches,
ministries, colleges and seminaries to provide an inexpensive but
professional program for adult- education, fundraising, board
meetings and so on. It may also be used by individuals and
financial professionals, who should quote it without change, even
though they are free to disagree with portions. We trust that any
individual who uses it for personal study will make a donation of
$25 to help cover costs. Non-profits might donate $50, while
financial professionals might donate at least $100. Organizations
of all natures might inquire about discounts and/or revenue
sharing. See our website at www.financialseminary.org for
addresses. www.financialseminary.org
Slide 3
3 Altering perspectives is difficult at best. And there are
many slides containing counter-intuitive information for attendees
to ponder. The best presenters can hope for is that attendees will
reflect on the information during coming days. Presenters might
therefore invite attendees to a later private meeting to discuss
the concepts. Commentary for each slide should average about thirty
seconds. So each of the four sessions should approximate thirty
minutes, which should allow plenty of time for discussion if given
over four, one-hour sessions.
Slide 4
4 Finally: This seminar can given three ways: 1) Preferably, in
four, one-hour sessions if you have the time. If that is chosen,
you might incorporate the four parts of Garys book Faithful
Finances 101 (usually available on Amazon or from the John
Templeton Foundation Press) for deeper conversation and
understanding. 2) As an intense two-hour lecture. Or, 3) as an
one-hour, investment-oriented seminar as Part Four largely stands
on its own. Simply move slides five through eighteen to the
beginning of Part Four and continue. Now, lets begin.
Slide 5
5 Kindly Note: This presentation is solely intended to be
general information that might be beneficial to stewards of all
types. Please do not consider it to be counsel that you should act
upon without researching in-depth and/or consulting your various
financial, legal or spiritual advisors. Affinity marketers,
particularly in the religious communities, have too often hurt our
faith and investors. We hope to help change that. But be prudent.
While the workman is worthy of his wages, be particularly careful
if you sense the presenter is more interested in your business than
the ethic of the Abrahamic faiths.
Slide 6
6 Dr. David Miller, former investment banker, author of God at
Work and current Director of the Princeton University Faith &
Work Initiative reviewed this seminar and wrote: Remember the old
brokerage firm ad, When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen? Todays
version should be, When Gary Moore talks, concerned Americans
should listen. Moores insights into financial planning with ethical
and spiritual integrity should be mandatory study in every college,
seminary and investment firm.
Slide 7
With gratitude to The Financial Seminary, the Interfaith Center
for Corporate Responsibility has used the material presented in a
wide variety of member programs and welcomes the opportunity to at
long last have the entire presentation to share with their members
and friends in congregations throughout the United States. Laura
Berry Laura Berry Executive Director Executive Director ICCR ICCR
(300 Religious Institutional (300 Religious Institutional Investors
Stewarding $100 Billion) Investors Stewarding $100 Billion) 7
Slide 8
8 This is an advanced seminar that seeks to prompt a deeper,
more enriching way of thinking and seeing our world, and then
acting upon that perspective, which is largely what religion is
when it comes to economics. So we suggest you simply relax and
listen to your presenter, take the handouts home to study, and
perhaps go online to www.financialseminary.org to review the
presentation, including the presenters comments.
10 This seminar was created by Gary Moore. He has a degree in
political science and was a senior vice president of investments
with a major Wall Street investment firm during the late 80s before
founding The Financial Seminary. He has served on the boards of the
John Templeton Foundation, Opportunity International, The Crystal
Cathedral, Messiah College and Empower America, as well as his
local YMCA, Samaritan Ministries and church. He has been a
commentator for UPI. You will immediately notice that he does not
teach with authority but as a wounded healer who has learned from
others wiser than himself, to whom he is most grateful.
Slide 11
11 Yet, despite the claims of prosperity theology and name it
and claim it religion, nothing Gary has learned the past
twenty-five years has challenged the old wisdom regarding wealth
and the eye of the needle. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism,
taught that the thrift and work ethic of the Puritan approach to
Christianity would inevitably enrich a nation; but that wealth
would likely destroy the morality that created it. The recent
experiences of our nation should make us wonder if Wesley might
have had a point. So it is Garys hope that this seminar might
simply help a few dedicated souls to make a most difficult journey,
one that Christ said is impossible for man but possible with
God.
Slide 12
12 Gary grew up in a devout but poor home. As he grew older and
prospered, he increasingly experienced the tensions between faith
and wealth. He also saw how that was affecting him and his friends,
both mentally and spiritually. He thought of attending seminary but
discovered they didnt deal with these issues any longer. He also
found the church to be of little help. Yet he did find two modern
prophets, both now deceased, who were instrumental to any progress
he might have made.
Slide 13
13
Slide 14
14
Slide 15
15 Religious views are important to whatever anyone
does--investing, writing articles, anything. How you see yourself
in relation to others and your Creator, why, its the most important
thing that there is because you think most clearly only if youre at
peace with yourself and your Creator. Sir John Templeton
Slide 16
16 This extraordinary man believes that successful investing is
a product of a persons overall relationship to life, to the
universe. Unlike most of us, Templeton is at peace with himself. He
has sorted things out. He believes that God created and is creating
the universe. This gives Templeton extra mental energy to make and
stand by his decisions. Forbes
Slide 17
17 The individual needs the return to spiritual virtues, for he
can survive in the present human situation by reaffirming that man
is not just a biological and psychological being but also a
spiritual being, that is creature, and existing for the purposes of
his Creator and subject to him. Peter Drucker Landmarks of
Tomorrow
Slide 18
18 Peter Druckers ability to prophesy-- almost always
correctly--was uncanny. Steve Forbes The Wall Street Journal
Slide 19
19 Q#1: Do other thoughtful people and history agree we should,
even could, go back to the future?
Slide 20
20 A#1: Definitely! One cannot understand current political or
ethical trends, or properly forecast future economic developments,
without understanding the cycles in religious feelings in American
history. Robert Fogel, Ph.D. Nobel Laureate in Economics &
Religious Skeptic Robert Fogel, Ph.D. Nobel Laureate in Economics
& Religious Skeptic The Fourth Great Awakening The Fourth Great
Awakening
Slide 21
21 Rather than denigrating Christianity and religion in
general, socially conscious elites ought to be asking what the
religious impulse can teach us. Robert L. Bartley Robert L. Bartley
Editor Emeritus Editor Emeritus The Wall Street Journal The Wall
Street Journal
Slide 22
22 If we do not manage our affairs both spiritually and
socially in a responsible manner, we will inevitably come to regret
it later. The Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama
Slide 23
23 I wish that on every bedside table, next to the Bible, there
was an article explaining the nature of investing, because people
are still either too confused, intimidated or busy to know what to
do. Peter Lynch Former Manager Former Manager Fidelity Magellan
Fund Fidelity Magellan Fund
Slide 24
24
Slide 25
25 It is embarrassing to live in the most comfortable time in
the history of man and not be happy. Auden called his era the age
of anxiety. I think what was at the heart of the dread in those
days, just a few years into modern times, was that we could tell we
were beginning to lose God. And it is a terrible thing when people
lose God. Life is difficult and people are afraid, and to be
without God is to lose mans great source of consolation and
coherence. I dont think it is unconnected to the boomers
predicament that as a country we were losing God just as they were
being born. Peggy Noonan Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness
Slide 26
26 The people who created this country built a moral structure
around money. The Puritan legacy inhibited luxury and
self-indulgence. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious
and frugal. Over the past thirty years, much of that has been
shredded The countrys moral guardians are forever looking out for
decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant
decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent
norms about how to use and harness money. Introduction to Enough by
By John Bogle ohn B Founder, The Vanguard Funds
Slide 27
27
Slide 28
28 The idea that economic crises, like the current financial
and housing crisis, are mainly caused by changing thought patterns
goes against standard economic thinking. But the current crisis
bears witness to the role of such changes in thinking. It was
caused precisely by our changing confidence, temptations, envy,
resentment, and illusionsand especially by changing stories about
the nature of the economy. Animal Spirits
Slide 29
29 The Credit Crisis & Great Recession The word credit
derives from the Latin credo, meaning I believe. Animal Spirits By
Ackerloff & Schiller
Slide 30
30 A#2: And history suggests we can! The business cycle is a
psychological phenomenon. Only when the memory of hard times has
dimmed can confidence fully establish itself; only when confidence
has led to outrageous excess can it be checked. It was as difficult
for Mr. Hoover to stop the psychological pendulum on the downswing
as it had been for the Reserve Board to stop it on the upswing.
Fredrick Lewis Allen Editor of Harpers Magazine Explaining the
Great Depression
Slide 31
31 The 1929 breakdown was at its roots, a moral breakdown. We
were not living right. We had become extravagant. We had become
intoxicated by the alluring notion that the royal road to riches
did not lie through sweat but speculation. We discarded and scorned
old-fashioned virtues. B.C. Forbes B.C. Forbes Founder, Forbes
Magazine Founder, Forbes Magazine
Slide 32
32 The sins of Big Business and High Finance were responsible
for the over-whelming voting of the New Deal into power. Therefore,
any and every act calculated to bring business into disrepute is
infinitely regrettable. Forbes Magazine Forbes Magazine July 1,
1944 July 1, 1944
Slide 33
33 In the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, Americans are fed up
with Washington and convinced by more than 3 to 1 that the nation
is heading in the wrong direction. USA Today February 16, 2010
Slide 34
34 Source: The Economist +13% Miserable
Slide 35
35 The wealth of a nation is not to be found by asking a
statistically significant, random sample of people to have a stab
at it. What people think, still less what they say, is not a good
guide to the way the world is. People dont know. The Economist
Slide 36
36 Angry
Slide 37
37 Source: The Economist
Slide 38
38 WSJ, September 15, 2010
Slide 39
The problem with the tax debate is not that Democrats and
Republicans disagree, but that they mostly agree. Democrats think
98% of Americans should not pay higher taxes; the Republicans say
100% should not. Taxes this year will come to less than 15% of GDP,
the lowest share since 1950 Raising taxes on the rich would lift
the ratio to only 20%. That is nowhere near enough to pay for
federal spending, estimated at 24% of GDP in 2020. The Economist
The Economist September 18, 2010 September 18, 2010 39
Slide 40
40 Source: Perotcharts.com
Slide 41
41 And Depressed
Slide 42
42
Slide 43
43 Its very interesting to me that the spread of communications
has increased the misery of peoplewere flooded with bad news. And
this bad news is making people depressed at a time when prosperity
is at its greatest ever. Sir John M. Templeton
Slide 44
44 There has always been something in human nature which makes
you buy a newspaper which has the most horrible headline.
Therefore, to be successful in the publishing or television
business, you have to feed the public these catastrophes or the
negative viewpoint. Therefore the public is brainwashed. Sir John
Templeton Sir John Templeton
Slide 45
45 The agenda of the world-the issues and items that fill our
newspapers and newscasts-is an agenda of fear and power. A huge
network of anxious questions surrounds us and begins to guide many,
if not most, of our daily decisions. Clearly those who pose these
questions which bind us have true power over us. Jesus seldom
accepted the questions posed to him. He exposed them as coming from
the house of fear. They did not belong in the house of God. Henri
Nouwen
Slide 46
46 Politicians earn much of their living by exploiting
anxieties, encouraging people to feel worse than they should about
the state of their country. The Economist
Slide 47
47 The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace
alarmedand hence clamorous to be led to safetyby menacing it with
an endless series of hobgloblins, all of them imaginary. H.L.
Mencken H.L. Mencken
Slide 48
48 Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. George
Washington
Slide 49
49 Proving some things are indeed eternal, a prominent
politician has said: Our government in Washington now is a horrible
bureaucratic mess. It is disorganized, wasteful, has no purpose,
and its policieswhen they existare incomprehensible or devised by
special interest groups with little or no regard for the welfare of
the average American citizen. The American people believe that we
ought to control our government. On the other hand, weve seen our
government controlling us. Governor Jimmy Carter 1976, Dow Jones
Apx 800
Slide 50
No matter how serene today may be, tomorrow is always
uncertain. Dont let that reality spook you. Throughout my lifetime,
politicians and pundits have constantly moaned about terrifying
problems facing America. Yet our citizens now live an astonishing
six times better than when I was born. The prophets of doom have
overlooked the all- important factor that is certain: Human
potential is far from exhausted and the American system for
unleashing that potential remains alive and effective. Warren
Buffett Warren Buffett Letter to shareholders 2011 Letter to
shareholders 2011 50
Slide 51
51 The deficit is not a meaningless figure, only a grossly
overrated oneOur politicians have conjured the deficit into a
bogeyman with which to scare themselves. In symbolizing the
bankruptcy of our political process, the deficit has become a great
national myth with enormous power. But behind the political symbol,
we need to understand the economic reality, or lack of it. In the
advanced economic literature, the big debate is whether deficits
matter at all. Robert Bartley Editor The Wall Street Journal Seven
Fat Years, 1992
Slide 52
52
Slide 53
53
Slide 54
54 When Americans look at their economy these days, they are
horrified by what they see, or think they see. Economic paranoia
has become an American habit. America worries as it prospers. The
Economist Sam, Sam, The Paranoid Man
Slide 55
55 Extraordinary Popular Delusions & The Madness of Crowds
This time is different are the four most expensive words in the
English language. expensive words in the English language. Sir John
M. Templeton Sir John M. Templeton
Slide 56
56 Counting Our Assets, Or Blessings, For A Change
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/2010budge t
Slide 57
57 A B C D
Slide 58
58 Americas Wealth Americas Wealth $125.5 Trillion Gross (A)
-7.2 Trillion Owed (B) -7.2 Trillion Owed (B) =$118.3 Trillion Net
(C) =$118.3 Trillion Net (C) Source: OMB, White House
Slide 59
59 The size of the net foreign debt is relatively small
compared with the total stock of U.S. assets (D). In 2007, it
amounted to 7% of total assets including education and R&D
capital. Office of Management & Budget The Bush White House
Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2009
Slide 60
60 Americas Federal Debt to Assets Source: OMB in Bush White
House
Slide 61
61
Slide 62
62 Every dollar of US international indebtedness is matched by
a dollar of assets abroad. Professor Jeremy Siegel The Financial
Times October 6, 2009
Slide 63
63 College Degrees Source: The Economist
Slide 64
64 Innovation Source: The Economist
Slide 65
65 Thanks to the liberating forces of globalization and
Googlisation, innovation is no longer the preserve of technocratic
elites in ivory towers. It is increasingly an open, networked and
democratic endeavor. If man really can find a way of harnessing the
innovative capacity of 9 billion bright sparks, then the audacious
prediction about feeding the much hungrier world of 2110 using less
land than today may very well be proven right. After all, mans
greatest asset is his ability to harness that one natural resource
that remains infinite in quantity: human ingenuity. The Economist
May 15, 2010
Slide 66
If the U.S. economys long-term economic growth rate increased
to 3.5% from the 3% rate that has prevailed since 1970, wed be able
to cover all the spending promises weve made to ourselves without
raising any additional funds through higher taxes or increased
borrowing. Claremont Review of Books Claremont Review of Books Paul
Ryans Roadmap Paul Ryans Roadmap Summer 2010 Summer 2010 66
Slide 67
67 Yes, the Great Recession hurt, but Source: Federal
Reserve
Slide 68
68 $1 Billion in Stacked $100 Bills
Slide 69
69 $1 Trillion in Double Stacked $100 Bills
Slide 70
70 The national debt peaked at 128 percent of GNP in 1946. of
GNP in 1946. U.S. Department of Commerce
Slide 71
71
Slide 72
72 Source: The Economist NATODefenseSpending
Slide 73
73 The Economist March 17, 2001
Slide 74
74 Conclusion? The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred
from a measurement of national income. Simon Kuznets Creator of the
GDP in 1932
Slide 75
75 The biggest threat to America right now is not government
spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world
terrorism, two wars, potential epidemics or nuts with nukes. The
biggest long-term threat is that people are becoming and have
become disheartened, that this condition is reaching critical mass.
Peggy Noonan The Wall Street Journal November 1, 2009
Slide 76
76 The economy isnt the only reason for our unease. Theres more
to it. People sense something slipping away, a world receding, not
only an economic one but a world of old structures, old ways and
assumptions. The moment we are living now is a strange one, a
disquieting one, a time that seems full of endings. Too bad theres
no pill for that. Peggy Noonan Wall Street Journal March 14,
2009
Slide 77
77 Part Two: Religious Challenges to Our Well- Being
Slide 78
78 So, if religion is so enriching and most Americans still go
to church, how could religion have played a role in the Great
Recession?
Slide 79
79 A # 1: Cultural Religion is More Socially Harmful Than No
Religion!
Slide 80
80 Economics is more than a matter of interest rates and
deficits. Morality is more than a matter of stained glass and
hymns. Economic success is built on moral foundations. An economy
reflects the moral image of its people. Jack Kemp Jack Kemp
Slide 81
81 I think that what happened in the nineteenth century was
that religious leadership in all religions simply abandoned the
field of economic morality to the secular world. Religion thus
became irrelevant to many people. We helped create a split
personality among the business leaders. They could be pious men,
they could go to church or to synagogue or to the mosque, but
religion made no demands on them in the marketplace. This
separation of personality, I think, is a major tragedy for religion
and for the businessman. Rabbi Dr. Meir Tamari
Slide 82
82 Discipline begets abundance, and abundance, unless we take
the utmost care, destroys discipline; and discipline in the fall
pulls down abundance. The Monastic Cycle
Slide 83
83 When the Protestant Reformation did away with monasticism,
rejecting what it took to be an attempt to gain heaven by works, it
also did away with what had long been monasticisms reminder to the
entire church of the need for obedience in economic matters.
Professor Justo Gonzalez Professor Justo Gonzalez Faith &
Wealth Faith & Wealth
Slide 84
84 The Protestant Reformation released the great surge of
individualism that created the modern West, including what we now
call capitalism and democracy. But for the first two centuries,
this new dynamo operated inside a still generally accepted body of
Christian discipline. Then, in the eighteenth century, this sort of
discipline began to break down. Humankind was self- sufficient. The
Economist The Economist
Slide 85
85 If, after diligent work, his efforts fail, he who has
borrowed money should and may say to him from whom he has borrowed
it: This year I owe you nothingIf you want to have a share in
winning, you must also have a share in losing. The money lenders
who do not want to put up with these terms are as pious as robbers
and murderers. Martin Luther
Slide 86
86 Do we need any admonition to earn all we can? Close reading
of Wesley, however, quickly shows that he was not giving
theological rationale for an aggressive acquisitiveness that
characterizes much of American society. His sermon is actually a
polemic against destructive ways of earning. How income is earned
is as integral to Christian stewardship as what is done with the
earnings. Wesley warns against earning money by hurting oneself or
others or Gods creation. Bishop Ken Carder A Wesleyan Perspective
on Christian Stewardship
Slide 87
87 For Christians, lending money at interest was a sin.
Usurers, people who lent money at interest, had been excommunicated
by the Third Lateran Council in 1179. Even arguing that usury is
not a sin had been condemned as heresy by the Council of Vienna in
1311-12. Christian usurers had to make restitution to the Church
before they could be buried on hallowed ground. Professor Niall
Ferguson The Ascent of Money
Slide 88
88 There is one bit of advice to us by the ancient heathen
Greeks, and by the Jews of the Old Testament and by the great
Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic
system has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to
lend money at interest; and lending at interestwhat we call
investmentis the basis of our whole systemIt does not necessarily
follow that we are wrong. That is where we need the Christian
economist. But I should not have been honest if I had not told you
that three great civilizations had agreed in condemning the very
thing on which we have based our whole life. C.S. Lewis, Mere
Christianity
Slide 89
89 In 1639, the elders of the First Church of Boston brought
charges against a Puritan merchant named Robert Keayne for
dishonoring the name of God. Soon after, he was tried and found
guilty by the Commonwealth as well. Writing his memoirs some
sixteen years later, he was still stung by the disgrace of the
event. His sin was greed. He had sold his wares at a six percent
profit, two percent above the maximum allowed. Robert Wuthnow
Robert Wuthnow God and Mammon In America
Slide 90
90 For at least another hundred years we must pretend to
ourselves and to everyone that fair is foul and foul is fair; for
foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution
must be our gods for a little while longer still. John Maynard
Keynes
Slide 91
91 The way stewardship is practiced in North America often has
little to do with the Bible. It stems primarily from the most
influential American theologian, Andrew Carnegie. The Christian
religion, Carnegie maintained, become pertinent only after
production has run its course, money has been made and money has
been reinvested. In other words, Carnegie said that Christian faith
has to do with charity, and charity does not extend to the
questions of economics. Professor Doug Meeks Professor Doug Meeks
God The Economist God The Economist
Slide 92
92 The problem of dualism and compartmentalization: This
horrible heresy divides reality into the distinct categories of the
spiritual verses the physical, the sacred verses the secular, and
the eternal verses the temporal. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this
split view of reality the most colossal obstacle to genuine faith.
This mega-problem of dualism is the chief cause for the reduced,
powerless versions of Christianity that are commonplace in far too
many Christian communities today. David K. Naugle, Ph.D.
Slide 93
93 Idealism is a principle and tradition in metaphysics that
maintains that something ideal or nonphysical is the primary
realityIdealism underplays the importance of history and historical
forces and ignores the way culture is lived and experienced.
Further, idealism ignores the way culture is generated,
coordinated, and organized. James Davison Hunter To Change The
World
Slide 94
94
Slide 95
95 Wealth and enterprise have so woven themselves around the
message of Jesus that popular models of Christianity appear as
nothing more than self and greed at the center, with strands of
Christian thought at the periphery. Ravi Zacharias Ravi Zacharias
Jesus Among Other Gods Jesus Among Other Gods
Slide 96
96 I believe in God, family and McDonalds. And in the office,
that order is reversedIf any of my competitors were drowning, Id
stick a hose in their mouth and turn on the water. It is ridiculous
to call this an industry. This is not. This is rat eat rat, dog eat
dog. Ill kill em, and Im going to kill em before they kill me.
Youre talking about the American way--the survival of the fittest.
Ray Kroc Founder of McDonalds
Slide 97
97 This framework of separated areas of life is deeply embedded
in the Christian Church, in its theology and in the daily life of
its people. On Sunday morning or during our devotional or prayer
life, we operate in the spiritual realm. The rest of the week, and
in our professional lives, we operate in the physical realm and,
hence, unwittingly act like functional atheists. Bryant Myers,
Ph.D. WorldVision
Slide 98
98 Fewer than one out of every ten born again Christians
possesses a biblical worldview that impacts his/her decisions and
behaviorsThe problem with Christianity in America is not the
content of the faith, but the failure of its adherents to integrate
the principles of the faith into their lifestyles. Sociologist
George Barna
Slide 99
99 Politics Economics PersonalFinances Religion Many leaders,
Im afraid, place their religious and moral convictions in separate
compartments and do not think of the implications of their faith on
their responsibilities. BillyGraham Billy Graham This Is A
Post-Modern Brain On Compartmentalization
Slide 100
100 It is possible to envision a time when evangelicals have
the consistent Christian perspective tools they require in this
area of life. But it is probably best to expect Christian theology
for life under modern high-tech capitalism to come mainly from
where it now does--from Jewish, Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran
sources, in which traditions exist for relating doctrines of
creation to matters of redemption in a modern economic context. It
is possible to envision a time when evangelicals have the
consistent Christian perspective tools they require in this area of
life. But it is probably best to expect Christian theology for life
under modern high-tech capitalism to come mainly from where it now
does--from Jewish, Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran sources, in
which traditions exist for relating doctrines of creation to
matters of redemption in a modern economic context. Professor John
R. Schneider Professor John R. Schneider Calvin College Calvin
College
Slide 101
101 In his recent book, The Great Giveaway, David Fitch
addresses the knee-jerk way in which evangelicals admire and copy
churches and ministries that garner large followings. He speaks of
evangelicalisms culture of numbers and show how it often owes more
to free-market capitalisms concern for efficient production than it
does to the gospel. Christianity Today
Slide 102
102 [Americans are gravitating toward] a religion that is
easygoing and experiential rather than rigorous and intellectualWe
must fight the temptation to treat our faith the way we treat our
careers--as a source of entertainment, fulfillment, and happiness.
Remember the warning of C.S. Lewis: If youre seeking happiness,
dont choose Christianity, choose port wine. Chuck Colson Chuck
Colson
Slide 103
103 Nearly two billion people unblushingly call themselves
Christian, happily breaking almost every commandment should the
occasion arise, serving Mammon and goodness knows who else. An
Obituary For Jesus An Obituary For Jesus The Economist The
Economist Easter 1999 Easter 1999
Slide 104
104 The area known as economics was never isolated by itself in
Islamic society. It was always combined with ethics. That is why
the very acceptance of economics as an independent domain, not to
speak of as the dominating factor in life according to the
prevailing paradigms of the modern world, is devastating to the
Islamic view of human life. Professor Seyyed Nasr Professor Seyyed
Nasr The Heart of Islam The Heart of Islam
Slide 105
105 Despite, or maybe because of the worlds economic travails,
Islamic finance has continued to stride ahead, as investors seek
alternatives to products that have let them down in the past.
Assets in Islamic finance rose to $822 billion last year, an
increase of 29 per cent compared to 2008 Might the inherently
prudent principles of Islamic finance have prevented lending to
people who were likely to default, for instance? According to
sharia law, the selling of loans is not permitted, nor is
interest-bearing debt more generallyall factors that contributed to
the crisis. The Financial Times June 21, 2010
Slide 106
106 (Unless Christian economists at major universities) keep
their economics and their religion in separate compartments, they
are likely to be denied tenure. It is acceptable to be Marxist,
feminist, environmentalist, progressive, or other quasi-religious
brand of economist, but not a Judeo-Christian economist. Robert
Nelson, Ph.D. Forbes
Slide 107
107
Slide 108
108 Somewhere in the seventies, or the sixties, we started
expecting to be happy. I think we have lost the old knowledge that
happiness is over-ratedthat in a way life itself is overrated. We
are the first generations of man that actually expected to find
happiness here on earth, and our search has caused such
unhappiness. The reason: if you do not believe in another, higher
world, if you believe only in the flat material world around you,
if you believe that this is your only chance at happiness--if that
is what you believe, then you are more than disappointed when the
world does not give you a good measure of its riches, you are in
despair. Peggy Noonan Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness