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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DMaA who wrote (298311)	3/26/2009 6:01:47 PM
From: LindyBill	5 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793782

The Bible provides us with a rich definition of greed. Religion has been one of the major antagonists of Capitalism for eons. The reason the Bible's definition is so "rich" is that it's description of "greed" is a series of adjectives bad-mouthing self interest. No real definition. Christianity considers self interest/selfishness to be a sin. One of the major reasons for the "Dark Ages" of Christendom was that the Church's hatred of "pursuing your own happiness" stopped all banking by making interest a "sin." It was only after Calvin promoted the concept of knowing wither you were going to heaven by how well you did in life [he promoted this idea when he wasn't burning heretics at the stake in Geneva] that Capitalism took off. The greedy will use deception to acquire material goods. The greedy will lie and use false pretenses to acquired goods at the expense of others. There are moral and immoral pursuits of happiness. When you succeed with a moral one, you make a profit. Succeed with an immoral one, you have plunder. Combining the two, as the Religious did here, was a successful attempt to bad mouth Capitalism. The difference is the method used. One is a moral method, the other is a criminal one. I define PROFIT as "a moral increase in happiness."