[PAA-Discuss] Fwd: For Those of You on Your Way to Church This Morning ...a note from Michael Moore

[Bill Crosier]

Here's something you may want to forward to your friends, to get them 
thinking about capitalism vs Christianity.  A Catholic priest in 
Houston whom I know has already forwarded it to his friends.

Bill


>From: "Michael Moore" <maillist at michaelmoore.com>
>Subject: For Those of You on Your Way to Church This Morning ...a 
>note from Michael Moore
>Date: Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:50:43 -0400
>Reply-To: maillist at michaelmoore.com
>
>For Those of You on Your Way to Church This Morning ...a note from 
>Michael Moore
>
>Sunday, October 4th, 2009
>
>Friends,
>
>I'd like to have a word with those of you who call yourselves 
>Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can read 
>along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied 
>to your own spiritual/ethical values).
>
>In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about 
>my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's 
>religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. 
>After all, we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades 
>about how one should "behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned 
>out on pieties and platitudes considering we are a violent nation 
>who invades other countries and punishes our own for having the 
>audacity to fall on hard times.
>
>I'm also against any proselytizing; I certainly don't want you to 
>join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I have much to say 
>about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for another 
>day (or movie).
>
>Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress 
>exposed in "Capitalism: A Love Story," I pose a simple question in 
>the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a 
>capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? 
>Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to have 
>more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
>
>I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that 
>capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed 
>and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one 
>thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's 
>left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would 
>have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to 
>be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did 
>exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house 
>the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the 
>pin code to the pearly gates.
>
>I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define 
>"Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate 
>since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 
>14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.
>
>At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) 
>are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay 
>little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a 
>mere 1%!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such 
>an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a 
>Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND 
>love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to 
>see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line.  That's 
>called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at 
>the expense of others.
>
>When you are in church this morning, please think about this. I am 
>asking you to allow your "better angels" to come forward. And if you 
>are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to make it 
>from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to 
>stop this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until 
>everyone has a seat at the table.
>
>Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours. I'll be sure 
>to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit 
>default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How 
>else did he divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish 
>equally amongst 5,000 people? Either he was the first socialist or 
>his disciples were really bad at packing lunch. Or both.
>
>Yours,
>Michael Moore
><mailto:mmflint at aol.com>MMFlint at aol.com
><http://www.michaelmoore.com/>MichaelMoore.com
>
><http://www.michaelmoore.com/visitor/register>Join Mike's Mailing 
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>

-- 
Bill Crosier
paa at crosierbiomed.com      713-641-4941
Progressive Action Alliance   http://progressiveactionalliance.org/
KPFT - Radio for Peace - 90.1 FM Houston   http://kpft.org
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