This is not another Christian whine-session about how Jesus has been taken out of Christmas (and out of the schools, and out of the courts, and out of Amurica…). This is a defense one of the gods who has replaced Jesus: Mammon.
Mammon is easier to worship than Yahweh, for Mammon doesn’t require all of me.
At first, all Mammon asks me to do is to gather and use money. And that’s not so hard. Because money is good. Money is tangible. Money doesn’t ask questions. Money gives me political and social power. Money lets me buy things, things which promise to make my life better all-around. And money is, after all, what so many other Americans pursue.
His Kool-aid is so sweet. As I use money, I get nice things. First food and rent, of course, but then iPods and cell phones, and then cruises and second homes. And people sure seem to like me better with these things. Using money becomes enjoying money, and enjoying money becomes finding joy and meaning in money. And when I find my joy and meaning in something, it is my lord.
True, Mammon causes some unfortunate externalities. True, some people need to be paid paltry wages (or be just plain trafficked) in order to placate Mammon’s hunger. But they’re mostly in other countries; it’s not like I’ll ever meet them or anything. That’s just the way the world works.
True, my family is a little neglected at times when I put in those long hours at the office. But I’m only doing it because I love them. They’ll know that I mean it when I bring home the bacon.
True, carbon emissions from production of stuff in all its varieties accelerate climate change to the point that Earth will be 2-3 full degrees hotter by 2100, resulting in mass starvation, environmental refugees, and probably war. But greed-driven human ingenuity will take care of that as soon as it’s economically expedient to do so. We’ll switch to green energy when the market demands it. (Or better yet, how about I just decide to believe that climate change is not actually true at all.)
The bottom line is, the benefits of serving Mammon outweigh the costs. I get power, influence, and respect from my money, and all it costs me is a few little pieces of soul. And there isn’t another way, now is there? Capitalism wouldn’t work without selfishness and greed, so those must be good.
I suppose the only “other way” worth considering is Jesus, but as I have learned from sitting at Mammon’s feet for so many years, Jesus is far inferior to Mammon. Jesus would have us reject wealth. He would have us deny ourselves. He would have us embrace poverty! Poverty! He would declare all human beings equal and valuable, thus disassembling Mammon’s comforting assurance that, unlike the lazy and mentally-ill and anonymous “poor,” we are “self-made” men and women who have gotten ahead by hard work and bootstrap-tugging. He would welcome the foreigner, even if that foreigner is coming to steal our jobs! He would even at times seem to endorse (gulp) redistribution of income–agreeing with John the Baptist’s anti-American, Marxist, pinko-commie assertion that he who has two coats should give one to him who has none.
Thank Mammon that we don’t have to follow that god; that blue-collar homeless man who wandered the streets with delusions of divinity; that god who would require everything of us, even our very lives.
To all you Mammon-followers out there, I wish you a very merry Consumptionmas.
For those of you foolish enough to insist on following that ex-refugee homeless lower-class carpenter, may your precious Yahweh be with you. And perhaps this site will help you in your quest.
Andy of the Way 