Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - February 9, 2025
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Faith of Christ and Capitalism, Part 4
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Faith of Christ and Capitalism, Part 4

An oft-cited criticism of capitalism is that it leads to disparities of wealth. Disparities per se are not necessarily bad. The incentive to earn more money and enjoy the benefits of a larger income encourages hard work and creativity. Many people regard it as just and fair that a person who works harder should enjoy the fruits of their labor.

A problem is that with wealth comes political power, and one can utilize this power to generate more wealth through various kinds of graft. Since such enhanced wealth does not increase the amount of goods or services available, it reduces the wealth of other individuals. As wealth and power become concentrated among relatively few individuals, they can impoverish a large fraction of the public, profoundly reducing general well-being.

What prevents the masses from revolting against the injustice? Frequently those with wealth and power typically invoke the scapegoating process to deflect public anger and resentment from themselves and toward vulnerable individuals. Human victims of scapegoating are rarely totally innocent, but they are rarely as guilty as those bent on scapegoating portray them. Of course, nonhuman victims are rarely, if ever, guilty of anything.

Importantly, those who participate in scapegoating nearly always benefit, even if marginally. Sometimes, the benefit is little more than the gratifying sense of camaraderie that accompanies the collective "punishment" of the scapegoating victim(s) or the sense of peace and calm that derives from believing that the evil in their society has been destroyed. Often, those involved in scapegoating benefit materially from stealing the belongings of the victims. The book The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen describes how an important impetus for support for Nazism was the prospect of stealing the homes and other property of Jewish people. However, since the evil remains after the scapegoating event, the scapegoating process is merely a temporary, unjust "solution" to a chronic problem.

As I've argued previously, non-humans are perennial scapegoating victims. Human attributes of which we are ashamed, such as stupidity, cowardice, and cruelty, are routinely attributed to non-humans, particularly those non-humans that humans abuse. A world in which those with power abuse those with less power, whether it is factory-owners mistreating factory workers or humans in general conspiring to mistreat non-humans, is a world where the scapegoating process flourishes. Perhaps the injustices associated with capitalism can best be addressed by recognizing and resisting the scapegoating process. More to come...

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

watercolor painting

All-Creatures.org Newsletter, February 5, 2025

Harmful myths about dogs - a prayer for the annual season of nonviolence - the intelligence of pigs - advice for new activists - Ingrid Newkirk's speech at the 2005 Nonviolence Conference [videos] - Quo Vadis? [new poem from Heidi Stephenson] - an accidental feline social experiment - the devastation of super trawlers

Do you have things that you would like to see included in future newsletters? Then send it to us at maddie@all-creatures.org.

In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L. Hoffman
All-Creatures.org

and

Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Director
All-Creatures.org

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