Religion – Part IV of VI
Worshipping at the Altar of More
When this topic came to mind as a segment in this series, I made an error in assuming I would find lots of material to corroborate the idea of money as a god. For whatever reason I thought the correlation of the obsessive acquisition of vast wealth to fanatical belief would be well researched. To my surprise, very little has been written on this subject. So I’m fairly on my own, being relegated to personal observations in writing this piece. I did discover a book titled Capitalism as Religion by Walter Benjamin, an unfinished work written in 1921, where, according to Wikipedia, “Benjamin describes this religious system as ‘destructive and monstrous.’ Rather than offering salvation, it leads to despair, where ruin is mistaken for hope. Capitalism secularizes and internalizes guilt, stripping religion of transcendence and turning it into immanent human destiny.”
With that said, in my opinion, for many people, (especially those who have already accumulated more money than anyone could ever spend), placing the garnering of ever greater wealth crosses into the realm of religious zealotry. The truly odd part of all of this is that the concept of money is just that it’s only an idea. Paper dollars, coins, American Express traveler’s cheques, stock certificates, all exist because there is a tacit agreement between humans that these things have value. If the world as a whole decided tomorrow that the items we now refer to as money were worthless and we should go back to conch shells as a means of trading goods, the billionaire class would evaporate.
In addition there is the world of Bitcoin, existing not in one’s bank account or as cash in your pocket, but virtual currency that exists solely in cyberspace, sequestered in some binary code that tells the owner they have imagined funds. Because of this, we live on the precipice of financial collapse if this form of capital were to disappear based on the very real possibility of a breach in software security or a worldwide erasure of data banks. We cannot see, feel, or survive on the fantasy of money, and yet the ultra-rich somehow believe that the continuing acquisition of greater and greater wealth is a seeming substitution for being a decent human being.
In his book, Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari suggests that money, as a way of bartering for goods and services, is a human construct underpinned by the greatest mutually agreed upon trust factor ever conceived. But that is a generally accepted perspective encompassing the entirety of our species and the use of currency. An overwhelming greed factor comes into focus when assessing those who cannot ever garner enough wealth. Interestingly, greed emanates from the same area of the brain as does the genetic predisposition for religious belief, the amygdala. Anthropologists believe that at one time greed played a positive role in early human survival. Those who hoarded (at least for the good of the tribe) created stores of resources that might be used during difficult times. And so this element of hoarding/greed became another one of those inherited traits that has now become detrimental in modern society.
If I could, I would ask the Musk’s, the Zuckerberg’s, the Thiel’s of the world a very simple question: What’s the Point? The problem is there is no salient answer, no rational response that could give anyone a true sense of the reasoning for garnering more money than anyone could ever need. And then still want more.
A friend who worked for Oracle once told me that as the founder of the company, Larry Ellison’s goal in life was to become the world’s richest person. Aside from this incredibly moronic goal, I believe there are simpler ways to have one’s name appear in the Guinness Book of World Records. Mr. Ellison’s mantra brings to mind the old quote of, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.” Usually meant as the most cars, or boats, or houses, but the words could certainly stand in for the size of a bank account as well. In the end, the acquisition of anything does not keep death away. It’s where we all end up, so why not make the world a better place instead of wasting one’s days accumulating “whatever” in order to “win” a nonexistent prize.
The only reason I can think of for this behavior with regard to an overarching desire for hyper-wealth beyond anything most people can imagine (remember that Musk’s value on paper is 1,000 billion dollars) is religious in nature. The realm of that much money allows for a transcendent sense of self as a god of sorts. My guess is that Musk and his fellow multi, multi billionaires believe they have, in essence, risen to the peak of Mount Olympus where they have taken up residence next to Zeus.
During a conversation about this topic, a good friend suggested that Musk might gladly trade his tremendous wealth to be able to place a colony on Mars. That his money is really only a means to an end in fulfilling his dreams fomented by a vivid imagination. I wish that were true, but my observations of his behavior through media channels bely that image. His fourteen children (and counting) with multiple women, his wild rampages through sex clubs in Germany, his reported 280-foot super yacht, and his tirades against anyone who isn’t white all suggest that his psychosis is well beyond that of a fantasy of living on a distant planet. It appears more like narcissism run amok which is more like that of an infantile, self-proclaimed god rather than the Sci-Fi musings of a creative dreamer.
Someone reading this might ask, “But what’s wrong with making money?” My answer is, “Nothing!” Even though we live in an imaginary monetary construct, we all want to survive, to pass along our genetic material, and to enjoy the brief time we have on Earth. Making a living by earning money to purchase goods is part of what humans do. But it’s the obsessive drive for more and more and more that, at least to me, leads to the nonsensical and extremely destructive worship of the golden idol.
[Part V will offer a perspective about Religion, Philosophy, and Theology. How they differ, how they interact, and how they incorporate similar processes.]
For David Graeber, the origins of money are inseparable from the origins of religion: both emerged from the need to manage human obligations, maintain social cohesion, and legitimize authority. Religion provided the moral and symbolic framework for debt and credit, while debt and credit systems gave religion its economic and political power. This interplay shaped the development of states, empires, and modern economies.
David Graeber’s work, especially Debt: The First 5,000 Years (2011), reframes the history of money not as a sudden invention streamlining barter, but as a long-standing social institution rooted in debt and credit systems that predate coins or cash. He argues that for millennia, societies traded goods on credit, creating a division between debtors and creditors. This system was deeply embedded in political, legal, and religious life, with concepts like “guilt” and “redemption” emerging from disputes over debt forgiveness. Graeber challenges the conventional economic narrative that money arose from the inefficiencies of barter. Instead, he shows that money is a later, more formalized form of debt—a way to manage and standardize obligations. In many ancient societies, money was not a universal medium of exchange but a tool of social control, often tied to power structures and state authority. His research suggests that the “money” we know today evolved from the need to settle debts, record obligations, and enforce them, rather than from the practicalities of trading goods directly.
Sacred Communion and Sacrifice
In many ancient cultures, including Sumerian, Greek, and Celtic traditions, money was originally a symbolic substitute for sacrificial food in communal rituals. In these ceremonies, participants received portions of sacrificial meat or grain according to their social standing, which reinforced loyalty to the group and a covenant with the deity Theosophical Society in America+1. Over time, as societies expanded and food distribution became impractical, coins or tokens began to represent these portions. This shift preserved the ritual bond but introduced impersonal exchange, replacing patriarchal redistribution with contractual bargaining. [Theosophical Society in America]
Temple-Centered Economies
In Mesopotamian Sumer, the temple was the central institution for both religious and economic life. It managed the city’s resources, believing the gods owned the city and that the temple acted as their steward. Food and goods were brought in from the countryside and distributed through temple authority, embedding economic activity within a sacred framework ETHOS Institute for Public Christianity.
Symbolic Transformation
In Greece, for example, the ritual roasting spits (obeloe) used to distribute sacrificial meat became early forms of currency. Greek coins eventually took on the symbolic meaning of roasted bull meat, representing both sustenance and religious obligation ETHOS Institute for Public Christianity. Similar ideas appear in Celtic coinage, where symbols from Druidic doctrine were inscribed, suggesting priestly oversight of the monetary system.
Religious and Social Functions
Theorists like Bernhard Laum and Émile Durkheim saw money as a social institution rooted in religion, moderated by sacred laws and rituals. Durkheim linked economic power to the concept of “magic” in religion, seeing money as a form of power derived from sacred authority ETHOS Institute for Public Christianity. This view contrasts with the modern, purely materialist understanding of money.
The Protestant work ethic
The Protestant work ethic is a set of values rooted in certain Protestant traditions—especially Calvinism—that emphasize diligence, self-discipline, frugality, and the reinvestment of earnings as moral imperatives. It teaches that work is a calling from God, giving dignity and purpose to all honest labor, whether farming, craftsmanship, or business. The ethic emerged from the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin, who redefined the role of work in Christian life. Luther rejected the idea that only clergy had a “calling,” teaching that every believer has a vocation to serve God and neighbor. Prosperity theology is a Christian belief that faith, positive confession, and giving can lead to material wealth and physical well-being, seen as evidence of God’s favor.
Prosperity theology, also called the prosperity gospel, health and wealth gospel, or Word of Faith movement, teaches that God desires believers to experience financial success, health, and overall well-being. Adherents believe that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes can attract these blessings. Illness and poverty are often interpreted as curses that can be broken through faith and divine grace, making material prosperity a sign of God’s favor and spiritual righteousness. Prosperity theology interprets the Bible as a covenant between God and humans, where faith and obedience result in material and physical blessings. Conversely, sickness, natural disasters, or simply the sin of being poor are results of God’s disfavor with the unbelievers.
Modern Erosion of Sacred Meaning
With population growth, trade expansion, and secularization, the original religious purpose of money—linking exchange to loyalty, covenant, and divine order—has faded. Today, money is often seen as a neutral or even negative social tool, divorced from its sacred origins. As many claim about religion, the pure essence of money eroded; which has seemed to me the tail wagging the dog.
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I need to atone my sin of making heavy use of AI search engines in preparing this essay. [mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa]. I sincerely encourage you all to rid yourselves of this grievous love of money and personal possessions, and send one tenth –nay, twenty-three percent matching modern expected tipping practice, to the Church of Tobin.
Michael. I would like to thank you and your artificially intelligent non-human friends for adding some quite interesting information to my post, Clearly there is a great deal more to the connection between religion and the garnering of wealth than I had imagined. What becomes quite clear in the information you added is that, at least in Christendom, adherents can pick and choose which tenets of the Bible to follow and which ones can be completely ignored. I go back to the ostensible quote from Jesus that “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” I don’t see much nuance in that statement and yet you have the cult of crazies who are buying into Prosperity Theology. If someone wants to justify egregious behavior, they will have no trouble in finding whatever parable they want in some remote corner of the Bible. “Uh, da Bible says I gots dominion over my wife so I guess God means it’s okay to beat the crap outta her.”
And lastly, if anyone sent me anything remotely like a tithing they would be immediately excommunicated and their funds donated to a worthy cause. In addition, I do believe it’s important to note that I am personally an ordained minister in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. So if anyone needs someone to officiate over a wedding or funeral, please let me know.
Tobin, Tobin, Tobin,,, You just don’t get it. Saul of Tarsus had that whole camel schtick figured out long before he broke bad and got his own TV show. All the rich camel must do to get rid of that troublesome money is send it all to you. You don’t expect your priests to ride around in last year’s Learjet, do you? Trying to be a good person and following this scripture stuff just gets you criticized by d____bags like J.D.Vance.
If one can’t try to make the world a better place then I’m not sure what’s left to do. Oblivion seems like a relatively good choice if we just give up the ghost. Yes, of course as the song from Cabaret so eloquent states, “Money Makes the World Go Round, That Clinking, Clanking, Clunking Sound.” And so we are 100% screwed.
A substantive exchange of ideas. A tip of my hat to you both on account of this topic. It is the case that one dedicates a quotient of precious time and effort to think about matters that are the most compelling, that call to us, as if by fate.
According to Michael’s rendering of David Graeber’s thesis I am impressed that money and religion might even grow from the same tap root. When you have left the farming community cross roads, where you know everyone, and seldom encounter a stranger, migrating to a town, or maybe even to a city – some schematic for giving direction to human obligation, and for cultivating a modicum of cooperation between strangers is mandatory. You absolutely cannot do without money, or without a shared notion of a “divine canopy” conventionally known as religion. I think both of these “givens” are really concerned with power. Earthly power, politico-financial seeks the imprimatur of supernatural power.
Frank Herbert wrote so eloquently in Dune that humans are energy eaters. Life requires the management of power. Power is none other than “life-force” A head of state also functions as a Pontifex Maximus.
We are social animals, and our thriving depends upon cooperation. Religion and a matrix for organizing obligation in the marketplace interpenetrate. You could hardly do without “In God We Trust” on the currency. That each nation’s currency refers to a different god is beside the point.
Tobin you asked what is the point of doubling-down to amass billions by the Zuckerberg’s, the Theil’s, the Musk’s among us. Each desire to be the hegemon, the “shogun” wielding supreme worldly power over markets, and the ultimately hedonic pleasure, to wage war at will. Therefor one never has enough.
Was not the recent Met-gala a Mt. Olympus type convocation of the American pantheon?
What is to be done now, under the circumstances as they now exist?
Money, an effective lever of worldly power, religion, skewed away from a source of consolation, are metamorphized into a toxic amalgam fueling a voracious form-of-life that is certain to be catastrophic for a majority of us. My instinct tells me that that a direct action of “doing” will most likely result in generations long depredation for millions. Remember the blood letting upon the overthrow of Louis XVI… Or how the Soviet uprising was co-opted by Stalin, and the genocides that followed?
The very very serious issues before us at present are global in nature. And we cannot abstract ourselves from the particular species of mammal that we have always been. Attempting to excise our sense of the sacred, and to “sanitize” our social engagement with one another, and that with the earth (our living habitat) of the sacred — is no doubt the worst remedy of all. Why kill the patient to remedy the disease?
I do my best to keep several things in mind. 1) Nature and the cosmos promise nothing at all to me and it is luck-of-the-draw that I am here at all. That insight (an interpretation) often fills me with awe as I observe a hawk in flight or when I admire a flower. By extension there is no one and nothing “out there” to be manipulated, to solicit for divine favor. My ancestors were mistaken about that. 2) Humankind, and the earth are expressions of the cosmos and thus are sacred, worth respect and mindful attention. By extension there is no dividing line between sacred and secular. It’s both and. 3) Our work and exchanges of every type, say the manner a barista hands me a cup of coffee at Starbucks, entail ritual. No action between one living thing and another is merely instrumental. The sacramental is always potential. And the cosmic silence! Why that’s indicative of our room/space enough to fashion elegance (beauty) and meaning in the course of our relationships of exchange.
As a final thought a few years ago I was fortunate to visit the excavated Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá in the Yucatan peninsula. I was moved, as I suppose was everyone else to view the pyramid to the sun. Instinct told me the ancients were right to place a temple as a center point of society, examples being the Parthenon in Athens of Pericles time, and the shrine to the Meiji emperor, and Yasukuni shrine in present day Tokyo.
Jerry – Great thoughts! We are indeed fortunate to be able to exist at all. And in particular to be able to experience the extraordinary beauty and wonder of the world around us. It is the juxtaposition of the amazing attributes of this world positioned against the blindness and egocentrism of many members of our species that takes me down a very, very dark road. In addition to the splendor of the natural world, there are the astounding discoveries made by our fellow creatures both past and present; the artwork, the music, the literature, the science, the philosophical musings, and so much more. All of these incredible contributions are in extreme danger of being wasted by cretans whose ignorance is beyond the scope of imagination. I wish I had an answer to give to the children whose lives will be cut short by this idiocy, but I don’t.
Each plays the hand that he/she is dealt. To play well means to recognize beauty and meaning, to foster the divine dimension of things as much as possible. A future generation will have their opportunity.
Your musing on an answer for children, those innocent, is rhetorical. There is no answer. Humans are mammals apt to suffer damage, to become spectacular failures, conflagrations involving bystanders. That is just the nature of the game.
I just think it is a privilege to be a player.