Dr. Sanity gets it. Please read her piece: it's a classic. You go, girl.
And, by the way, Christ did not say that money is the root of evil. He did probably express the idea that love of money is the root of evil. The point being that love of anything more than love of God was a path to hell and a path to a rotten life. Indeed, in Christianity, loving anything or anyone more than God is sin. Luke 9:
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go."
58 And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
59 And He said to another, " Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father."
60 But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God."
61 Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home."
62 But Jesus said to him, " No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
A very demanding fellow, Jesus. Christianity invites us to be "in the world, but not of it."
I think money, especially spare money, is a wonderful thing and the route to personal power, autonomy, freedom, and choice. Like guns, the money we have and the wealth we have represent our personal independence. The creation of wealth in capitalism is a remarkable phenomenon - like alchemy, we can create wealth out of nothing but using our brains.
In the piece, she quotes Atlas Shrugged:
"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
