Whether it’s about deciding between simple living or prosperity “gospels” or about how church members approach the matter of giving and financing, there is growing ambivalence about the relation of money to religion, according to recent reports.
In his new book Crisis In The Churches (Oxford, $30), sociologist Robert Wuthnow looks at the relation of clergy and laity to issues relating to money and finds a significant “disconnect” taking place on the issue. Wuthnow finds in surveys that virtually all church members (82 percent) admit to wishing they had more money. A substantive minority (43 percent) actually say that making a lot of money is a very important part of their personal identity.
In comparing more active with less active members, Wuthnow finds that such involvement does not make a strong difference in the financial aspects of most people’s lives. Among church members and clergy there is a “burden of silence” when it comes to money; only three percent of church members ever discuss finances with fellow members and only four percent have ever discussed their finances with a member of the clergy.
For their part, clergy often are unschooled in financial matters and feel that members don’t want them intruding on such a private concern. In examining sermon content of the 60 churches in his sample, he found that finances are mainly discussed in negative contexts — as a false hope, temptation or obstacle on the road to personal salvation. Yet Wuthnow finds that among those who had heard a sermon abut personal finances and materialism in the past year, approximately a third said they had also thought a great deal about what the Bible teaches on such matters. Fewer than a fifth of those who had not heard such a sermon had thought this much about these issues.
The double-mindedness about the relation between money and faith is also evident in the alternative spirituality or New Age movement and in spirituality books in general. The New Age Journal (July-August) reports that “Right now there seems to be a growing debate between the `God Wants You to Be Rich’ school thought, as defined by Paul Zane Pilzer, and those who join Elaine St. James in `Living the Simple Life.'” Prosperity advocates “insist that the universe is abundant — a reflection of God’s unfailing creative power — and that by aligning ourselves with its energy through positive thinking we can attract whatever we desire,” writes Ann Kathleen Bradley. Recent examples of the prosperity consciousness include Deepak Chopra’s best-selling books, “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” and “Creating Affluence.”
The voluntary simplicity movement has spawned “almost an embarrassing wealth of new books,” and has also inspired a growing number of “simplicity circles,” particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where people gather to discuss environmental awareness, reduced consumption, self-sufficiency, and mutual support and community. By consuming less, voluntary simplicity advocates say they are helping preserve the earth’s limited resources, as well as our own.
One example of this trend is the Ministry of Money, an outreach program of the Church of the Savior, which helps people realize that “our relationship to money is central to our spirituality,” through recruiting people to work in developing countries. Increasingly, however, “prosperity” is being interpreted in non-material ways. For instance, the New Age-oriented practice of as visualizing s prosperity is being viewed as helping one to achieve such a state regardless of financial gain.
(New Age Journal, 42 Pleasant St., Watertown, MA 02172)