Money has become a "false God" that is allowed to rule lives in the way of the idols of ancient biblical times, according to a retired bishop. This is causing people to live lives dominated by greed and fear.
Peter Selby, former Bishop of Worcester, says in a new book that money is now worshipped like the pagan gods of old as it has moved from being a means of exchange to becoming an end of itself.
Bishop Selby, currently a member of the directing team at St Paul's Institute in the City of London, says in his theological critique of money and modern capitalism that money "has acquired the characteristics that were associated with the religions that worshipped idols."
He calls for the new God of money to be dethroned, to allow justice rather than consumption to define modern living.
Speaking about the book to Christian Today, Bishop Selby said that unless the problem of how society relates to money is corrected, repeats of the financial crisis of 2008 are inevitable.
He said: "What needs to be learned is that there is a fundamental problem about the development of money itself. In the last 40 years since the oil price hike the amount of money in the system has grown hugely because of the amount of money that got into the banking system as a result of the oil-producing countries getting a lot more money.
"That would have been alright except that without a fractional reserve banking system although - most people think banks lend out what we put into them. They actually lend out 10 to 20 times as much. The result was, the amount of money in the system exploded. That combined with technological advance which meant money no longer circulates because people carry it around but in micro seconds by computers."
All this meant money became much more volatile, much more dangerous and much more dominant in our lives, he added. "That has an effect on all of our lives not just the bit that deals with our money. Because money is determining the speed with which we do things, the speed with which we expect things to happen."
Because money has numbers on it, it looks as though it is objective, which it isn't.
"The main point I am wanting to make is that money has acquired the behaviour of the vanished deities - therefore it needs to be dominant." At the moment it wass not being seen as a problem, because everyone is too engrossed in the system.
"Once we have decided money has become dominant we have to look for ways to make it less so. We have to put it in its place. We have to notice when money is determining what we are doing in a way it should not. It is related to what has happened since 2008, the people who caused the problem, they lived for money. They have not been the people who paid the price."
In order to create a new ethical banking and financial system, society needs better to understand the depth of the problem it are dealing with, the Bishop said. "That will mean for example we won't allow huge bonuses, we won't allow the poor to pay for it, we won't allow massive lottery winnings. Because what they do is put money at the top of our concerns in a way that is behind the crisis in the first place."
Money has become a topic dominant in people's minds. "We are made to be frightened about a penniless old age. Our pension is much more risky. Care in old age is more risky. People stand outside estate agents windows, not because they want to buy a new house but because they want to see what has happened to the value of their house. That is the insurance they now think they have for themselves when they are elderly. It is a system that has made us more afraid and has made a lot of people much more greedy."
He cited a survey by St Paul's Institute of people working in the City. They said two things at the same time - "I am in it for the money" and "I am overpaid", the bishop said. They also argued for deregulation while admitted that deregulation had produced a decline in ethical standards. "People are more aware they are living with contradiction. I am trying to name what that contradiction is about in order that people can have fresh thoughts about it. If we do not address the problems, what happened in 2008 will happen again and again."
An Idol Unmasked, A Faith Perspective on Money by Peter Selby is published by Darton, Longman & Todd.
