The Religion of the Market in a Time of Coronavirus

Abstract

Discussions on the role of religion in the contemporary world generally fail to take into consideration an argument advanced by David Loy more than 20 years ago. Loy argues that the dominant faith system practiced across the globe today is in fact that of so-called "free-market" capitalism, a self-serving ideology forcibly imposed by a worldwide plutocracy of sociopathic bullies and based upon a blind acceptance of premises and promises that are not only unproven but are in many cases demonstrably false, such as unlimited "growth" within a system of finite resources.

Will the current crisis, which has rapidly and devastatingly demonstrated the inability of our corporate greed-driven economy and its unprincipled political (and yes, religious) enablers to provide the kind of urgent response the world needs, lead to a reassessment of its unchallenged privilege to direct and determine the future of all humankind? Or will the spin doctors of power succeed in twisting our understanding of the crisis into an even deeper embracing of a system whose principle achievement has been to concentrate wealth upward—at the expense of any kind of social justice and the integrity of the biosphere that makes all life possible—to a degree never seen before? Show more