Part Four - Family and Society
Chapter 20. Society
9) Economic Justice
3. The Rich Should Spread Their Wealth among the People
World Scripture
The state flourishes when wealth is more equally spread. Francis Bacon (Humanism)
Workman and employer should, as a rule, make free agreements, and in particular should freely agree to wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that remuneration ought to be sufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner… to maintain himself, his wife, and his children in reasonable comfort. Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (Christianity)
To share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh— Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go forth before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Isaiah 58.7-8
Alms are for the poor and the needy, and for those employed to administer them, and for those whose hearts have been reconciled, for those in bondage and in debt, those in the cause of God, and for the wayfarer: this is ordained by God, and God is full of knowledge and wisdom. Qur’an 9.60
If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it…
if I have seen any one perish for lack of clothing,
or a poor man without covering…
Then I could not have faced His majesty.
Job 31.16-23
When the wicked are prosperous and the righteous are not,
if the situation continues for long the righteous become frustrated.
Like a small needle, that is how one first starts the act of falsehood.
The day it becomes as big as a hoe, It kills.
Yoruba Song (African Traditional Religion)
The highest degree of charity—above which there is no higher—is he who strengthens the hand of his poor fellow Jew and gives him a gift or [interest-free] loan or enters into a business partnership with the poor person. By this partnership the poor man is really being strengthened as the Torah commands in order to strengthen him till he is able to be independent and no longer dependent on the public purse. It is thus written, “Strengthen him [the poor person] so that he does not fall and become dependent on others” (Leviticus 25:35). Maimonides, Mishneh Torah (Judaism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The issue is the management of money: who eats better and who owns better possessions. If we are in positions of leadership, we should not seek to own the best things. If we desire to have belowaverage things, giving [our better things to others] for the sake of the whole, then equalization will be realized naturally. (324:253-54, June 24, 2000)
Everything should circulate like water. What is warm must become cool. What is cool must become warm. By “Warm” I mean the rich and by “cool” I mean the poor; hence the rich should extend themselves to help the poor. This must happen naturally. If the wealthy people willingly take responsibility for the poor in their community, everyone will be able to live together in harmony. If this becomes a community tradition, all the people will help one another. They will strive not to be indebted to one another. By helping one another, they will all become prosperous together—naturally. (253:238, January 30, 1994)
To bring unity between the people of the upper and lower classes, we must enable the people of the upper class to harmonize with the people of the lower class and raise the people of the lower class to the level of the upper class. To accomplish this requires a central point of absolute value. That central point is God’s love. Then what is God’s love like? God’s love can be with both the people of the upper class and the people of the lower class. God’s love is never one-directional; it moves in a spherical motion. It can move around freely from the highest point to the lowest. Wherever God’s love appears, it is welcomed by all people everywhere, and it creates harmony everywhere, at all times. God’s love always possesses absolute value whenever and wherever it may be. If we have God’s love, we are happy; we feel filled and secure. Though a person may be at the very bottom, with God’s love he can love those on top, and with God’s love the people on top can love those at the bottom. (115:172, November 10, 1981)
Problems in labor relations can be solved by practicing parental love. The owner of the company is in the role of parent, and his employees are in the position of children. The owner should care for his employees as parents care for their children. Don’t parents save money to bequeath it to their children? The owner should likewise think that his purpose is to bequeath his company’s wealth to his employees. (116:121, December 27, 1981)
Let me tell you a way to solve labor disputes. Just as there are labor unions, a company’s owners should form an owners or shareholders’ union. Then the two unions can get together and discuss the situation: “We laborers need to support our families, and you shareholders want to see production increase over last year. Instead of fighting each other and competing for a bigger slice of the pie, we should work together.” They can agree that for three years instead of the profits going to the owners, they will put it in one pot. If the labor union members worked harder, then a higher percentage of the proceeds should go to them, but if the owners’ union members worked harder, then a higher percentage of the profits should be given to them. Instead of fighting, let them compete. (342:288-89, January 13, 2001)
The twenty-first century shall be a century of righteousness. It will be a century of spirit and soul, when wealth will not be the dominating factor. It will be a century when God and human beings live together as one. A new awareness will come to every person—that living for the sake of others has eternal value, far greater than living for oneself. In the twenty-first century, selfishness will decline. The altruistic values of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values will be triumphant. (219:120, August 28, 1991)