If God has a bias to the poor, does the current capitalist system come under divine

condemnation?
By James Taylor
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister
in need yet refuses to help? (1 John 3:17)
The essay question effectively poses three questions; it asks whether God has a ‘bias’
toward those in poverty, it asks whether the capitalist system prevalent in the world today
causes that poverty, and consequently it asks whether, if the answer to these two questions is
‘yes’, then capitalism should, therefore, be condemned. I will argue that God does indeed
have a bias to the poor and that capitalism, in its unregulated form, can both alleviate and
cause poverty, using India as an example of a country which has seen the beneficial, as well
as the harmful effects of global capitalism. I believe there is a case to be made that
capitalism, or at least some aspects of capitalism, does indeed come under ‘divine
condemnation’, but that Christians have a particular responsibility to redeem this situation.
It could be argued that Jesus chose to be born into poverty. As Scott Bessenecker points out,
there were many times and places that he could have chosen to be born into, so ‘why on earth
would God chose to be born among a defeated people in a backwoods town under a shadow
of dishonour through a poor, unwed teenager? 1 His answer is ‘solidarity.’ The whole focus
of Jesus’ ministry was to the poor, the downcast, the outcast and the downtrodden. He
proclaimed ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 6:20).
And when it was time to send out his disciples he instructed them to take a vow of poverty in
their mission and; ‘take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money
in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.’ (Mark 6:8-9). Wealth is not
condemned in the New Testament per se, but was seen as an opportunity for charity, hence
Jesus’ teaching about having a ‘healthy eye’ (Matthew 6:22, a Hebrew idiom for generosity)
and Paul’s teaching about there being a ‘fair balance’ between abundance and need (2
Corinthians 8:14). The first Christians in Jerusalem understood this, and we see the Church as
a community of and for the poor, evidenced by mutual compassion and charitable giving
(Acts 2:42-46; 4:32-37).
Leonardo Boff has sought in his writing to bring Christians back to being a ‘Church
of the poor, for the poor and with the poor.’2 He, and other Liberation theologians, view
poverty through the lens of a ‘sin of injustice’, quoting the letter of James, for example, to

1
Bessenecker, SA. (2006) The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World's Poor. IVP, p59
2
Boff, L. (1982) Saint Francis: A Model for Human Liberation. SCM Press, p51
1
show God’s bias shown toward the poor as inheritors of the kingdom over the rich oppressors
(James 2:5-6). Jesus, therefore, is seen as a liberator to ‘defend the cause of the poor of the
people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.’ (Psalm 72:4). The unequal
relationship between the affluent ‘North’ and the developing ‘South’ has been seen in such
oppressor/repressed terms, and was explicitly criticised by Vatican II in Gaudium et Spes,
underlined in Populorum Progressio and repeated subsequently in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis.
Liberation theology, however, goes one step further, to ‘denounce ‘prophetically’ the
dependency of poor on rich countries (dependency theory) as a real obstacle to the
Kingdom.’3 It has been forthright in its condemnation of capitalism, but the situation is not as
straightforward as it may appear. Valpy Fitzgerald whilst supporting the ‘socialist ideal’ as
being more suitable for the region, explains that while capitalism has been ‘incapable of
satisfying basic needs in Latin America’, socialism has ‘not provided a satisfactory solution
either: although advances have been made in basic needs provision – particularly in
communist Cuba and in Nicaragua under the Sandinistas – socialist countries have been
incapable of sustained technological creativity or of political freedom.’4
But before a full critique of capitalism can be undertaken, there is a need to clarify what
exactly the ‘current capitalist system’ is, because capitalism can mean different things to
different people. Richard Higginson sets out four key features to contemporary capitalism:5
• A system concerned with the increase in the amount of capital - as opposed to a
bartering system where levels of production or consumption are acceptably static.
• A system in which the capital is in the hands of private owners, who employ others as
means of production - as opposed to systems where capital is in the hands of the state
(state socialism) or shared among the workforce (a cooperative system).
• A system in which government intervention is at a minimum, leaving individuals and
companies freedom to buy and sell goods and services in the market-place with a
minimum of interference – as opposed to a system where government intervenes to
restrict the workings of the economy.
• A system which allows a large degree of autonomy to the market to determine levels
of prices and wages – as opposed to a system which sets a ‘just’ price or wage.

3
Fitzgerald, V. (2008) ‘The economics of liberation theology’ in: The Cambridge Companion to Liberation
Theology (Second Edition) ed. C Rowland, CUP, p250
4
Fitzgerald, V (2008) p252
5
Higginson, R (2002) Questions of Business Life: Exploring Workplace Issues from a Christian Perspective,
Paternoster with Spring Harvest, p18
2
But whilst these are features common to many capitalist systems, there are also many cultural
and political variants that determine the shape of capitalism in each country. Many, like
Jonathan Aitken, former UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury, would argue that “while
capitalists can be full of human frailties and vices, the market economy in which they operate
is at worst morally neutral.”6 Yet it would be wrong to assume that capitalism is, therefore,
value-free. As Carol Johnston points out, ‘The central goal is one of growth in the production
of ‘goods’- any ‘goods’. No other goal matters - not economic wellbeing for all, not health
for either individuals or communities, not ecological integrity.’7 Any choices in favour of
other goals will necessitate a clash with the central drive towards increased production; ‘This
is the reason materialistic consumerism is so powerful; the economy requires it to keep
growing, no matter the real needs of the society.’8 Bob Goudzwaard and Harry de Lange sum
up the ethical crisis precisely: ‘A sense of abundance can arise only if we have a sense of
enough, for abundance is the awareness of having more than enough. Yet in the realm of
scarcity in which we live, it is precisely the awareness of abundance that we as a society are
steadily losing.’9
Timothy Gorringe points out that whilst the primary objective of private companies is
to make money; their primary responsibility is to their shareholders. ‘Yet less than 1% of the
world’s population own any stocks and shares.’10 Whilst capitalism has been immensely
successful, long term, in its goal of economic growth, the huge disparity between the
successful and the rest has been the central criticism. The United Nations reports that in 1970,
the richest 20% of the world’s people had 32 times the income of the poorest 20%. By 1999
this had risen to 78 times. It also reported that in the UK, people averagely earn more than
£60 a day, whilst half the world’s population live on less than £1.20 a day.11
Should we, as Gorringe, see globalization in terms of imperial power, which needs to
be treated (and condemned) as such by Christians? 12 Bob Goudzwaard and Harry de Lange
also see capitalism in spiritual terms, writing of the ‘gods’ of this age, ‘the forces of
modernization: economic growth, technological development, scientific advancement and the
unrestricted expansion of the market.’13 They point out that these gods require ‘sacrifices’ in
6
Aitken, J (2004) ‘The Market Economy and the Teachings of the Christian Gospel’ Institute of Economic
Affairs, June 2004, p19-21, Blackwell, p19
7
Johnston, C (2002) ‘A Christian Critique of Economics’ Buddhist-Christian Studies, 22:17-29, p21
8
Ibid, p21
9
Goudzwaard, B and De Lange, H (1995), p161
10
Gorringe, T (2004) ‘The Principalities and Powers: A Framework for Thinking about Globalisation’ in:
Heslam, P (ed) Globalization and the Good, SPCK, p81
11
Reported in Christian Aid (2004) Trade Justice: A Christian Response to Global Poverty, CHP, p1
12
Gorringe, T (2004), p82
13
Goudzwaard, B and De Lange, H (1995), p106
3
return for the material prosperity they provide, in the shape of ‘mounting poverty, the
destruction of health and the environment, the relentless elimination of jobs and the quality of
work.’14 The scale of these ‘sacrifices’ are colossal, as Raj Patel in his challenging book
Stuffed and Starved, demonstrates. He speaks of an ‘historical first’ in which the hunger of
800 million people is now outnumbered by one billion people who are overweight.15
This was forcefully brought home to me when I was privileged to spend two months in India
in 2008 sponsored by the Council for World Mission. Bangalore, for example, has hugely
benefitted from globalisation through a burgeoning IT industry, which has grown at a rate of
19% per year between 2004 and 2008.16 Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has also
benefitted, but in both places the two faces of capitalism are evident. In Mumbai I witnessed
the ongoing construction of a £500m home on the waterfront by Indian businessman Mukesh
Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, India’s largest private company.17 Yet Mumbai is
home to 18 million people, and according to the most recent census, 54.5% of the population
live in slum housing.18 Its scale is truly breathtaking. In Malad, an area of East Mumbai I
visited there is, on average, 28 dwellings for each common water tap, with water being
supplied for 4 hours per day. The Bombay Municipal Corporation admits that 10-13% of the
water supply is contaminated, but only 5-15% of the population boil their water. There are no
toilets. As a consequence, 44% of families in the Malad slums have at least one person ill
(29% of acute duration and 15% of chronic duration).19
The atrocious conditions are not limited to Mumbai, of course, but also to other major
cities around the world. In a comprehensive review of urban poverty by the United Nations, it
was estimated that there were 924 million slum dwellers in 2001, accounting for one third of
the world’s population.20 As Mike Davis points out, the report was scathing in its attack on
the consensus that slums were a result of governmental ‘poor management’, stressing that
neoliberalism, particularly the International Monetary Fund’s Structural Adjustment

14
Ibid
15
Patel, R (2007) Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System,
Portobello Books, p1
16
Ibid, p22
17
Ramesh, R (2007) ‘Indian tycoon builds tower block home: £500m Mumbai palace for family of six and 600
staff High-rise era attacked as dawn of ‘new vulgarity’’ The Guardian, Friday 1st June 2007 [online] available:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jun/01/india.internationalnews [accessed on 28/4/09]
18
Singh, DP. (2006) ‘Slum Population in Mumbai’ International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai
Vol.3 No. 1
19
Kumar Karan, S. and Harada, H.(2002) Field Survey on water supply, sanitation and associated health
impacts in urban poor communities- a case from Mumbai City, India. Water Science & Technology
20
United Nations Human Settlements Programme, The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human
Settlements 2003, Earthscan Ltd, p14
4
Programme was to blame. 21 The report declared; ‘The primary direction of both national and
international interventions during the last twenty years has actually increased urban poverty
and slums, increased exclusion and inequality, and weakened urban elites in their efforts to
use cities as engines of growth.’22
Many imagine a trickle-down effect will help ease inequality, in a similar way to the
‘trickle-down economics’ of the Reagan era. The reasoning goes that inequality should be
tolerated for the present, because in the long-term things will even out. But this is difficult to
prove. The UN was unequivocal in its summation:
‘If the world behaved as predicted by the simple neoclassical growth model, the per
capita incomes of countries with the same saving rate, technologies, government
policies and population growth would eventually converge... [However], there is
enough evidence in support of the view that the world seems to be converging
towards two clubs: the rich and the poor countries... The question is why are some
countries kept in the low income club, and can something be done to reverse this?’23
Patel documents how poverty has changed in India. In the 1970s over half the population was
officially classed as poor, but by the 1990s this had decreased to just over one third. But this
was largely due to the threshold used by the government: in the 1970s it was 2,400 calories
consumed per person per day, in the 1990s it was 1,970 calories per day and by 2000 it had
become 1,890 calories per day. If the 1970s threshold were used today (2,400 calories per
day) then three-quarters of the population would be below the poverty line.24 The official
figure is around 27%. So it does seem that, in India at least, the rich are getting richer, but the
poor are getting poorer. For Aitken, and others, this is not simply a consequence of capitalism
per se, but the way that rules are set to protect the lifestyles of those in the developed world.
He says, ‘the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are intrinsically unjust because
they are so patently biased in favour of rich Western countries.’ He goes on to cite WTO
rules, ‘that for every dollar that rich Western countries spend on aid to poorer countries they
spend $7 on themselves subsiding their own agriculture in order to protect their rich
economies from receiving agricultural exports from those same poorer countries.’25 He
concludes that the fact that the poor are ‘missing out on the benefits of globalisation’ is ‘a
situation that should trouble any Christian conscience.’26 It is a theme that Rowan Williams
21
Davis, M (2006) The Planet of Slums, Verso, p24
22
United Nations Human Settlements Programme, p4
23
United Nations Human Settlements Programme, p35
24
Patel, R (2007), p30
25
Aitken, J (2007), p20
26
Ibid, p21
5
takes up, as he sees protectionism as ‘one of the most effective ways to freeze developing
economies in a state of perpetual disadvantage; it makes it impossible for poorer economies
to trade their way to wealth, as the rhetoric of the global market suggests they should.’27
Barbara Harriss-White comments that ‘poverty is continually being created and re-created
under the institutions of capitalism’ and describes eight processes in which capitalism creates
poverty:28
1) The transition and institutional preconditions – the process of concentration of initial
capital on the one hand and of loss and dispossession of assets and of ‘adverse
incorporation’ of labour on the other
2) Small scale household forms of production – which inherently restricts accumulation
3) Technological change and unemployment
4) Commodification – ‘poverty is exacerbated by the ubiquitous and enduring
persistence of petty commodification’
5) Harmful commodities and waste
6) Pauperising Crises - capitalism has ‘inbuilt tendencies to crisis’
7) Climate-change-related pauperisation
8) The un-required, the incapacitated and the dependent people
Harriss-White concludes that ‘The failure of capitalism to address its poverty-creating
processes not only generates a continual material and political struggle but also threatens the
ecosystem in which capitalism is embedded.’29 Her response is firstly to advocate more
stringent legislation to protect from the ecological impact of capitalist structures, calling
current pollution targets and compensation schemes out of touch with the scale of the current
ecological crisis. And secondly, advocating state-based social security schemes, which she
admits are ideas ‘deeply out of fashion with the international funding, aid and ‘development’
agencies.’30 She is not the only one calling for capitalism to be tempered with a socialist
approach to intervention. Rowan Williams recently suggested this should be done through
existing international organisations such as the IMF and World Bank, the WTO and the G8
and G20 countries, which ‘need to be reconceived as both monitors of the global flow of

27
Williams, R (2009) ‘Ethics, Economics and Global Justice’ [online] available:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2323 [accessed on 26/3/09]
28
Harriss-White, B. (2005) ‘Poverty and Capitalism’, Queen Elizabeth House Working Paper Series. No. 134.
[online] available: http://www3.qeh.ox.ac.uk/RePEc/qeh/qehwps/qehwps134.pdf accessed on 28/3/09 [accessed
on 26/3/09] p3ff
29
Harriss-White, B. (2005), p11
30
Ibid, p11
6
capital and agencies to stimulate local enterprise and provide some safety nets as long as the
global playing field is so far from being level.’31
The situation has been exacerbated recently by the worldwide recession caused by the
so-called credit crunch. The UN has described the cyclical nature of capitalism, pointing out
that the poorest are more adversely affected by any downturn in the economy (see Appendix;
figure 1). This is because in periods of boom, the richest few per cent gain most of the
income and wealth because they hold most of the assets with real estate and stock prices
rising. There is usually a drop in unemployment and in poverty – but the trickle-down effect
is fairly minimal. In busts, however, the poor suffer disproportionately, as do women, losing
both income-earning opportunities and government support, as revenues drop. This cycle is
increasingly apparent on a worldwide scale, as has been evidenced in the recent crisis. As
former Secretary General, Kofi Anan recently said: “The food crisis of recent months is now
compounded by a global financial crisis. While national governments and international
lenders scramble to inject hundreds of billions of dollars into failing banks - the developing
world goes hungry....this is simply unacceptable. We must do something to stop it.”32
So, if the current capitalist system is failing the poor, the downcast, the outcast and
the downtrodden, then can it be redeemed in its present form? What can Christians do to
alleviate some of the worst excesses of global capitalism? The achievement of the Jubilee
2000 campaign was seen, not necessarily in its limited practical success, but in its ability to
bring together a large sector of the public and awaken them to the ethical implications of
global capitalism. Similarly, the Fairtrade movement is increasingly catching the public’s
imagination. As Christian Aid report, in 1998 sales of Fairtrade products amounted to £16.7
million; by 2004 they had reached £100 million.33 As I write, the chocolate giant Cadbury-
Schweppes has announced that Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, ‘the nation’s top selling chocolate bar’
is to achieve Fairtrade certification, (perhaps a realisation of its Quaker origins?).34
One of the encouraging signs I saw in the slums of Mumbai and Bangalore were the
myriad micro-credit systems in operation. Usually organised on a cooperative basis, these
involve groups of people who generally do not have access to legitimate loan schemes,

31
Williams R (2009)
32
Annan, K (2008) Fighting Hunger – The Challenge of Politics Address by Mr Kofi A. Annan International
Conference on Hunger hosted by Concern Worldwide, Dublin, 16 October 2008 [online] available:
http://www.concern.net/sites/concern.net/files/documents/news/HungerConference-KofiAnnanSpeech.pdf
[accessed on 28/4/09]
33
Christian Aid (2004) Trade Justice: A Christian Response to Global Poverty, CHP, p40
34
Fairtrade Foundation (2009) ‘Cadbury Dairy Milk commits to going Fairtrade’ [online] available:
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/press_office/press_releases_and_statements/march_2009/cadbury_dairy_milk_com
mits_to_going_fairtrade.aspx [accessed on 2/4/09]
7
paying small amounts into a central fund. Loans can then be accessed in times of emergency
at very low interest rates. In 1975 the World Council of Churches set up Oikocredit as a way
of helping cooperative societies in developing countries to develop microcredit agreements. It
uses private investment capital, financing income generating projects and financial
intermediaries. In 2007 there were 600 members, including churches, church-related
organisations and private investors, along with 30,000 individuals. Oikocredit is now one of
the world's largest private financier of the microfinance sector, funding 390 microfinance
initiatives (MFIs) reaching 15 million households.35
I believe that the current capitalist system, if not completely under divine
condemnation, stands waiting to be redeemed. Christians could, and should, rise to God’s call
to bring justice to bear in fighting the inequalities of the world. The current economic crisis
can be seen as an opportunity to push for an alternative worldview and capitalism can be
made to work for all, rather than the few.
‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?
Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says
to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily
needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.’ (James 2:14-
17).

Appendix – Figure 1
Kondratiev wave of 50 to 60 years: The upwave is a time of slow inflation, growth and
relative economic stability; the downwave is an unstable disinflationary period of booms and
busts.36

35
‘Oikocredit increases investments in turmoil of credit crisis’ Oikocredit press release, 6/2/09 [online]
available: http://www.oikocredit.org.uk/ [accessed on 2/4/09]
36
United Nations Human Settlements Programme, The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human
Settlements, 2003, p35
8
Bibliography
Aitken, J (2004) ‘The Market Economy and the Teachings of the Christian Gospel’ Institute
of Economic Affairs, June 2004, p19-21, Blackwell
Annan, K (2008) Fighting Hunger – The Challenge of Politics Address by Mr Kofi A. Annan
International Conference on Hunger hosted by Concern Worldwide, Dublin, 16 October 2008
[online] available:
http://www.concern.net/sites/concern.net/files/documents/news/HungerConference-
KofiAnnanSpeech.pdf [accessed on 28/4/09]
Bessenecker, SA. (2006) The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World's
Poor. IVP
Boff, L. (1982) Saint Francis: A Model for Human Liberation. SCM
Christian Aid (2004) Trade Justice: A Christian Response to Global Poverty, CHP
Davis, M (2006) The Planet of Slums, Verso
Fairtrade Foundation (2009) ‘Cadbury Dairy Milk commits to going Fairtrade’ [online]
available:
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/press_office/press_releases_and_statements/march_2009/cadbur
y_dairy_milk_commits_to_going_fairtrade.aspx [accessed on 2/4/09]
9
Fitzgerald, V. (2008) ‘The economics of liberation theology’ in: The Cambridge Companion
to Liberation Theology (Second Edition) ed. C Rowland, CUP
Goudzwaard, B and De Lange, H (1995) Beyond Poverty and Affluence: Toward an
Economy of Care tr. M Van Der Vennen, Eerdmanns and WCC publications
Harriss-White, B. (2005) ‘Poverty and Capitalism’, Queen Elizabeth House Working Paper
Series. No. 134 Available at http://www3.qeh.ox.ac.uk/RePEc/qeh/qehwps/qehwps134.pdf
accessed on 28/3/09
Heslam, P (2004) (ed) Globalization and the Good, SPCK
Higginson, R (2002) Questions of Business Life: Exploring Workplace Issues from a
Christian Perspective, Paternoster with Spring Harvest
Johnston, C (2002) ‘A Christian Critique of Economics’ in: Buddhist-Christian Studies,
22:17-29
‘Oikocredit increases investments in turmoil of credit crisis’ Oikocredit press release, 6/2/09
[online] available: http://www.oikocredit.org.uk/ [accessed on 2/4/09]
Patel, R (2007) Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World
Food System, Portobello Books
United Nations Human Settlements Programme, The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on
Human Settlements 2003, Earthscan Ltd
Williams, R (2009) ‘Ethics, Economics and Global Justice’ [online] available:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2323 [accessed on 26/3/09]

10