EU Crisis
Is there a connection between religion and the current European Debt crisis?
With the majority of Europe’s financial powerhouse being Protestant based such as Germany, Sweden and Finland and those in debt commonly recognised as Catholic; Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy maybe a case might exist.
When one analyses the true state of Protestant ethos which in the past has led to moderation and thrift such as Calvinist and Lutheran principles of no gambling or a life with few excessiveness then a valid case may be presented. One also must consider that Protestants in the past focused on both genders learning the bible from an early age enabling literacy levels to rise and furthering chances of social, political and financial success.
“Thou shalt redeem the time because the days are evil” is often connected with the point that family and career should be prioritised accordingly yet we are looking at a situation where both family and career values are slipping across western Europe and a change needs to be taken with divorce rates rising and many western Europeans looking to social welfare or emigration as more serious options.
“God helps those who help themselves” is an often quoted saying but if you look at the corruption that existed in the Italian and Irish governments over the last years this seems to imply that the politicians who helped themselves to large pensions will be aided by god not the common european citizen who is facing up to the fact that Brussels is having to make some serious decisions in order to stabilise our once powerful common currency.
Some critics say the Catholic attitude of “If we mess up, its ok, god will fix it” and “God Will Supply” is embedded in the societies of Europe’s weaker economic states due to centuries of religious impact while the nations with the work hard and make provision attitude such as Switzerland with Jean Calvin and Martin Luther in Germany are left to pick up the pieces. The richest areas in German are the Catholic regions such as Bavaria so is the argument valid at all?
Yet in Turkey where the “Islamic Calvinist” is seen as a rich man and the astute business dealer. With Europe’s economy waning the point must be raised that one of the richest institutions in the world, The Catholic church is not playing a role in assisting the nations affected or interjecting visibly in European affairs.
With Croatia set to join the EU next July only time will tell where the future of the EU, Euro, and European community lies. Until then the connection between faith and debt crisis is of little significance as we all need a miracle.
James P. Mahon 
Hi Jamespmahon,
Thanks for that, Unknown to the world at large is the fact that millions of bible taught Christians care little about ecumenical dialogue with Catholicism. Because they believe in the promised “apostasy” of the church in the last generation of time they will do anything to stay clear of all the best efforts of ecumenicists to pull them into ecumenicism, syncretism, liberalism or anything else the papacy has to offer.
Cheers
In America: governments, businesses, individuals are now buried under a mountain of debt. A mountain of debt that will never be repaid.
Who will borrow when they can’t make the payments on the debt that they have already? The math alone calls for a system reset, a debt jubilee.
Investors are already losing… in a rigged monetary casino that rewards usury, speculation, and currency manipulation while looting main street.
There is a moral principle that debts should be honored. That is, debts between businesses that buy and sell real products, not bundled ponzi schemes, debts between individuals, between friends and businesses that know each other to be rational and moral, debts based on investments where there is a rational expectation of return.
There is also a moral principle that unjust debts should be cancelled, and usury legislated against. Debts that are ‘odious’, debts based on fraud, debts to dictators, debts arranged by oligarchs without the consent of the general population (the 99 percent who have been left out of the equation), debts based upon compound interest upon compound interest, that should have been written off long ago, the debts need to be cancelled in a general jubilee. Think outside the box. It’s time for a jubilee.
A provocative post, but an post I was looking for, trouble is iceland is in trouble and its lutheran,
and then you have the complication of countries that may be secular or nominally lutheran in which the latter is preferred. However, with that being said, it is true whether religion has a role to play or not is disputed because even in secular countries or the population folks still attend their church
and even if they are not religious the absence of alternative can play, france is looking at debt too,
it is also ironic that the Lutheran countries have higher government spending than the debt ones,
and even frugal “ireland” which is also catholic is having issues.
I can’t place a bet or draw many correlations, but history of the countries was linked to religion itself
, so to ignore it all together is not sound or to dismiss the post is unsound, is greece catholic, perhaps eastern version of it, what about latvia, estonia, and lithuiana, their economies are suffering a bit but articles have said they have recovered unlike ireland and they are new countries.