The trouble about money is that it is often linked topower. Money well used can do great things whichbenefit many people, anything from funding thearts to bringing food and water to a starving nation.It has great pragmatic possibilities. But there isanother power which has to do with thepresumption that enough money should buyinfluence and assure control to the benefit ofthose who are wealthy.As a Christian I could neverdemonise money. Jesus mentions it in half hisparables. He relies on charitable giving especiallyfrom women, and he's clearly at ease in the company of affluent people. There is nothing inthe Jewish-Christian tradition or in any great world religion to my knowledge which says thatmoney is intrinsically bad. Nor can it be claimed that moral questions only rise when weconsider the unhealthy addiction some people have to accumulating wealth.The primarymoral issue is whether in dealing with wealth, we become less concerned about the goodthings our money can do, and more convinced of the presumed synonym that money equalspower.

金钱经常与能力挂钩。钱使好了，可使很多人受益，譬如资助艺术，给饥荒国家提供食水等等，总之很具实用性。但钱还有另外一种能力，钱能带来影响力，可以保证富裕阶层的既得利益。作为一个基督徒，我从不把钱妖魔化。耶稣在他泰半的寓言故事中都提到了钱。他依靠别人，尤其女人的慈善捐助度日，而且很明显，他跟富人相处很自在。在犹太基督，或者世界上任何其他主流宗教传统中都没有说过钱不好。而且我们也不能说，聚富成瘾的人就一定会产生什么道德上的问题。其实关键问题是，面对金钱时，我们是否变得不再想着钱能做的好事，却越来越相信金钱就等于权力。