1 week Ago By John Van Sloten
The deadly sin of greed seems to be collapsing in on itself right now. Under Donald Trump’s me-first, zero-sum, hyper-transactional leadership, the world’s 70-year run of global growth and prosperity is now being jeopardized—all for the sake of one country wanting more. Right now, greed is gaslighting the world to justify its actions — labelling long-time mutually-beneficial trading partners as looters, pillagers and thieves, and shaking down neighbours under the guise of economic justice.
British journalist and social critic Henry Fairlie defined greed as an “excessive and insatiable appetite for wealth and possessions” that “loves not possessions so much as possessing.” This is the problem with greed — it never has enough and can’t stop wanting more. Of course, greed has always been a risk factor when it comes to stewarding the goodness of capitalism.
If not held in check, it can knock market-based economies off kilter — creating oligarchs, unbridled consumerism, resource hoarding, and dangerous debt levels. If it runs amok, history shows us that greed can even take the strongest nations down. It’s hard not to wonder if this is exactly what’s going on right now.
Greed is what inspired U.S.-based corporations to move their manufacturing and production offshore in the first place, which was devastating for local jobs.
And now, greed wants to claw it all back. After undermining jobs locally, it’s now undermining jobs globally. And under the current U.
S. administration, the greed that used to play out behind the scenes, or in the deep recesses of the human heart, is now out in the open. Last week, the president of the United Stated posted this: “TO THE MANY INVESTORS COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES AND INVESTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.
THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!” (That’s from Donald Trump on Truth Social, April 4, 2025.) When I read these words, I wondered how the Christians who voted Trump into office were reacting. Were they cringing at how much he’s mocking the teachings of Christ? “No servant can serve two masters,” Jesus taught, “for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13) What scares me is that Trump’s base may not even notice. This is how greed works — if you’re infected, you can no longer see it in others.
Not only does this enable Trump’s supporters to be unfazed by his social media posts; it also allows them to believe the illusory narratives he’s spinning. One of the biggest lies greed is now whispering is that the richest nation on earth has been taken advantage of by poorer nations. This beggars belief.
There is a story in the Bible where a prophet named Nathan confronts the powerful King David about how he has unjustly taken something that was not his. The prophet tells David a parable about a rich man, who had a huge herd of sheep, taking the one and only sheep of a poor man so that he could host a feast for his guests. When David responds to the fictional story with incredulity, the prophet says, “You are that man!” (2 Samuel 12:7) There is something about always wanting more, I’ve learned, that eventually tricks you into thinking you actually deserve more.
Once this deception takes hold, you’re not far from believing that others have taken what is rightfully yours. All of this is a recipe for discontentment. No longer are you satisfied with the resources you’ve been given — you need to grab for the jobs, minerals, businesses, and land of others.
An unsettling manifestation of greed in recent months has been its lawlessness. If you believe that someone has taken what is rightfully yours, then the rules no longer matter, be they the rules of the World Trade Organization or of human decency. The thought of unfettered greed running lawlessly through our world is frightening.
It could destroy us. Right now, greed is running wild. And it all feels so dehumanizing — people defined by their net worths, art by its value at auction, education by wage earning potential, companies by stock price, and countries by Gross Domestic Product.
When we over-commodify life, we lose sight of its inherent beauty and dignity. Greed weighs down and flattens reality. Greed creates a bottom-line world that offers a false definition of contentment that destroys community.
John Van Sloten (www.johnvansloten.com) is a community theologian and the author of God Speaks Science: What Neurons, Giant Squid, and Supernovae Reveal about our Creator.
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