Stephen Morrison > Stephen's Quotes

“An attack on the rich is not a disruption of peace but a step towards it. The rich oppress the poor daily by exploiting their misery and poverty. The poor are kept poor and beaten down continually by the greed of the rich and the systems of capitalist exploitation. Poverty is violence against the poor. Tax cuts for the rich, leading to budget cuts in social spending, are an act of class warfare. It is a mistake to call for “peace” when there is no peace for the poor, homeless, or disadvantaged under capitalism. One might argue that even Christ was crucified in the name of “peace” by the Roman Empire.20 But Pax Romana—or today’s Pax Americana—is never true peace. It is peace by oppression. The rich must be brought low, the powerful must be humbled, the lowly must be exalted, and good news must be proclaimed to the poor.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“Radical hope in the Kingdom of God is essential to Christianity.3 The forward-looking position of our hope causes us to reject the status quo as unchangeable or unchallengeable. Just because this is how it has been done, because we live in capitalism, does not make the systems of this world immovable realities we must accept without protest. On the contrary, because we hope in the coming reign of God, we contradict this world and its sinful systems of injustice and mammon worship. The Church of Jesus Christ cannot accept systems of oppression and exploitation without giving up its foundational hope.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“The land is often considered a gift of grace in the Bible, especially in the Hebrew Scriptures. The land was the source of sustenance and thus reflected God’s will that all would have the necessities on this earth. Therefore, it is an image that often refers to natural grace. Those who take this natural, freely-given grace and turn it into a commodity, who privatize the land and sell it back to God’s creatures for profit, rob from the Lord. They are unfree. But the grace of God is not for sale. What God has given in common belongs to all; only by theft and violence does it become the exclusive property of the few.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“Thus, in a situation in which so much wealth lies in the hands of a few, while so many are impoverished, the burden of proof of just acquisition lies with the wealthy.”11 It is more likely that the rich acquired their wealth unjustly than the poor became poor due to moral failure. We often blame the poor for their poverty and fail to condemn the rich for their unjust wealth.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“The poor are not poor by accident but are made poor by the conditions imposed upon them by the greed of the rich to hoard more than their share of God’s gift, the earth and its resources, which is common for all.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“And he very rightly said, ‘money of injustice,’ for all riches come from injustice. Unless one person has lost, another cannot find. Therefore I believe that the popular proverb is very true: ‘The rich person is either an unjust person or the heir of one.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“The goal of society is not to guarantee absurd luxuries for the few but to provide essentials for all. Until that happens, the rich must be perpetually called to repentance, to give what they have to help the needy and poor.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“The Church today still thinks of the poor as objects rather than subjects of their own liberation. That is due to focusing more on hand-outs and band-aid solutions rather than substantial systematic change, which will arise only by empowering the poor and oppressed in their struggle for liberation. Thus, the Church does not properly help the poor by standing above them, offering occasional top-down help. Instead, the Church serves Christ in the poor by joining their plight directly, and by taking up solidarity with the oppressed. Accordingly, the Church is not merely the Church for the poor but of the poor. This radical solidarity empowers the poor and oppressed, who have been so often subject to the brutalization of powerlessness, to organize and struggle for their rights to life, dignity, and humanity.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance

“Ambrose argues that God has arranged the world so that all things might be used to meet the needs of all. The earth is not a commodity but a gift. God gave it for the good of all. The divine order of creation prioritizes the needs of all above the greed of the few. Ambrose here directly names two things that must be common, food and the earth (land). Greed has made these common gifts the exclusive right of the few. Thus, the privatization of necessities is a sin.”
― Stephen D. Morrison, All Riches Come From Injustice: The Anti-mammon Witness of the Early Church & Its Anti-capitalist Relevance