To think that money is the root of all evil?

Money needs to keep moving to work properly. When a minority of people collect more money than they could possibly ever use, and take that money out of society, society breaks down.
Huge pools of stagnant money do grow, but they don’t grow anything good.

I think the love of power is the root of evil, whether that power is conferred by money, religion, politics or just being bigger and stronger than others. I can't member who said it ( but I'm sure Mumsnetters will know) :

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

exactly.
If we didn't have 'money' people would still be competing over who had the most food/most cows/biggest house etc.

No I think inadequate parenting is the root of all evil, but we could probably discuss this for months and not agree! Money sure causes a heck of a lot of problems.

Do you mean wealth or greed rather than money? Money is just a convenient form of exchange.

Before money was invented are you saying that everyone was lovely and kind?

I think there’s strong archaeological evidence that prehistory was as bloody, violent and genocidal as modern life.

Love of money is the root of evil.

Greed is the root of a lot of evil - money is just a practical way of assigning value to things.

I don't think so. I think power and powerlessness are bigger drivers of evil acts.

And probably a different in brain chemistry/structure. I think 'evil' will be diagnosable eventually.

No, I think men are.

Money is also the source of a lot of good - small scale for example, I wouldn’t have my gorgeous kids and house if we didn’t have money.

Large scale, a billionaire or 2 could solve the worlds problems if they fancied it. So that’s would be a good thing. Sadly to be a billionaire you have to be a bit immoral (even you Taylor!)

No, the love of money is the root of all evil. Big difference

There was evil long before there was money

Ah but here you are simply making my point but in a different way. I used murder as an example in my post as it is as close as we can get to a commonly held strong belief that isn't based on religion in the UK today. The Nazis were able to override this belief in many Germans through tapping into other less palatable beliefs that Germans undoubtedly held regarding anti-Semitism, racism and ableism. The point being, religion and money weren't really at the heart of the 'evil'. It was other beliefs and ideology that fuelled the hatred.

It is also important to remember that there was resistance to the Holocaust from many Germans who risked their lives for their belief that the Holocaust was morally wrong. I would argue that the majority of these people were also not motivated by money or organised religion but by strong, intrinsic moral beliefs.

Basically strong beliefs are a key part of the human condition and impossible to stamp out. They are the root of evil but also the root of kindness and good in the world.

I agree with Religion being the root of all evil. It allows being to blame a fictional being for their atrocities. It magically created a world where it you point out the clear fiction, you are the whose view is odd - just like the emperor's new clothes.

Not to mention politics.

Sorry, that was in agreement with the poster who said no, religion is. Not in agreement with OP.

I think the history of the world shows that when regimes come along who condone murder, many people gleefully join in or silently turn away.

Look at the holocaust. Slaughter of that scale (estimates of up to 40% of all the Jews in the world were murdered in the Holocaust) only happens because huge number of ordinary citizens enable it or partake in it. The relatively small number of actual uniformed nazis cannot commit this level of mass murder without widespread support from ordinary people.

No, not if you share. I’ve shared my good fortune with my family and eased the burden they feel for not having enough money and eased my burden of worrying about them.

No, people are evil, money is inanimate.

My salary is far more than my parents ever earned. It has paid to:

• feed and clothe my child properly
• provide us with a warm, well maintained home
• give my ds a decent education
• give my ds access to sports and social opportunities
• it will enable him to go to university and fulfil his dream to be a chartered engineer which should benefit him, his family and the GDP of the UK.

I have savings, which mean I don't panic if the oven or washing machine break, as my dm did. I don't worry, every day, about my old age, as she did.

Nothing evil in any of that.

Yes - that’s why it winds me up when someone suggests - money itself which is a neutral thing - is said to be the root of ALL evil.

I mean the love of anything to excess is an evil. Too much love of wine, fat inducing foods, clickbait etc etc etc.

Money would be the root of all good in my life. I could either solve or make more manageable literally all of the many problems in mine and my kids' life, from the deeply entrenched to the trivial.

It would give me both the time and resources ( the money) to help make the world a better place ( as I see it).

Absolutely.

We are so greedy by nature. I hope someday we learn to live to each according to need and from each according to ability, but that ethic is not one that will ever be supported by those with the real power to affect how our communities function.

Yes, selfishness is the issue. If I have 50 potatoes and you have none. Plus the reason I have all these potatoes is I killed a bunch of people and took their potatoes. I didn't even grow them myself.