To think that money is the root of all evil?

[Beeinalily]

Well most evil, at least. Don't believe me? Have a quick look on here, there are non important things like CFs not paying their way, heartbreaking threads about money actually dividing families and everything in between. I almost feel lucky to not have any!

I think religion is worse.

The love of money is the root of all evil. Plenty of people with plenty of money manage to have perfectly good lives and relationships.

Add religion to that & I agree.

The things done in the name of religion (all religions or most) are mind blowing.

The actual quote is

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

So loving money more than other things can cause some evil.

Random violence isn’t about money but is definitely very evil etc.

I think you can take a step back and say broadly speaking greed, jealousy and covetousness are at the root of a lot of evil.

but not all of it. Some of the worst evils are perpetrated because people enjoy power and inflicting pain and suffering on others.

…. It’s ‘all kinds of evil’ - it’s not all evil. Evil comes in many forms.

Frankly I prefer being able to take my flappy bit of paper to the shops to exchange for groceries than a bag of potatoes to barter.

Yes you're correct, that's the quote isn't it? And it's true.

Bit of a crossover there too, I think.

No sense of adventure! 😉

I find discussions like this a bit strange because 'money' is just basically how we allocate resources in modern society. If you somehow abolished money then we would still be in the position where humans are fighting over often limited resources. If you look to the animal kingdom you will see that the fight for survival is often resource related so this isn't something unique to humans.

The same goes with religion really. Religion is just shorthand for deeply held beliefs. Almost every human in the world holds beliefs of this nature even if they don't relate to a particular god or religion. For example, almost all of us fundamentally think that murder is morally wrong. If a new regime came into power that suddenly condoned murder then I imagine many of us would be prepared to fight to reject this ideology because we believe it's fundamentally wrong. This is really no different to religious people fighting for their beliefs. Beliefs are a fundamental aspect of the human condition and won't just be removed if we stop all organised religion.

Good point! I was paraphrasing, it's a long time ago I last read that.

Makes much more sense that way!

It's just a token we use to barter. If it wasn't money we would be arguing over chickens etc.

It's human nature that is the root of all evil. Just look at how we treat one another, let alone other animals. No other species is as sadistic.

Loads of things can be the root of evil things. Sex, money, power, religion.

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.

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.

Absolutely.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Not to mention politics.

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.