Wealth+and+Poverty

12-6-10 Prompt #9: BIG PICTURE: MAIN RULES AND CONSEQUENCES. Describe the main teachings of **The Chinese Philosophies: Confucianism and Taoism** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.

The Chinese philosophies way of looking at wealth and poverty is based on the "yin/yang" way of life. Yin/Yang means that the world is based on one single principle "Tao" or the "Great Ultimate".The yin and yang are the things that accomplish changes in the universe. There are five agents to yin yang way; the movements of the stars, the workings of the body, the nature of foods, the qualities of music, the ethical qualities of humans, the progress of time, the operations of government, and even the nature of historical change.

So there is no legal consequences to the teachings if they are not followed. The consequences are spiritual. "Ethical qualities of humans" are one of the five agents, so it really is important to treat others equally and with respect. Donating money to charities is great and is good way of balancing out yin and yang.

Sources: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHPHIL/YINYANG.HTM

11-22-10 Prompt #8: BIG PICTURE: MAIN RULES AND CONSEQUENCES. Describe the main teachings of **Buddhism** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.

Buddhists believe that there are four kinds of happiness that is derived from wealth: -**Atthisukha** - Which is the happiness of ownership. **//-//** **Anavajjasukha** - Which is the happiness derived from wealth which is earned by means of right living. (example: not selling drugs or sex slavery) **//-//** **Ananasukha** - Happiness of not being in dept. **//-//** **Bhogasukha** - Which is the happiness of sharing the wealth. -extremely important in Buddhism.

Buddhist ethics are based on the principle that certain actions result in certain effects. They are based on the Law of Causality (Paticcasamupada.) why do immoral acts result in suffering and unhappiness? What is the correlation between moral acts and beneficial results? So by treating the poor with respect and trying to help them out they can have a better chance at being reincarnated as something better then an evil person. Being reincarnated into an evil person is what they believe will happen if they do not have good kamma. It is just spiritual, moral, and social (with others in the religion). There will be no consequences from the law.

"Whoever in your kingdom is poor, to him let some help be given. (Cakkavatti Sihanada Sutta quoted in the Ling 1980:117)

Sources: http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/ebdha049.htm#batt Ethical Issues In Six Religious Traditions. second edition. By Peggy Morgan and Clive Lawton.

11-15-10 Prompt #7: BIG PICTURE: MAIN RULES AND CONSEQUENCES. Describe the main teachings of **Hinduism** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.

Hindu's believe that "selfless action for the benefit of others without thought for oneself is an important rule in Hinduism, known as the doctrine of Karma yoga." Since they believe in reincarnation, they will do as much good as possible to be able to be reincarnated in a better position in life or be placed in "someone elses' shoes" that are better then them. When helping the poor they will do as much as they can that they think is needed to be please the principal Gods Shiva. Vishnu, and/or Shakti. Kindness and Hospitality are key values of the Hindus. Dharma is based on sympathy, fairness, and restraint. Sin is to act selfishly instead of following dharma. Dharma and karma is what drives the Hindus to continue their kindness and compassion towards others.

Possession of wealth is normally only accepted if they are using their wealth in order to help others. In no way are you suppose to use it to gain power and you are not suppose to expect anything back in return when helping do things for others. Hindus are always encouraged to get their wealth by honest effort. And finally things (even wealth) is to be used in moderation.

Sources: http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/beliefs.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_in_religion#Hindu_ethics http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Hindu+ethics

11-8-10 Prompt #6: BIG PICTURE: MAIN RULES AND CONSEQUENCES. Describe the main teachings of **Islam** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.

Muslim views on wealth and poverty are by trying to achieve "goodness" and strengthen the goodness they may already have. They believe that it really depends on your education on how wealthy or poor you can be or become. Some families openly talk about current issues like poverty with their children but others prefer not to. If childrens' parents are good and teach them what they need to learn they will know how to react in different situations and know what to do when different things come up, how they are prepared to help out will show how much education they have had. Allah is said to have favored some above others which is why some prosper more then others. Its a fact of life if others live more poorly then others. That is what they are thought to believe.

"And Allah hath favored some of you above others in provision."(An-Nahl: 74)

Sources: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&biw=994&bih=539&q=islam+ethical+views+on+wealth+and++poverty&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=C1AgPQ27hTJCnJ4PuMJauwc4BAAAAqgQFT9A7mek&fp=12d7277057903979 http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543910

10-18-10 Prompt #5: FINE PRINT: DIVERSITY AND NUANCE. Are there different rules for different people/sects within **Christianity** regarding your ethical issue? What about differences in the way consequences are applied? **This week, concentrate on the similarities and differences between Catholics and Protestants on your topic.**

The views on the ethical issues of wealth and poverty within Christianity are the same for both Protestant and Catholic sects. The Catholics may have some different views on the bible as Protestants do but according to this issue they both have the same perspectives. Jesus did not condemn the material goods on earth. But he lets of know that when humans come in contact with money, the wealthier humans become the less they rely on God and getting to know him. In this sense the "money is power" quote is very real. The more money you have the less you rely on anyone or anything else. It becomes your life and the actions you take and the people you have contact with always have to do with the money you own. For example a rich person would not consider getting to know those of a lower class, they would want to get to know people of higher classes to be able to get up there themselves.

People that start out poor may stay poor unless some radical event takes place in which they are able to get out of their situation. And it's not just poor as in money, its a lot of things that go along with that such as, poor family relationships, poor education, poor nutrition, and poor quality work habits. Although, then when people like this are in this situation, they have more to rely on, for starters they rely on God to provide opportunities for them to prosper in any way. They have faith and hope. Which is what God wants. So even though Christianity believes that the distribution of wealth is unfair, if the poor just become rich, that is not what God wants. There should be some lesson in how they become wealthy and thank and pray to God in the process.

sources: http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/poverty.html http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12324a.htm

10-4-10 Prompt #4: BIG PICTURE: MAIN RULES AND CONSEQUENCES. Describe the main teachings of **Christianity** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.

Since I am a Christian I am going to speak from a first person point of view when writing this. Also my connection to this topic would be that this summer and last summer I have gone on two mission trips with the goal of experiencing and helping the less fortunate people of Philadelphia. My youth group stayed in the basement of Arch Street Methodist Church. To make others aware of our nonjudgmental state we slept in the same place that the church opens up to the homeless and less fortunate in the winter and colder months to sleep at night.

Christians believe that the the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor should all be looked at as equals. In Gods eyes everyone was created equal and everyone to this day is still equal, there are to be no different social classes.These people on the "lower level" of life have injustice. Some are working two jobs and ave kids to pay for and try to keep without getting them taken away and becoming orphans because of the lack of money. It is not fair that people are getting paid all the time any barely if at all working for the money the get. It is a huge maldistribution of wealth all over the planet. America alone spends 6 billion dollars on ice cream a year. Which is enough money to feed all of the 3rd world countries where there are hundreds of people everyday dieing of hunger.

Passage from the Holy Bible. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 So we have stopped evaluating others form a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from the human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who has become a new person. The old life has gone and a new has begun.

So by the means of consequences and helping others out, the consequences are only spiritual and personal. There are no consequences by law of America.

Sources: Holy Bible

9-27-10 Prompt #3: FINE PRINT: DIVERSITY AND NUANCE. Are there different rules for different people/sects within **Judaism** regarding your ethical issue? What about differences in the way consequences are applied?

There really is not different rules for different people/sects for how Jews come across poverty and wealth. Jews do not really draw attention to the ethical issues, when comparing to say Christianity. Christianity is more out going when it comes to this and tries to step right up. Jews believe that these ethical issues should not just be for ones of this world that have a religion and do what the religion tells them to do. Even those who are secular, that have any compassion should not be living out their live to the fullest when there are those on earth still suffering because of the lack of money. Wealth should be equally spread through out the globe which would solve all kinds of problems. Jews also believe that the best kind of charity is charity that helps the poor not to have to live off of "welfare dependency" and be able to sustain life by their own means. In Judaism you are taught to believe that everyone is equal and you are too treat everyone with equal respect, just as God himself would do.

Sources: "Wealth and Poverty: A Jewish Analysis" http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&biw=994&bih=539&q=wealth+and+poverty%3A+a+jewish+analysis&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=wealth+and+poverty%3A+a+jewish+analysis&gs_rfai=CmAQTpcagTKO7C6eqgATTuvUoAAAAqgQFT9Cr6W4&fp=b851f34234017a2a

9-20-10 Prompt #2: BIG PICTURE: MAIN RULES AND CONSEQUENCES. Describe the main teachings of **Judaism** pertinent to your issue. What are the consequences (legal, social, spiritual) when the teachings are not followed? In other words, I'm asking you to investigate whether your ethical issue is considered a public matter, with public, legal, and social consequences, or is it considered a spiritual or personal matter, with more private consequences affecting personal relationships and spiritual matters.

Wealth and poverty for the Judaism religion comes across as a big concern. It is more of a spiritual and personal matter with consequences of only your conscience being damaged and your relationship with the Lord God. Jews play a vigorous and constructive part in the development of new movements and ideas. In history Jews have always brought prosperity to every and any country which they have lived. But Jews along with all the rest of the world are required just as much to help the cause of poverty in this world. Speaking of this world, we have more then enough resources for everyone to have enough to live off of. But due to the poor distribution of the wealth, some are rich and some are poor. Which then makes different classes of people. But in Gods' eyes everybody is equal. The Jews now feel that they are left to help to cause but cant do it alone.The denominational divides need to stop to get everything to where the world should be. And world peace. The injustice needs to stop. Charity is another word for justice so not participating in charity organizations is causing injustice to many. The Jewish were involved in a lot of campaigns in recent history along with others form the community. An example of one is "Make Poverty History Campaign of 2005" they6 found that campaign made it possible to work together across their denominational divides.

Sources: "Ethical Issues In Six Religion Traditions" by Clive A. Lawton

9-13-10 Wealth And Poverty: Prompt #1: Define and describe your topic as an ethical issue and identify the controversies and dilemmas within the issue. Seek to do general background reading to understand the main issues inherent in your topic.Identify at least two opposing positions often taken on your ethical issue, and explain two to three main arguments for each side.

My Ethic paper topic is wealth and poverty around the world, and the dilemmas and controversies that they have to do with. Also how primal religions take part in this issue, in trying to understand it enough to improve the quality of life for humans. Through my own experiences going on mission trips and experiencing this first hand I know that the poor are looked down upon from up on the high pedistool of the wealthier. Judging plays a major role in this because the poor and/or homeless are thought up to be lazy or mentally handicapped. This in over 3/4th of the cases is not true at all. Some have even more then one job and are still barely making enough money to live comfortably and stably. The pay that they are being given is around minimum wage. With expenses on the rise, this is not enough to buy even the most basic of things. In further prompts I am going to be looking at how primal religions see the wealthy and the poor and how they are connecting them to one another, There is a big barrier between the wealthy and the poor. It's almost like racism or other issues like that trying to still be worked out. How can this world we live in be selfish enough to have so many million and billionaires, and yet there are people that have no idea when or where their next meal is coming from or when they will get to eat next. And there are 10 your old girls being sold into sex slavery just so the family can get money off of them. Do you not see a problem here? What is everyone thinking? If we are all one world can we not work together? Theses are the questions I ask, and determine to find answers through different religions.

Sources: http://worldreligions-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1855 John Kenneth Galbraith "The Nature Of Mass Poverty" p.60-66