From Greenbelt 2011. For more information, visit Christian Aid: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/

1. selling your soul
... for a pair of flip-flops

2. flip flops?

3. A story
about a
wedding
reception

4. “You’ve had the
bad fortune of
being placed at
a table of PhD
economists.”

5. “What can you tell me
about addressing global
poverty?”

6. The key, it
turns out,
is ...

7. TAXES.

8. “You must create
an upward spiral
which depends on
a thriving justice
system. And
justice isn’t
cheap.”

9. “When people pay taxes,
that helps fund
infrastructure - including
legal infrastructure, which
makes lasting prosperity
possible.”

10. So taxes
are more
important
than most
people
realize.

11. 8 Millennium Development Goals:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
The Human
Conventional View
God created the world as perfect,
Emerging View
God created the world as good, but
3. Promote gender equality and empower
Situation: What but because our primal human beings – as individuals, and as
is the story that
ancestors, Adam and Eve, did groups – have rebelled against God and
we find not maintain the absolute filled the world with evil and injustice
ourselves in? perfection demanded by God, like a terrible disease. God wants to save
God has irrevocably determined humanity and heal it from its sickness,
that the entire universe and all it but humanity is hopelessly lost and
women. contains will be destroyed, and
the souls of all human beings –
except for those specifically
exempted – will be forever
punished for their imperfection
confused, like sheep without a shepherd,
wandering farther and farther into
lostness and danger. Left to themselves,
human beings will spiral downward in
sickness and evil.
4. Reduce child mortality.
in hell.1
Basic Since everyone is doomed to Since the human race is in such desperate
Questions: What hell, Jesus seeks to answer these trouble, Jesus seeks to answer this
questions did questions: how can individuals question: what must be done about the
Jesus come to be saved from eternal mess we’re in? The mess refers both to
answer? punishment in hell and instead the general human condition and its
5. Improve maternal health.
Jesus’ message:
go to heaven after they die? How
can God help individuals be
happy and successful until then?
Jesus says, in essence, “If you
specific outworking among his
contemporaries: living under domination
by the Roman empire, and divided into
various competing sects.
Jesus says, in essence, “Other people and
6. Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other
How did Jesus want to be among those groups – including your own religious
respond to the specifically qualified to escape leaders - are leading you farther and
crisis? being forever punished for your farther astray. I have been sent by God
sins in hell, you must repent of with this good news – that God loves
your individual sins and believe humanity, even in its lostness and sin.
that my Father punished me on God graciously invites everyone and
diseases. the cross so He won’t have to
punish you in hell. Only if you
believe this will you go to
heaven when everyone else is
banished to hell.”2 This is the
anyone to question and reject what they
have been told and instead follow a new
path. Trust me and become my disciple,
and you will be transformed, and you will
participate in the transformation of the
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
good news. world, which is possible, beginning right
now.”3 This is the good news.
1
Of course, there are many modern western non-religious ontologies and framing stories too,
plus Eastern ontologies and framing stories – both religious and irreligious.
8. Develop a global partnership for
2
This reflects a Calvinistic Evangelical protestant version of the message. The popular Roman
Catholic version might say, “You must believe in the teachings of the church and follow its
instructions, especially those regarding sacraments.” The popular mainline or liberal Protestant
development

12. NEEDED:
a theology of taxes (and
capitalism in general)

13. Societal Machine

14. Machine: a
complex tool
Prosperity
fashioned to
achieve a
desire.
Societal Machine

15. Prosperity
Security
Societal Machine

16. Prosperity
Equity Security
Societal Machine

17. Prosperity
Equity Security
Societal Machine
The Ecosystem

18. Heat
Solar Energy
Prosperity
Resources
Waste
Equity Security
Societal Machine
The Ecosystem

19. Heat
Solar Energy
Prosperity
Resources Waste
Equity
Security
Societal Machine
The Ecosystem

20. Heat
Solar Energy
Prosperity
Waste
Resources
Equity
Security
Societal Machine
Our Equity Systems are under-developed, corrupted,
dysfunctional, or dominated by political and financial
powers.

21. Heat
Solar Energy
Prosperity
Resources
Waste
Equity Security
Societal Machine
The Ecosystem
Tax reform is essential to a healthy, balanced equity system
- transparency, wise policy, progressive rates, values.

22. What do
flip flops
have to
do with
this?

23. Heat
Solar Energy
Prosperity
Resources
Waste
Equity Security
Societal Machine
The Ecosystem
Framing Story

24. Heat
Solar Energy
Prosperity
Resources
Waste
Equity Security
Societal Machine
The Failure of the World’s Religions
to provide a framing story capable of
healing the societal machine - i.e. Framing Story
Good News.

25. Prosperity: guided by the
common good, shalom.
Security: “if only you knew
what makes for peace.”
Equity: Just and wise tax
policy to support
sustainable shared
prosperity and security.

26. What do
flip flops
have to
do with
this?

27. Hear this, you that trample on
the needy, and bring to ruin
the poor of the land, saying,
‘When will the new moon be
over so that we may sell
grain;
and the sabbath, so that we
may offer wheat for sale?
- Amos 8

28. We will make the ephah
small and the shekel
great, and practise deceit
with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair
of sandals (flip flops),
and selling the sweepings
of the wheat.’
-Amos 8

29. Buying the
poor and
needy for
a pair of
flip flops?

30. The Lord’s Prayer
1. Our Father above us
and all around us …
2. May Your unspeakable
Name be revered.

31. 3. Now, here on earth
may Your
commonwealth come.
4. On earth as in
heaven may Your will
be done.

32. 5. Give us today our
bread for today.
4. Forgive us our
debts* as we forgive.

33. 3. Lead us away from
the perilous trial.
2. Liberate us from the
evil.

34. 1.For the kingdom is
yours and yours alone.
2. The power is yours and
yours alone.
3.The glory is yours and
yours alone.
4.Now and forever, amen.

35. 5. Now, here on earth may your
commonwealth come.
4. Here on earth may your
dreams come true.
3. Hallelujah
2. Hallelujah
1. Amen.

36. What do
flip flops
have to
do with
this?

37. Paul Stiglitz: Of the 1%, By the 1%, and For the 1%
Americans have been watching protests against oppressive
regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an
elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people
take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality
even the wealthy will come to regret.
The top 1 percent may have the best houses,
educations, and lifestyles, says the author, but “their
fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live.”

38. It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact
happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a
quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than
income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has
improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures
were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the
ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to
contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be
misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18
percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen
their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline
has been precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All
the growth in recent decades—and more—has gone to those at the top.
In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old,
ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among
our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While
many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil,
have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the
plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed
inequality to grow.

39. It’s no use pretending that what has obviously
happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1
percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a
quarter of the nation’s income every year. In
terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1
percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has
improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago,
the corresponding figures were 12 percent and
33 percent. One response might be to celebrate
the ingenuity and drive that brought good
fortune to these people, and to contend that a
rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be
misguided.

40. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise
18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle
have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with
only high-school degrees, the decline has been
precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century
alone. All the growth in recent decades—and more
—has gone to those at the top. In terms of income
equality, America lags behind any country in the
old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush
used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are
Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of
the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such
as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather
successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and
reduce gaps in income, America has allowed
inequality to grow.

41. ... a modern economy requires “collective
action”—it needs government to invest in
infrastructure, education, and technology. The
United States and the world have benefited
greatly from government-sponsored research
that led to the Internet, to advances in public
health, and so on. But America has long suffered
from an under-investment in infrastructure
(look at the condition of our highways and
bridges, our railroads and airports), in basic
research, and in education at all levels. Further
cutbacks in these areas lie ahead.

42. ... when a society’s wealth distribution becomes
lopsided ... The more divided a society becomes in
terms of wealth, the more reluctant the wealthy become
to spend money on common needs. The rich don’t need
to rely on government for parks or education or medical
care or personal security—they can buy all these things
for themselves. In the process, they become more
distant from ordinary people, losing whatever empathy
they may once have had. They also worry about strong
government—one that could use its powers to adjust
the balance, take some of their wealth, and invest it for
the common good. The top 1 percent may complain
about the kind of government we have in America, but
in truth they like it just fine: too gridlocked to re-
distribute, too divided to do anything but lower taxes.

43. The top 1 percent have the best
houses, the best educations, the best
doctors, and the best lifestyles, but
there is one thing that money doesn’t
seem to have bought: an
understanding that their fate is
bound up with how the other 99
percent live. Throughout history, this
is something that the top 1 percent
eventually do learn. Too late.

44. What do
flip flops
have to
do with
this?

45. Mark 14:7
The poor you will always have
with you...

46. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 15:
Every seventh year you shall grant a
remission of debts. 2And this is the
manner of the remission: every creditor
shall remit the claim that is held against a
neighbour, not exacting it from a
neighbour who is a member of the
community, because the Lord’s remission
has been proclaimed. 3From a foreigner
you may exact it, but you must remit
your claim on whatever any member of
your community owes you.

47. 4
• There will, however, be no one in need
among you, because the Lord is sure to
bless you in the land that the Lord your
God is giving you as a possession to
occupy, 5if only you will obey the Lord
your God by diligently observing this
entire commandment that I command
you today. 6When the Lord your God
has blessed you, as he promised you,
you will lend to many nations, but you
will not borrow; you will rule over many
nations, but they will not rule over you.
47

48. • 7 If there is among you anyone in need, a
member of your community in any of your
towns within the land that the Lord you God
is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or
tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour.
8
You should rather open your hand, willingly
lending enough to meet the need, whatever
it may be. 9Be careful that you do not
entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The
seventh year, the year of remission, is near’,
and therefore view your needy neighbour
with hostility and give nothing; your
neighbour might cry to the Lord against you,
and you would incur guilt.
48

49. • 10Give liberally and be
ungrudging when you do so,
for on this account the Lord
your God will bless you in all
your work and in all that you
undertake. 11Since there will
never cease to be some in
need on the earth, I therefore
command you, ‘Open your
hand to the poor and needy
neighbour in your land.’
49
•