The challenge of Capitalism/Secularism

The aftermath of the great battle between Capitalism and Communism turned out to be a victory for Capitalism. So convincing was Capitalism’s victory that the Communists did not just withdraw, licking their wounds they converted to Capitalism. So successful has been Capitalism’s victory that today, Democracy, Human Rights, Multilateral ism have become servants to the goals of Capitalism rather than Vice Versa. Has mankind finally discovered the holy grail and we can all live happily ever after? There does not seem to be a competing alternative vying for our attention at the moment.

If you look closely at Capitalism it is simply the pursuit of wealth driven by greed, exploitation and self interest. As an example the exploitation of the American Indian by forcibly take away their lands, the African slave to grow cotton on it, the Mexican and South American laborer to build a railroad across the American continent, the Arab bedou, to literally steal their oil to provide cheap energy to them has resulted in the creation of the worlds most powerful and wealthy nation.
This exploitation was not simply a matter of taking advantage of the less fortunate but a ruthless, savage, demeaning, subjugating, terrorizing, sucking the last drop of blood from you, your family, your friends and any one closely connected with you, type of exploitation. Capitalism’s lesson is that to get best results out of exploitation the more ruthless you can be, the more juice you will get. The great Pyramids of Egypt were not built by being kind to the workers, they were built on their torn limbs , overworked bodies and dead corpses.

What about the exploited? It might well be a question that Karl Marx was asking but with the best of intentions he came up with the wrong answer. The exploited are destined to be exploited, if not by one party than by another. In a dog eat dog world if you are not going to be the dog who kills, you will become the dog who will get eaten. The American Corporate environment is littered with the bodies of Corporations who could not maintain their competitive edge and were eaten up by the competition. These are the rules of the game, that America lives by, that are the cornerstone of Capitalism. If the Arabs cannot stand up for themselves, the Americans will do the same thing to them that they did to the Red Indians.

Is Capitalism the answer we have all been looking for or is it the biggest threat the world has known since Hitler threatened to take it over? Unfortunately the fault is not Capitalism’s so much as man’s in putting no limits on tasting the forbidden fruit. Capitalism has assumed a life of it’s own and men have lost control of themselves. It is no coincidence that only 25% of Catholics now come from the affluent countries. 75% are from the exploited people. It is no coincidence that even a larger percentage of Muslims are from the exploited people. People who profess to believe in God have very little to look forward to except to be trampled on.

Today the Capitalist world and it’s friends are poised to say to the weak, the exploited, the unprotected, “ call your God to protect you because we are about to use overwhelming force to subdue you to our will. We do not fear your God because we can see He has done nothing for you and we have become strong after we took Him out of our affairs. Once we have subdued you, we will insist that you take Him out of your affairs also“. This is an unstoppable march of History. The Genie is out of the bottle, it will not be put back. The decision that each one of us has to take is not if we can stop this from happening, not why religion does not seem to have worked, not whether we are good Muslims or bad Muslims, good Christians or bad Christians but which side will be standing on when this ultimatum is thrown.

Khusro