Money Is The Root Cause Ofall Evil

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How often have you heard that said? Perhaps you mother or father offered this statement as words of wisdom to the young. Perhaps your Sunday school teacher or minister of religion or a trusted teacher would preach it at you. You may have heard it so often that it is accepted with out question. But like a lot of truisms it deserves to be questioned, because it suggests simplistic solutions to some problems, solutions which may be wrong if this basic statement is itself wrong. Firstly that money is the root of all evil can very easily be shown to be false. Where was the money motivation for the atrocities in Rwanda and Bosnia, or to take a tragic event closer to home, the Port Arthur killings? If money did play a part it is not readily apparent nor does it seem to be the main cause. Perhaps then money is the root of some evil. To say that money is the root of an evil act means that it is the first cause, you can not find any reason beyond that of the lust for money. Take the example of a mugging and theft of money from a person. Was the first cause or the motivation for this act money? I would answer a definite No to this question. If the mugger was a drug addict then the motivation was the addiction, the cravings of which could be satisfied in the short term by the purchase of drugs with the stolen money. Perhaps the initial addiction was facilitated by a drug seller increasing his market return and money income. But why does the drug dealer want more money? Surely not just for the sake of accumulating money. Money in itself is worthless. It is only because society has determined to use money (rather than say barter) as the means of exchange, that gives it any worth. It is value neutral, it is nether good or evil. It is only what is done with the money, or the reason it is accumulated that determines whether it is good, bad or evil. The drug dealer of
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