Outline Christian teachings of wealth and poverty

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Outline Christian teachings of wealth and poverty

Throughout the old and new testament, the bible teaches us that wealth is irrelevant in god's eyes and that physical possessions are not important in heaven. Similarly Christian leaders are often extremely concerned with world poverty and agree that people should, "love thy neighbour as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18) and evenly distribute wealth amongst all countries, consequently many of the aid efforts in poorer countries i.e. CAFOD, are religiously based. All denominations of the Christian faith are dedicated to helping those in need, Jesus taught Christians to understand people's suffering and do all they can to end it, ignoring thoughts of their own comforts and possessions.

Although all traditions of the Christian faith believe this, some differ on how they think it should be executed. The Catholic Church believes they should be actively involved in the struggle to end world poverty, they believe in liberation theology, which is a moral philosophy that states Christians should help the poor to achieve freedom from oppression. Some Christians disagree with this as it can cause conflict with the governments of the poverty-laden countries. Whereas the Church of England supports campaigns to reduce debt, and asks