in the religion of capitalism: the deity is ownership of possessions the worship activity is greed and exploitation the daily activity is acquisition the doctrine is that profit is the essential lifeblood of all things good. the "measure" of anything is in terms of currency The article of faith in capitalism is that the profit motive is essential for getting anything done; that without it everybody would just sit about on their hands. The supernatural or mystic components of capitalism include the stock market, the mysterious appearances of new wealth (perhaps most frequently explained by the printing press), and the notion of, and dependencies upon, perpetual growth. Accomodating both faith and mysticism is the activity of not taking responsibility for costs, by dispersing them outside of the balance sheet in the forms of resource consumption, environmental wasting, and non-accountability of waste product. In the same boat of faith and mysticism is the fantastic denial of any prior or public contributions, and costs, to the foundations upon which private profits depend. I'll admit that I was considering religion as that which is loved above all else, rather than as something which was simply not understood; but both still work here. Even atheists have religion, but you can put rebuttals to that in a different thread please. avo ---