The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money Is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward

Economic exploitation is “the root from which racism springs” and can be eradicated through adherence to Christian values, according to this impassioned debut. Pastor Foley explains how the “pursuit of profit” has fueled racism in America, with slavery ensuring American economic dominance through the violent extraction of labor, and public lynchings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries wielded as “the post-slavery whip” to retain “political and economic power” over Black people. Foley also details how racist greed has been utilized by religious communities—including proslavery pastors who affirmed “out of one side of their mouth... that Africans were created in the image of God and then, out of the other side, spoke of how ‘emancipat[ing] our negroes’ would be tantamount to acting against God’s providence”—then calls for Christians to fight “racial capitalism” through initiatives like sharing one’s time or money with the needy. Debunking claims that racism is rooted solely in individuals (and thus see solutions mostly in relationship building), Foley persuasively argues that such “surface-level” fixes leave intact racism’s essential purpose: “to establish systems of wealth” that beneficiaries “perpetuate without being trampled on by those same systems.” The result is both a forceful call to recognize the roots of American inequality and a solid starting point for Christians who want to help fix them. (Feb.)