Pope Benedict XVI believes that the economy must serve man, not the other way around. Human life and human values must always be the final aim of the economy. Businesses must be concerned with the family life of their workers. The pursuit of profit should not increase the wealth of a few and the poverty of the many.

If an economic system does this, it undermines the dignity of human beings and that goes for the economic systems of capitalism, communism and socialism.

Buddhist economics rests on principles of good works that lead to human development. Putting people, environment and peace first are keys to happiness, and happiness, not wealth, is most important in the Buddhist value system. The Buddhist idea is to have a gross happiness index to measure a society's progress rather than use the materialistic gross domestic product of Western economics.

Hindu economics believes there must be a balance between ecology, education, economics and ethics. It emphasises qualities such as friendship, healthy relationships, peace of mind and material ownership. In so doing, it values caring and sharing and a proper Hindu society would end poverty and strive for equality.

Islamic economics seeks to end injustice through the State's provision for the well-being of all people. It is based on the premise that the prevailing capitalist order has failed and that Islam offers the remedy. It aims to abolish interest, establish economic equality and create a new business ethic.

Every Christmas we are confronted with this glaring contradiction between commercial values and religious ethics. These great philosophical systems reject greed, exploitation, inequality and poverty. They put people first.

New thinking about development and democracy has rediscovered the ancient truths of these great philoso-phical traditions. But, how could such different systems of practice and beliefs have come to co-exist for hundreds of years? Worse, is it possible that some religions like Christianity might have spawned capitalism?

Capitalism

The great German scholar, Max Weber, said that the Protestant ethic, based on the belief that God helps those who help themselves, inspired free-enterprise capitalism. Theologian Michael Novak says that the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages was the locus for the first flowerings of capitalism.

Conservatives are in fact proud to say that religion is the basis for capitalism. The religious right in the United States is very organised and very outspoken in its support for America's most capitalistic party, the Republican Party. Less popular, but at least as important, is the question of the Christian sources of socialism.

In fact, the two seem more compatible. There is much evidence of the socialist ethic in Christianity, that ethic being that God helps those who help others. Surely, that has inspired the great humanist and welfare traditions of history.

Civil religion

How do such different systems as capitalism and Christianity (understood in Pope Benedict's terms) come to co-exist? Americans invented the term 'civil religion' in the 1960s to refer to the way that nationalism and religion combine to produce 'Americanism'.

It was both secular (patriotism) and religious (America is God's chosen nation) at the same time. Civil religion included all those deeply held values that bind the nation - Protestantism, capitalism, freedom, democracy, materialism, war. Sometimes one sees the soft side of this civil religion, such as love of neighbour, peace and compassion.

At the same time, one sees the hard side of civil religion, such as war, growing wealth with poverty, greed, arrogance and hate, the side that produces the 'ugly American'. Sometimes one even sees the mad side of civil religion, as when George Bush says God speaks through him. There is actually a view held by some Americans that the president's authority is from God.

Hatred

Sometimes this hard and dark side of civil religion is expressed in hatred for immigrants whose values are seen as a threat to the American way of life. This is true about Catholic Hispanics, for example. Sometimes it uses patriotism to support war and to suggest that those who disagree with a war are un-American.

The war against Islam, for example, is a nationalist and religious war to protect Western values, including Christian values. George Bush said God told him to invade Iraq. Barack Obama's objections over the war in Iraq was used to make him appear to be unpatriotic and outside of the tradition of America's God-given destiny.

It will be interesting to see if whether Barack Obama invokes God's mission in his presidency come January 20. Presidential inaugurations are something like religious anointments in America's civil religious state ceremonies.

John Kennedy invoked God as did many presidents before him. "Here on Earth," Kennedy said, "God's work must truly be our own." The symbolism of this is that the president is the highest authority of the nation and therefore the counsel through which God speaks to his chosen nation.

The Bush administration is the worst American example of how the dark side of America's civil religion - the manipulation of religion and nationalism/patriotism for hate and greed - can manifest itself. Barack Obama has to combine the good side of that civil religion if he is to reverse the image of the ugly American and be what the rest of the world hopes he will be.

Reconnecting with the world

American nationalism has perverted much of the great philosophical traditions that centre on humanism. To reconnect with the world Obama will have to reconnect America to the world's great philosophies.

As he spends Christmas contemplating his mission, he will have to think about how he will respond to Pope Benedict's declaration that the economy must serve man not the other way around. He will have to answer to the Buddhists in the US and the world to put people, environment and peace first.

How will he follow the Hindu dictum to balance ecology, economics, education and ethics and build healthy relationships among people? Obama will have to find a way to establish a new business ethic and greater economic equality in place of iniquitous systems of interest gathering capitalism as Islamic thought believes should be the case.

This is what we all must do. The old world of greed, war, poverty, and mindless materialism has come crashing down. There are many who want to rebuild it and carry on those old ways. Obama has come with a message of change at a time when change is most needed and most possible, given the weakness and loss of credibility of the old order.

The old institutions of civil religion are well organised and the symbolisms remain powerful. When Mr Obama picks up the pieces he must not put them back into the same places.

It is a good time to ponder on the idea that God helps those who help others, not just at Christmas time, but also all year round. This means we must reinvent the systems by which we live. If God helps those who help themselves we must make sure they don't help themselves to what is not theirs, like the fruits of other people's labour.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona campus. Email: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com