An Outrageous Idea, or Not? — Stephan Richter's Thought that Europe’s Monetary Union Should Have Been Restricted to Cultures that Split from Catholicism during the 16th Century’s Protestant Reformation

© 2012 Peter Free

 

16 May 2012

 

 

Does history hold us in bonds largely determined by our national psyches?

 

So seems to think The Globalist’s Stephan Richter.

 

He argued a couple of days ago that European countries that accompanied Martin Luther into the Protestant Reformation of the early 1500s would have qualified as sound Euro zone nations more than 500 years later.  Nations that stayed Catholic or Greek Orthodox would not.

 

 

Citation

 

Stephan Richter, Martin Luther and the Eurozone: Theology as an Economic Destiny?, The Globalist (14 May 2012)

 

 

Why does Mr. Richter think this?

 

This is the deliciously “politically incorrect” part:

 

[L]ook at the countries that never managed to overcome the Catholic Church's cancerous practice at the time of demanding indulgences (money donated to the church in exchange for forgiveness of one's sins).

 

Too much Catholicism, or so it seems, is detrimental to a nation's fiscal health, even today in the 21st century.

 

Indulgences then — and an inability to properly manage public finances now. (I speak as somebody who was born Catholic and therefore cannot be said to engage in any interfaith bigotry.)

 

When viewed from that perspective, massive tax evasion and widespread bribery (witness Italy and Greece) can be viewed as stemming from a cultural tradition of offering money to have one's transgressions overlooked.

 

In other words, sinning is okay, even if it is mostly fiscal these days.

 

© 2012 Stephan Richter, Martin Luther and the Eurozone: Theology as an Economic Destiny?, The Globalist (14 May 2012)

 

 

Proving the rule via its exceptions

 

Richter goes on to make prove his rule via its apparent exception in Austria, France, northern Italy, and Slovakia.

 

He thinks those still-Catholic regions departed from Catholicism’s self-indulgence (pun intended) in order to adopt “the economic values, work ethic and integrity of Dr. Luther and John Calvin.”

 

 

Perhaps not as preposterous as it sounds

 

Suffering discipline is an integral part of European Protestantism.  I know.  My mother was a Germanic Zwingli Swiss.

 

There was no easy evasion of wrong-doing in her book.  In a sense, that Reformist worldview parallels the Eastern Hemisphere’s idea that our karma dogs us, until we shape up.

 

On the other side, I have known many people who easily escape the burden of allegedly necessary self-discipline.  Buying indulgences is merely a crass form of reciting a few “I’m sorrys” and walking free of a perennially cavalier attitude’s bag of paybacks.

 

And making Richter’s point via its opposite, is some fundamentalist Christians’ idea that their acceptance of Christ is enough to save them, no matter how many crassly undisciplined things they do.

 

 

The moral? — I’m not sure there is one, other than to admit that hanging out with similarly minded people boosts the chances of a successful monetary union

 

Just like marriage.

 

Stephan Richter’s twist on History provides fun fodder for thought.