On September 17, 2011, a bright gold papier- mâché calf in the shape of the Bull of Wall Street, also known as the Charging Bull, was marched down Wall Street towards Zuccotti Park, disrupting brunches. People dropped their glasses of bloody Mary to join the parade.
“Isn’t that the golden calf, you know, from the Bible?” an onlooker asked.
The members of Occupy Wall Street coined a slogan, “the one percent”, describing the super-rich and demonstrating in mathematical terms how disproportionate their power was.
The percentage the rich hold has only increased since the calf was paraded down the street known as the home of the New York Stock Exchange, and glasses filled with the popular cocktail dropped. Imagination had seized the people, for a moment, exchanging Sunday brunch as biblical behavior.
Idolatry is no bull. It is a spiritual and economic reality.
Climate activists consistently cite that six percent of the world’s population uses the great amount of fossil fuels to keep the food warm at its brunches while 94% of the people will pay the environmental cost of their buffets. According to Astra Taylor, a Canadian American documentary filmmaker, writer and activist, new figures outpace the one percent.
“Since 2020, the richest one per cent has captured nearly two-thirds of all new wealth globally,” Taylor wrote in a guest essay for the New York Times. “At the beginning of last year, it was estimated that 10 billionaire men possessed six times as much wealth as the poorest three billion. In the United States, the richest 10 percent of households own more than 70 percent of the country’s assets.”
Taylor may or may not have marched with Occupy Wall Street or the calf. Still, she gets it.
In her provocative article, she argues that insecurity is pervasively affecting us all. Does this include the rich? Yes.
But the 94% don’t need a lecture about recycling. They already live a recycled life.
The golden calf is a symbol of what happens when the rich go too far and mistake themselves for God. They destroy their relationship with the divine and its good promises for creation and creativity. They become “Incuravatus in se,” Luther’s great definition of sin.
But what if this stick of insecurity could finally become a carrot for peace: peace of mind, of the planet and belonging, the peace that passes understanding?
The golden calf leads the way by naming idolatry as painful to each of us and all of us. Wealth can lead to destructive practices which negatively impact the lives of others as well as the earth.
The largest safety net is our democracy and the vote. Majority rule still stands, though the rich are smart enough to figure out that they might have to do something about that too.
The trick in the U.S. is talking the middle class out of the myths that surround wealth and into the peace, fun and the beauty that comes from sharing. Remember in kindergarten, when we were taught how to share? It sounds like the promise of creation and not the tragedy of the golden calf’s signal.
“When we extend trust and support to others, we improve everyone’s security — including our own,” Taylor concludes.
That’s not pie in the sky. That’s God from the sky. It’s smart and for everyone—just like the creator.
Donna Schaper is an active member of Faith Financial Professionals and co-founder of Bricks and Mortals in New York City. Author of 39 books and most recently Remove the Pews: Spiritual Possibilities for Sacred Spaces and Marrying Outside your Tribe, she is a part- time bridge pastor and fundraising consultant.
