Wow, I thought this kind of thing was done away with years ago

[eppie]

You don't really understand capitalism then, do you?

In its purest (and probably most heinous) form, capitalism would be anarchist, where everything has a value and is negotiable. I'm thinking of the most barbaric and brutal of cultures where slaves, women and children are bought and sold like livestock. After the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, there was a time when they came close to this most perverse form of capitalism. By and large, the trafficking of slaves is done away with in most Western nations.

But, in order for capitalism to actually thrive, and therefore improve peoples quality of life, you do need a smattering of laws and a communal form of governance meant to protect peoples lives, liberties, and property.

So now, how do you equate capitalism (e.g. private ownership of property) with a religion? I believe that people can worship wealth, and may mistakenly fawn over rich people. If that is what you meant, then there are plenty of other Mammon's in this world.

Capitalism has always been preached as being the one and only true 'way-of-life' in many countries.
Things were good, because they were following the rules of capitalism. You can destroy the rainforests because you can make money from it.

To make capitalism really work without any of the negative outcomes you might need just the amount of government involvement that communism needs.

In that sense, they can both be seen as a religion.....but I must admit, my answer on Jesters comment was not really correct. Also because I didn't see communism as religion in the first place. So the comparison between capitalism en communism is the thing I wanted to say....not the religious aspects of it.