The most import one is, that it's not "What's the best money?" that is the question we should concentrate on.
No, the important question is:
"What's the best and the worst monetary system?"
In principle, we only have two systems:
Monetary freedom - the right to use the money you like best.
Monetary monopoly - in which a ruler dictates that the people must use the money that he is the sole producer of.
And the story about why Jesus died after having threatened the policies of Pontius Pilate tells us all we need to know about the evils of monetary monopoly.
Furthermore, the story tells us that it's not the debasement of money that is the most negative aspect of a monetary monopoly.
Debasement is just one way of abusing the monopoly.
We know from other stories, for instance the parity policy in Europe in the 1920s, that deflation of the money supply can be just as bad, and that it even can be worse than inflation of the money supply.
Therefore, it's the possibility to abuse the monopoly that is the problem, not how it's abused.
And lastly, the story is also a sad reminder of how religion is inextricably linked to monetary policy.
In fact, I think this might be the worst stain on religion.
We see the same problem repeating itself many times throughout history.
I know one of these examples very well, because it caused enormous hardship to my ancestors here in Trøndelag, Norway.
The Norwegian kings Olav Tryggvasson and Harald Sigurdsson (later St. Olav) tried to use a combination of Christianization by sword and monopolization of coinage to rule my people.
They didn't succeed, but they laid the groundwork for king Harald Hardråde, who completed the tyrants' project in 1050 AD.
Religious leaders all over the world should in my opinion start discussing the evils of monetary monopoly and how they should deal with it in the future
Thank you for reading.
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(This photo shows Harald Hardråde's coin, with the Christian cross on one side, and his name on the other.)
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