Do the rich belong in the church?

Do the rich belong in the church?  Absolutely not, according to James 2.  The rich oppress the poor.  This treatment of the poor make the rich enemies of the poor.  And therefore, enemies of God.

There is one exception, however, the repentant rich, the restituting rich--the ones who sell all they have and give it to the poor, as Jesus told the rich, young ruler.  Do you know any such rich?

The following quotation is from the book entitled, The Scandoulus Message of James: Faith without works is dead, by Elsa Tamez:

"And if we look at the social class of our members, we find that there are more from the upper middle class than there are poor.  The rich in our congregations often take charge, and this is a story that is regularly repeated.  For the author of the epistle the natural members of the congregation were the poor, and he excluded the rich."

"This poses a question to our rich, Christian brothers and sisters today and those who aspire to be rich.  Why is it that from before the time of Constantine, up until our day, the church has opened its doors to the rich and the rich have largely taken control of the church.  This question concerning rich Christians is very serious and very complex.  The gospel response of "sell what you have and give it to the poor", is quite ingenious today, and does not respond to the structural complexity of society."