Socialism and Christianity Dont Mix
"The Socialist who is Christian is more to be dreaded than a socialist who is an atheist." The Brothers Karamazov, pg. 58
"In the same way, if he had decided that God and immortality did not exist, he would at once have become an Atheist and a socialist. For Socialism is not merely the labour question, it is before all things the atheistic question, the question of the form taken by atheism today, the question of the tower of Babel built without God, not to mount to Heaven from earth but to set up Heaven on earth." The Brothers Karamazov, pg. 21
Can a Christian be a socialist? I have been wrestling with this question for some time now. This issue has taken an even greater significance given the political climate that is currently enveloping our country. I have debated many Christians on this matter and I have found that there are two types of Christians: those who believe that socialism is a form of Christianity and those who believe that Socialism is the enemy of Christianity.
I personally fall into the second camp, of believing that socialism and Christianity are mutually exclusive. I would argue instead that Socialism in all if its forms is oppositional to the Christian Faith.
I believe that Socialism and Christianity do not mix together based on the following 8 reasons:
1) The roots of socialism come from Atheism. Even though many supporters of socialism might not be atheists themselves however, many atheists have aligned themselves traditionally with socialistic aims. Think of people like George Soros, Margaret Sanger, Karl Marx,and Hugo Chavez to name a few.
2) Socialism although it addresses some legitimate social concerns its primary aim is to create a certain type of materialistic utopia. This view although understandable is not in line with Christianity since the Christian's motive of improving the earth is to mimic a transcendent, heavenly reality, not to create a heaven on earth per se. To a christian social justice is much more than a materialistic solution.
3) Socialism fosters dependency on the state instead of God. As a Christian the person places their dependence on the providence of God. The Christian although involved in the state's affairs is not solely the product of the state and its decisions The person who realizes this transcendent reality realizes that the state can never substitute for a true personal belief in God.
4) Once a country becomes socialist it is almost inevitable that traditional religious structures will collapse creating a dangerous vacuum of culture and national unity. Just think of the erosion of religion in Western Europe. Once religion is substituted for secularism, then the cultural decline of that country is inevitable. Our founding fathers realized this important fact that's why they unanimously supported in the framing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that the new country of America needed to be united around a centralized belief in God.
5) Socialism encourages religion to be practiced strictly in a private manner. This compartmentalization is a subtle denial of religion, since to a true believer their faith is something that is not to be neatly compartmentalized into a separate public, private reality. To a believer their faith is the total integration of the public and private aspects of their lives. To a true believer their faith must play an active role in the public and social discourses. Christianity viewed in this light acts as a healthy check to the solely materialistic aims of the socialist state. To a Christian their faith can not be relegated to the safe, comfortable confines of their homes.
6) Socialism encourages mediocrity. There is a famous saying that goes, "necessity is the mother of all invention" socialism typically strips away the necessity, the risk to grow, to expand. Human behavior is shaped by consequence and challenge, the more you take away these two the less chance that the person will do something to positively change his or her behavior. The Christian's motivation for personal growth, excellence, and sense of contribution comes from the accountability of a belief in a higher power.
7) Socialism takes away the responsibility of the person to help the less fortunate. The tragedy of this detachment is that it substitutes true Christian charity with a false, institutionalized, state mandated form of assistance. The true Christian does not depend on the state to help the less fortunate, the true christian acts on his own and directly helps those less fortunate.
8) Socialism is a mild form of Communism. Friedrich Engels once commented in the 1888 version of Communist Manifesto, "socialism was respectable on the continent,(Europe) while communism was not." Since the word communism usually denotes terrible, totalitarian regimes, communists have been able to cleverly disguise their Atheistic agendas through the more benign and acceptable term of "socialism"
"In the same way, if he had decided that God and immortality did not exist, he would at once have become an Atheist and a socialist. For Socialism is not merely the labour question, it is before all things the atheistic question, the question of the form taken by atheism today, the question of the tower of Babel built without God, not to mount to Heaven from earth but to set up Heaven on earth." The Brothers Karamazov, pg. 21
I personally fall into the second camp, of believing that socialism and Christianity are mutually exclusive. I would argue instead that Socialism in all if its forms is oppositional to the Christian Faith.
I believe that Socialism and Christianity do not mix together based on the following 8 reasons:
1) The roots of socialism come from Atheism. Even though many supporters of socialism might not be atheists themselves however, many atheists have aligned themselves traditionally with socialistic aims. Think of people like George Soros, Margaret Sanger, Karl Marx,and Hugo Chavez to name a few.
2) Socialism although it addresses some legitimate social concerns its primary aim is to create a certain type of materialistic utopia. This view although understandable is not in line with Christianity since the Christian's motive of improving the earth is to mimic a transcendent, heavenly reality, not to create a heaven on earth per se. To a christian social justice is much more than a materialistic solution.
3) Socialism fosters dependency on the state instead of God. As a Christian the person places their dependence on the providence of God. The Christian although involved in the state's affairs is not solely the product of the state and its decisions The person who realizes this transcendent reality realizes that the state can never substitute for a true personal belief in God.
4) Once a country becomes socialist it is almost inevitable that traditional religious structures will collapse creating a dangerous vacuum of culture and national unity. Just think of the erosion of religion in Western Europe. Once religion is substituted for secularism, then the cultural decline of that country is inevitable. Our founding fathers realized this important fact that's why they unanimously supported in the framing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that the new country of America needed to be united around a centralized belief in God.
5) Socialism encourages religion to be practiced strictly in a private manner. This compartmentalization is a subtle denial of religion, since to a true believer their faith is something that is not to be neatly compartmentalized into a separate public, private reality. To a believer their faith is the total integration of the public and private aspects of their lives. To a true believer their faith must play an active role in the public and social discourses. Christianity viewed in this light acts as a healthy check to the solely materialistic aims of the socialist state. To a Christian their faith can not be relegated to the safe, comfortable confines of their homes.
7) Socialism takes away the responsibility of the person to help the less fortunate. The tragedy of this detachment is that it substitutes true Christian charity with a false, institutionalized, state mandated form of assistance. The true Christian does not depend on the state to help the less fortunate, the true christian acts on his own and directly helps those less fortunate.
8) Socialism is a mild form of Communism. Friedrich Engels once commented in the 1888 version of Communist Manifesto, "socialism was respectable on the continent,(Europe) while communism was not." Since the word communism usually denotes terrible, totalitarian regimes, communists have been able to cleverly disguise their Atheistic agendas through the more benign and acceptable term of "socialism"
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