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The Difference Between Christianity and Socialism

The Difference Between Christianity and Socialism
EUGENIO BARBOZA/ Pexels

Socialism and communism, which are simply two sides of the same coin, killed 100 million people in the 20th century. Rooted in greed, tyranny, and oppression, those ideologies destroyed the lives of the hundreds of millions of people they crushed under their boot but didn't kill.

It is a fetid ideology that needs to be removed root and branch from American politics, lest we repeat the ills of the past. And no, I don't want to hear, "Real socialism hasn't been tried!" 

It has, and it fails. Every single time.

Which is why comparing socialism to Christianity is, at best, laughable.

This is exactly correct. Jesus and Christianity have always taught to care for the poor as a moral obligation and a duty of the Christian. That's rooted in the Beatitudes and the commandment Jesus gave us to love God and our neighbor. However, if you do not engage in charitable acts as a Christian, that's between you and God.

Your pastor may counsel you on doing charitable work, tithing, and the like, but what he won't do is show up and drag you off to the gulag or threaten your family if you're not a good little comrade.

Politicians spouting socialism, on the other hand, are a threat to your life and freedom. As I mentioned, 100 million people died thanks to socialism and communism in the 20th century. Many of them were systematically rounded up and killed by the government for not being socialist enough. The politician can use the violence of the state to take your money, your property, and your labor for the socialist cause.

And, more than that, socialism doesn't actually feed the poor. In Cuba, citizens receive meager monthly rations that do not meet an adult's daily caloric needs. In Venezuela and other socialist nations, grocery store shelves sit empty, and bread lines are long. Even the government-run grocery store in Kansas City failed to keep food on the shelves; what they did stock was often rotten or stolen by shoplifters, and the store is in dire financial straits.

As I pointed out recently, Jeff Bezos' ex-wife has spent $26 billion on various charitable causes, yet poverty and hunger and homelessness remain. I was told that if Elon Musk just gave $6 billion of his wealth — a quarter of what the ex Mrs. Bezos spent — we could end world hunger.

Why hasn't that happened?

The U.S. government spends about $7 trillion annually, but social problems persist. They've proven themselves to be bad stewards of our money, allowing billions to be wasted with fraud and spent overseas on Leftist pet causes like transgender education in the Congo or some nonsense. It would be more palatable to accept the government being a source of aid and help if they weren't so bad at it, and intentionally so.

Christians, on the other hand, have been able to educate, provide medical care for, and feed droves of the needy on tight budgets and using the resources at hand. And, unlike the government, they get results. They don't have a vested interest in keeping people poor and hungry, so the government grant money and donations keep rolling in. They seek to end the suffering in the name of Jesus.

Of course, the Left believes that charity doesn't count. They've long ignored the work of Christians and other organizations that actually roll up their sleeves and help people. They dismiss it because they believe only the government can help, and only with the hefty tax bill such 'help' invariably requires.

And we've all seen what socialism and communism do to religion. Marx called religion the 'opium of the masses' and socialists across the board attacked religion, killed clergy, imprisoned the faithful, and tried to suppress religious freedom. There's no reason to believe today's reiteration of socialists won't do the same.

Socialism and Christianity both speak of helping the poor, but they are moral opposites. One is rooted in voluntary love and sacrifice: Christians are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the widow and orphan as a personal duty to God and neighbor. Failure to do so is a matter for the individual conscience and the local church, not the secret police. The other is rooted in compulsion: the state seizes your earnings, dictates how they will be used, and backs its demands with the threat of fines, prison, or worse. History has shown, time and again, which path ends in bread lines, empty shelves, mass graves, and gulags.

The 100 million dead of the 20th century are not ancient history or mere 'mistakes.' They are a warning. Any ideology that requires the coercive and violent power of the state to achieve its vision of justice is, by definition, incompatible with human liberty and, ultimately, with human life itself. Let us reject it entirely, defend ordered liberty, and restore the distinction between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar. True help for the poor has never come from the barrel of a gun or the theft of taxation. It has always come from the open hand and the willing heart.

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