Dr. Bernard Mauser, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES), and Dean of the SES Bible College spoke at the seminary’s Apologetics Conference on October 11 on why socialism is incompatible with Christianity. He sought to show that the idea that socialism is a good idea on paper, never successfully applied, is wrong. This idea, he said, is especially common among young people.
Mauser said that in fact socialism “looks evil on paper.” A principal reason is that it involves trusting government officials to know what is best for all of life. A mother knows her children well, the state cannot. When children become adults, they do not necessarily trust their parents to know what is best, how much less state authorities. More importantly, Christians should order their lives according to the precepts of Scripture, not according to the wisdom of a secular state. “Who loves your kids, your family more than you do,” he said. Even if some third party should love one’s children, they will not know them as much as the parents do.
Subverting the Culture
He referred to the important influence of Antonio Gramsci on the collectivism being advanced today. Instead of mobilizing the masses along class lines, as Marx proposed, Gramsci proposed to take over a society’s culture, converting and controlling “the main influencers” of cultural production. This includes “popular entertainment,” but also “judges, the priests, the professors, the instructors” to alter social life and put it under the control of collectivist ideologists. Marxists “have largely succeeded” in taking the prophetic role in many countries.
Important in the Marxist influence in the United States since the 1960s has been the fact that many schoolteachers have been trained in neo-Marxist beliefs. He said that these beliefs and values have been imbibed by even “Bible believing Christians.” He pointed to Jeremiah’s condemnation of the shepherds of Israel (i.e., prophets and priests) who promised peace without repentance (Jer. 6:14, Jer. 23). The prophets did not consult God’s Word in their prophecies but contradicted it.
The idea of the self-sufficient society that socialism advances is in fact “opposed to everything in God’s Word that is good and right and loving.” Instead of obedience to moral precepts, the correct social system is held to guarantee good results. This is seen particularly in Critical Race Theory’s definition of “whiteness” as values that “lead to success, like having a family, having a father that’s involved with his children, being on time, working, taking personal responsibility – all the things that actually lead to success and wealth and flourishing as a human being.” Quoting Ibram X. Kendi, Mauser said that adherents of CRT “are propelled only by the craving for power to shape policy.” The result of shirking traditional yet necessary virtues is that people in collectivist societies starve.
For Christians, love should drive all our behaviors. Rational persuasion and argument are the means of finding unity. “But we recognize, government’s not the savior, only Jesus is.” The Ten Commandments hold; thus murder and theft are wrong. But theft “presupposes private property.” Also, “family is foundational” in society, and therefore “children are to obey their parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1).” Those who are needy are helped by voluntary charity. What is done for “the least of these my brethren” is done for Jesus. Government confiscation (including taxes to redistribute wealth) of private property for the benefit of others, however, does not “build virtue” in anyone. For recipients of redistributed wealth, a sense of entitlement rather than gratitude is the attitude which is fostered. In contrast, in early America, the family, the church, and the local community respectively were sources of support for those who were destitute. Those helped were grateful to God and neighbor.
Contrasting Jesus and Marx
Mauser contrasted “the character of Jesus with Marx.” Here he followed Richard Wurmbrand and Paul Kengor, who have maintained that Marx was deeply involved in the occult. He referred to Marx’s early poems and plays, which were “filled with violence, suicide pacts, and pacts with the devil.” In one of his poems early in life, Oulanem, is about “making a deal with the devil, selling your soul to the devil, and a suicide pact, as a result of that.” He noted that Oulanem was also the title in black metal or death metal music in recent decades. Marx “refused to work, and lived off his family primarily, but [also] others as much as possible. He felt that work was beneath him. His wife and kids lacked food and medical attention, he lost four of his children in infancy and early childhood, and his three surviving daughters all committed suicide.”
Quoting from Marx’s early poetry (and also quoted by Wurmbrand and Kengor): “Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well, my soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell. The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain till I go mad, and my heart is utterly changed. See the sword, the prince of darkness sold it to me.”
Central to Marx mission was “to enforce ruthless criticism of all that exists.” Thus Critical Theory attempts to engender conflict along lines of race, gender, abled to disabled, sex, “whatever it is, we’ve got to criticize everything that exists.” Mauser noted that Marx “loved to quote Faust” in which the evil spirit Mephistopheles says, “all that exists, deserves to perish.” In fact, “Marx could quote long parts of Faust from memory.”
Mauser noted that the collectivism Marx proposed emphasizes “the collective versus the individual.” In capitalism, “the individual is important, and this is why it is consonant with the Christian world view, because you are important. Because you are created in God’s image.” In socialism, individual subordination will be justified by saying “this is for the good of the order … this is for the greater good, it’s very utilitarian.” Basically “individuals don’t matter.” What endures is the state, which “is deified. The state supplants God, in their view.” Governing all of life “expert managers” make all decisions. He observed that “both fascism and communism are forms of socialism. Fascism means national socialism … communists are international socialists, so they want to break down national barriers.” Indeed, a completely homogenous society, with no differentiation by age, sex, class, or job specialty is the ideal.
The Worth of Individuals
Capitalism, however, understands that the individual makes the best decisions on how to spend his or her money, and dispose of other property. Apart from one’s property, each individual is valuable in himself or herself. The human personality and intelligence are unique in nature, and Christians understand that it is unique because we bear the image of God. Even the market recognizes human beings as the greatest resource. Specialization in work is often built on interest, with work being done by those most interested in it. Success or failure in some work endeavor is dependent on the worker. But for socialists, it’s easier to blame society for one’s failures.
Mauser said many people (52% of millennials, 20% of political conservatives, and 15% of “people who say they have a Biblical worldview”) support socialism. But he said that people in the last category do not understand what socialism is. The twentieth century was the bloodiest century in history. Many of the people who were killed were either executed, starved, or worked to death by communist governments. He referred to the Communist Manifesto, which proposes to overthrow “family, law and order” and openly calls for despotism. Conflict is held to be the driving force in society. Marxists endeavor to promote as much conflict as possible between “men and women, blacks and whites, different religions, abled and disabled,” and parents and children. They hold that “the gain of one is the loss of another.” The point is to “abolish everything” that “makes civilization valuable.” This includes “religion, family, division of labor.”
In a market system, by contrast, human cooperation is the basis of society. Trade is a win/win encounter. One party gets what it really wants, namely money, and another gets what it really wants, namely goods or services. People have different abilities to contribute to society. Wealth generated is not a “zero-sum game,” with one’s gain another’s loss. On the other hand, in an effort to achieve homogeneity, 49 million people died in China in 1959-1962 as millions of people were moved from the city to the country and from the country to the city. If socialists were able to fully enact their educational policy, teachers would come between parent and child “as a prophet, as a priest.” In this conflict, a strong father figure is important in resisting the social engineering of schools and imparting “faith to the next generation.”
The Need for Realism in the Social and Economic Order
It was observed that the original title of The Communist Manifesto was The Communist Confession of Faith. Thus it is not subject to judgment. Yet it has not produced prosperity. $25,000 is the top of the poverty level in the U.S., yet this is “the middle class in Europe.” Indeed, single states in the United States have GDPs comparable to single countries in Europe. In fact, capitalism expands the economic pie, so that the poor do get richer. Further, people who are truly greedy can do less harm in a capitalist society than in a centralized society. Consumer choice and competition ensure better products. Although we have a better society with competition, there will not be a perfect society until Jesus returns to earth.
Mauser concluded by pointing to principles given early in the twentieth century by Ludwig von Mises. Mises observed that in socialism, prices are arbitrary. Without market control, no one knows what they should be. This leads to shortages. Socialist systems that have free sectors depend on them to generate wealth, as is the case in China.
But insofar as socialism obtains, hard work is effectively punished because those who produce more are then expected to produce more, according to the principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Thus, incentives to work are removed. Additionally, central planners cannot know what they must know to effectively plan. Just as parents know more about their children than the state, so individuals know more what they need than central planners. A final point is that in a market economy the poorest can move out of poverty, whereas in a socialist society, everybody is poor, “except for the few rulers.”
Mauser said that socialism is dogmatic because it insists that poverty is the result of the social system. But biblically, poverty may result from accidents, or from a defective character. “Sinfulness, laziness, and stupidity are not allowed to be spoken of, for Marxists.” But this is indeed the reason some people are poor.
He concluded that socialism is “moral evil … It doesn’t allow you to love God, because God doesn’t even exist” and it doesn’t allow you to love your neighbor. Rather, everyone depends on the state. Taking your neighbor’s property, or supporting state policy to take private property, is not loving. He said we can respond to socialism with activism as appropriate. We can tell the truth to people in our circle of influence. Contacting one’s congressmen on important issues is more helpful than one might imagine. Congressmen know that for every person who calls, there are a thousand who agree with the caller. As one has the ability, involvement in activist organizations may be called for.
The outcome of the current surge of support for socialism is unclear. Despite what socialists may say, acting against historical experience has led to poverty and tyranny. As Christians, we know that human nature is real, and so socialism can be expected to continue to fail in the future, because although it attempts to take the role of God, it cannot really do so, and it militates against human nature.
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