Should Christians Support Socialism?

Bernie Sanders

Socialism has been on the rise in the United States since the early part of the twentieth century.  In the 2016 presidential primaries Bernie Sanders openly ran as a socialist and garnered a lot of support, especially among young voters.  While the federal government used to leave the problem of poverty to families, churches, and private organizations, today it spends more on entitlements than it actually brings in with taxes.

Socialism sounds great -- alleviate poverty and inequality by redistributing wealth.  Things like minimum wage laws, federal pensions, universal health care, free college, unemployment and disability assistance, free childcare, and welfare all sound very nice and compassionate, but when socialism is viewed through the lens of Scripture, it becomes painfully obvious that it is an evil political system that must be rejected by Christians.

Here are five ways that socialism is evil (this is the subject of my sermon in a few weeks if you want to learn more).

First, socialism is evil because it is based on theft.  Taking somebody else's money is called theft.  Stealing money to give it to the poor is still theft.  And when the government does it, that doesn't make it right.  It's still theft.  Even when the majority vote in favor of it, it's still theft.  Morality is not determined by a vote.

Second, socialism is evil because it is based on envy.  When you assume that you are entitled to everything your neighbor has, that's called envy.  This is what socialism is all about.  According to socialists, inequality in and of itself is evil.  If your neighbor has it, then you deserve it too -- retirement at 65, healthcare, childcare, college, food on the table, a nice home, etc.  Envy-based socialism would rather you and your neighbor be equally poor than unequally prosperous.

Third, socialism is evil because it is based on slavery.  Socialism forces one person to work for the benefit of another person.  It does this by taking the money you earn by the sweat of your brow and giving it someone who did not work for it.  This is nothing less than forced labor.

Fourth, socialism is evil because it is based on a lie.  The lie is that it is the government's job to care for the poor.  The constitution grants the federal government a very limited number of enumerated powers, and anything not delegated to the federal government is left to the people or the states.  Caring for the poor is not one of the enumerated powers in the constitution.  As well, the federal government cannot care for the poor because it has no resources with which to do so.  Once again, it can only help one person by stealing from another.

Fifth, socialism is evil because it views the government as god.  Socialists believe that the government is the solution to every problem, the supplier of every need, the answer to every question, the source of all good, and the cure for every evil.  This is the Biblical concept of God.  The Bible tells us to take care of ourselves and to not be moochers.  If we are unable to care for ourselves, we are to look first to family, and then to the church/private organizations.  The Bible teaches that mankind is inherently evil, and therefore the more power that is granted to the government, the more likely it will abuse that power and cause human suffering.  For this reason the government must be kept as small as possible.

This post is not about socialism versus capitalism.  It's not about socialism's track record of destroying every economy where it has been tried.  It's simply about the inherent evil of socialism.  As Christians, we must resist the temptation to use government force to redistribute wealth for our own benefit or the benefit of others.  Instead we must do our Christian and civic duty by voting for limited government and an economic system that fosters human freedom rather than government force.