Socialism and Christianity are not compatible. Popular claims make the case that since Christians should care for the poor and the needy, Christians should also adhere to socialism since socialism is “the best” governmental system to care for the poor and the needy.

As Karl Marx writes in the Communist Manifesto, “Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge. Has not Christianity declaimed against private property, against marriage, against the State? Has it not preached in the place of these, charity and poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life and Mother Church? Christian Socialism is but the Holy Water with which the priest consecrates the heart-burnings of the aristocrat.”

But is this really true? Should Christians support socialism? If so, why? If not, … again… why?

What Is Socialism?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary summarizes socialism as “a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies.”

Socialism went through many stages during the Industrial Revolution, but Karl Marx is recognized as the true founder of modern socialism. He divided society into classes (his original class was the proletariat [poor people] and the bourgeois [rich elite]). This idea of a society divided into classes has continued to evolve throughout the decades since Marx’s Communist Manifesto was published in 1884.

Essentially, socialism siezes the means of production in a society. Socialism is the precursor to communism.

“‘Redistribution of wealth’ is a key socialist concept, and it means that wealth is taken from the ‘rich’ and redistributed to the poor so that it is spread out more equally” (Got Questions).

The only question is this: how do the beneficial “redistributors” define who is the evil “rich”?

What Is Christian Socialism?

Christian socialism seeks to incorporate socialism and Christianity by using verses like Acts 2:44-45 which says, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (English Standard Version).

Christian Socialists want to impact policies in America to reduce capitalism and increase socialism in America. The Institute for Christian Socialism states, “To be clear, we are convinced that faithfulness to the Gospel must entail a commitment not just to resisting or reforming capitalism, but to overturning it while working for new forms of political economy that are life sustaining, egalitarian, and just.”

Christianity Is Not Compatible With Socialism. Here Are Three Reasons Why.

Upon examination of both socialism and Christianity, there are a number of factors pointing to why Christianity is not compatible with socialism, but we will look at just three reasons today.

Reason # 1: Socialism and Acts 2:44-45

Acts 2:44-45 says, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (English Standard Version).

At first glance, this is a sound foundation for all Christians to lay down their arms against socialism and embrace it with a big ole bear hug. After all, it says the early church “had all things in common” and “distribut[ed] the proceeds to all”.

Reason # 1 DEBUNKED

John Piper wrote for Desiring God that socialism is a forceful seizure of private property, but when Acts talks about the early church selling their possessions and giving the proceeds to their fellow believers who were in need, there was no forceful seizure of their possessions. They did it out of the goodness of their heart – out of a desire to help their church brethren.

“In other words, socialism borrows the compassionate aims of Christianity in meeting people’s needs while rejecting the Christian expectation that this compassion not be coerced or forced. Socialism, therefore, gets its attractiveness at certain points in history where people are drawn to the entitlements that socialism brings, and where people are ignorant or forgetful of the coercion and the force required to implement it — and whether or not that coercion might, in fact, backfire and result in greater poverty or drab uniformity or, worse, the abuse of the coercion, as we saw in the murderous states like the USSR and Cambodia” (Desiring God).

Socialism distorts the innate compassion in Christianity by forcing it. Force and seizure do not create a loving, cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (NKJV). No one should give “reluctantly or under compulsion”, but socialism requires everyone to give whether they want to or not.

Reason # 2: Socialism And Freedom of Choice

Socialism creates “a command economy where capitalism is a demand economy” (Carm). What does this mean?

Well, in a socialistic economy, the government controls the supply and manufacturing side of things. In capitalism, the people largely control supply and demand, and suppliers meet the demands of the people. In other words, the people have a say in how things are run in a capitalistic society, whereas in socialism, the government determines what people need and want.

Reason # 2 DEBUNKED

2 Corinthians 3:17 talks about liberty. “Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (NKJV).

Here’s a quick story: I was having a conversation with a well-educated gentleman who was a deist (leaning toward atheism). He asked me how God could force people to become Christians, and my reply was that each person has a choice: to be or not to be a Christian. It’s up to us. We have the freedom of choice to accept or decline God’s gift of salvation.

Socialism takes away freedom of choice in a society. Do you want to start a business and sell notebooks? If the government says the people in your community don’t need notebooks, they won’t allow you to obtain paper and cardboard to make the notebooks. If the government doesn’t want you to start a business, they will regulate and tax entrepreneurs so that people won’t start businesses.

You as the consumer might want a notebook, but if big gov says, “No, you don’t want that notebook,” you won’t even have the choice to buy it.

Socialism takes away freedom of choice. Christianity gives freedom of choice. The two are not compatible.

Reason # 3: Socialism and Rugged Individualism

Americans are all about rugged individualism, thinking for ourselves, and preserving freedom in America and the world.

The Bible also encourages individuality, but at the same time, Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:4 to “look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (NKJV).

Biblically, Christians are commanded to avoid groupthink (thinking like the crowd) when it is ungodly.

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15, NKJV).

In other words, Christians are to think for themselves and live in the world but not of the world. We are to be individuals who think outside the box. In American terms, we are rugged individuals.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2, NKJV).

Reason # 3 DEBUNKED

The Bible consistently urges Christians to contribute to the poor and those in need, but it never tells believers that government should own private property, the means of production, manufacturing, or forcibly make “one citizen to give to another” (Christians Engaged).

This government control is not “equality” or “freedom” as Christian socialists claim. It is slavery, and the Bible never endorses slavery as a beneficial or biblical aspect of society. Indeed, Old Testament Jews were commanded to give their slaves the option of freedom.

“All forms of collectivism, socialism, Communism, fascism, etc., are manifestations of the secular humanist worldview. They do not view men and women as unique individuals created by God. Instead, people are merely groups produced by a material universe through random chance and thus have no dignity or value beyond their membership in a group” (Christians Engaged).

Biblical individualism allows Christians to go against the government and follow biblical values even when the culture says that the right thing is to seize private property, limit families, etc.

Also Read… Ditch the Groupthink: It’s Anti-American

Conclusion

Three reasons that Christianity is not compatible with socialism: It is not compatible with Acts 2, it destroys individualism and the value of a person outside of a group, and it kills freedom of choice.

To close with Marx and the Communist Manifesto, he writes, “‘There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc., that are common to all states of society. But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it, therefore, acts in contradiction to all past historical experience” (p. 26).

These are words of insight for us to understand the other side’s thinking to effectively thwart their efforts. Christianity and socialism are not compatible at all.

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3 Reasons Socialism and Christianity Are Not Compatible