Capitalism is not the root of all evil

Philosophers have struggled with the cause of evil in the world. After all, if God is good and God is great, why does evil exist? Many young people think they have the answer: capitalism is the cause of evil in the world, according to an article in Reason magazine. Here are some quotes:

"'Do you feel horrible? That's capitalism, baby!' says the wildly popular mental health influencer TherapyJeff in a TikTok with nearly 50,000 likes. 

"In another video, this time with over 14,500 likes, a young woman declares that 'capitalism is the root of all evil' before adding, 'I'm also a business owner...

When the US made God king

It's popular today to credit the secular Enlightenment with the creation of the United States. But the founders didn't see it that way, especially Samuel Adams. 

Adams said at the signing of the Declaration of Independence on August 1, 1776: “We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and with a propitious eye beholds His subjects assuming that freedom of thought and dignity of self-direction which He bestowed on them. From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come!”

New York City may elect socialist mayor

Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, became the Democrat nominee for mayor of New York with endorsements from self-proclaimed democrat socialists Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Why is democratic socialism still popular? It destroyed every economy in South America over the last century and therefore is a major cause of the tsunami of immigrants from the south.  The latest disasters are Venezuela and Bolivia. Chile recovered from its infatuation with democratic socialism in the 1970s and has been the only Latin country with a growing standard of living since. Recently, Argentina grew tired of the destruction caused by democrat socialism and elected a libertarian president to turn the country around. Europe's economy stagnated a generation ago because of democratic socialist policies. So why do people still cling to such nonsense?

Capitalists care more for the poor than socialists

 

According to modern socialists, only they care about the poor. Capitalism exploits them. The opposite is the truth. How can the two sides have such different views of reality? 

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains in his book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. Haidt, like most professors in the humanities and social sciences, is a socialist. Haidt shows that compassion, and only compassion, drives socialists. While capitalists value compassion, they temper it with concerns for justice and truth. 

Pastors and theologians should care about economics

 The recent death of Alasdair MacIntyre reminded me of the extreme contempt philosophers and theologians have for the science of economics. MacIntyre was a philosopher and convert to Catholicism who wrote several books that have influenced theologians and pastors to embrace socialism. Yet, MacIntyre, like Karl Barth and most theologians and pastors, never read a book on economics. He accepted the lies of the drunken atheist Marx as economic gospel. 

There are several reasons Christians should be familiar with the science of economics. Christian theologians gave birth to the science. I wrote about that here, so I won't go into the details in this post. 

The Pope and Capitalism

Pope Francis died recently. His legacy will be debated for years. I want to focus on his hatred of capitalism and how Catholic Christians should respond. 

It has been widely reported that the Pope called capitalism the "dung of the devil." That's not exactly what he said. Here is the section of a speech in which he used the phrase:

"The earth, entire peoples and individual persons are being brutally punished. And behind all this pain, death and destruction there is the stench of what Basil of Caesarea called “the dung of the devil.” An unfettered pursuit of money rules. The service of the common good is left behind. Once capital becomes an idol and guides people’s decisions, once greed for money presides over the entire socioeconomic system, it ruins society, it condemns and enslaves men and women, it destroys human fraternity, it sets people against one another and, as we clearly see, it even puts at risk our common home."

The Bible Teaches Neither Capitalism or Socialism?

The Bible doesn't command either capitalism or socialism, say some. So we must choose a third way, something in between, the best of both worlds. Right? Most theologians straddle the fence like that. 

An old article by Craig L. Blomberg, Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary,  prompted this blog because it seems Blomberg's points speak for many theologians today. His article, "Neither Capitalism nor Socialism: A Biblical Theology of Economics," gives seven (a Biblical number) reasons for his ambivalence.