President Trump has called democratic socialism “the biggest threat to our nation.” At a Christian gathering in Iowa, Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, said democratic socialists “don’t want the allowance of private property,” “don’t want the free market” and start with “a premise that there is no God.”
Democratic socialists don’t want to eliminate personal property. They want to limit how one can profit from private property (the means of production, factories, etc).
As far as belief in God, there are many religious socialists, and the Democratic Socialists of America is fine with that.
This year, democratic socialists have won primary contests across the United States. With the ideology’s growing popularity — alongside grave warnings about it — I imagine readers of this publication have begun to form opinions, including about whether it fits with Christian faith.
On its website, the Democratic Socialists of America calls for economic solidarity: “Capitalism is a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit. We must replace it with democratic socialism, a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods and society.”
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that capitalists exploit workers for profit. That’s why we have labor laws and labor unions. At the very least, the operating principle of capitalism is self-interest — and I think this is antithetical to the self-sacrificing gospel.
For Christians, I think the biggest question to ask about any economic system is how it compares to the character of the kingdom of God. What does it look like to reveal that character here and now? As Jesus prayed, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
When we imagine the age to come, do we envision private property? Landlords and tenants? Rich and poor? Do we think the kingdom of God has borders? Do nations bomb other nations in the kingdom of God?
I suspect that, whatever our political persuasion, we do not imagine wealth, poverty, walls and violence in the age to come.
Is it possible to make the present age more like the age to come? I think followers of Jesus ought to try.
In scripture we see an alternative to free-market capitalism. Jesus appears to say that divesting of wealth is a prerequisite to following him (Matthew 19:21). Shortly after this, Simon Peter says they “left everything” to follow him (Matthew 19:27).
When the early believers had a chance to shape their faith community in Jerusalem, they sold their possessions and gave to everyone who had need (Acts 2:45).
Acts 4:32 says “no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.”
In Acts 5, the only recorded smiting in the New Testament occurs when a married couple lies about keeping the proceeds from a sale of property for themselves.
Clearly, the early believers embraced an ethic of sharing all things and not owning property privately. This offers a model for how we might live now and a vision of what heaven might be like. We might not aspire to share all things, but, evidently, the church in Jerusalem did.
Many of us might hold this ethic as an ideal for Christians but doubt that it would work for everyone. And yet, residents of liberal democracies are entrusted to offer our wisdom at the ballot box. It’s important to consider whether we should try to elect leaders with a vision of greater communal sharing.
Anabaptist ethics call for us to live simply, share charitably and not hoard resources. Our faith tradition lines up with the church in Acts and, I believe, with democratic socialist values.
I think democratic socialism fulfills the vision of the kingdom of God better than capitalism does. I don’t expect any politician or political party to usher in the kingdom of God. Nor do I expect politicians to express Anabaptist ethics.
Nevertheless, I will support the political vision that tries to move society closer to those ideals, in contrast to the one currently in power in the United States.
Regardless of how you vote, it is reasonable to reject the idea that democratic socialism is a threat to the nation or the Christian faith. It might be a threat to the wealthy and the free-market economy. But it seems to me that the teachings of Jesus and the example of the church in Acts are equally threatening to these things.
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