I have been assuming that the Christian voice in our secular democratic society must deal with reality, and in our time and place that is the capitalistic economic system. That does not mean that capitalism is a Christian program. Even a quick scan of the New Testament finds Jesus warning that you cannot serve God and mammon. He illustrates this by telling those who seek God’s Kingdom that they have to sell all they have, give the proceeds to the poor, and then follow him. You later find that the first Christian community demonstrates what this entails when they continue Jesus ministry by selling their property so they can share all they have with one another. The epistles further explicate the teaching in passages such as James claiming the love of money is the root of all evil.
If you are looking for a pure Christian economic program, this would be it: give according to your ability and take according to your need. From that perspective, capitalism turns the program on its head. It champions competition rather than co-operation, profit seeking instead of sharing, winning at any cost over caring for the needy, and opportunity in place of generosity. However, we do not live in a Christian society, and some form of capitalism might be the best economic program we can handle.
That does not mean economic values should control our society. Wealth should never be our only standard of success. The health of our culture should never be measured by the state of our economy alone.
Beyond that, Christians refuse to limit God’s activity even in the economic realm to the machinations of a free market. To do that necessitates accepting anything that happens as God’s will and eliminating the need for any human ethical activity. The Christian voice, as I have been arguing, insists some things have priority over a free market. Or better yet, it observes in this world someone is always trying to control the market. It might be the very natural influence of technology and international corporations, as we examined briefly in the last lesson, or it might be basic human nature.
The simplest of examples reveals to anyone the problem of a totally unregulated market. When my wife taught second grade she had each student bring a Christmas present that they shared by drawing names. On top of that, my wife gave everyone an eraser. At the end of the day, everyone left with one gift and the class bully left with his gift and all the erasers. That is not to say all wealthy people are bullies, but to observe there is need for some form of regulation, because some people are.
The Christian voice refuses to pass off responsibility for the care of the poor to some supposedly invisible hand of God operating in the free market. It proclaims God’s call for humanity to act compassionately and to share his love for all people in the community.
Just about every politician claims that the first function of a democratic government is to protect its citizens. Although they usually are talking about defense against foreign aggression, the Christian voice makes clear this duty also involves protection from exploitation by other citizens. The common citizen depends upon the power of our government for this defense. It certainly includes some form of regulation over the economic market. We Christians have no super insights into how to do this fairly, but we always speak for respecting the dignity and worth of every citizen in doing it.
