I read with interest the letter “Socialism in line with Christian faith”.
An extensive history of socialism was conducted by Igor Shafarevich, a Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and an associate of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn and Shafarevich had a front-row seat to the glory days of socialism. That seat provided them with an acute insight into the phenomenon. This work should be a recommended read in all high schools.
Shafarevich identified the four basic principles found in socialist states: the abolition of private property, the abolition of family, the abolition of religion, and communality or equality.
Do these principles sound like pillars of the Christian faith? Why must socialism be maintained by government force or bullied into existence against the minority? We are a republic for a very good reason. Democracies eventually eliminate individual or minority rights.
When Jesus told the rich man, “Give all your wealth to the poor and follow me,” he didn’t say, “Give all your wealth to Caesar and his political party, have the money first support government unions, and help support a government bureaucracy which will then give what is left to the poor.”
Jesus gave the individual the responsibility. Today, too many want someone else to carry their burden and excuse it through turns of phrases, or have someone else shove their camel through the eye of a needle.
Jesus certainly was not a socialist.
Gregory McQuaide
Hampton