Jesus Lived as a Socialist
by Jan Stephen James Cavanaugh, Ph.D. on 06/16/19
Jesus Lived as a Socialist
June 1, 2019jsc
To use the political parlance of our time the earliest Christians lived as Jesus lived, as socialists. Sharing for good of all was the primary concern of social intercourse and civil discourse. They lived the vision of applied love in justice. Communitarian. What community of nations on earth come nearer this vision? By the numbers, the socialist democratic Scandinavian countries do with low crime, fairness, equality, quality of life and care of environment. Our nation rooted in Christian values yet the socialist programs of Medicare and Social Security upon which so many depend is threatened for lack of funding at a time when 400 of us have as much as the bottom 150,000,000? What happened? Ironically the “make America great again” meme idolizes a time that is the socialist legacy of President Franklin Roosevelt. Yet by control of language and story line Conservatives of the Reagan revolution promulgated that the greatest generation, our great grandparents, had it all wrong in FDR. Socialism became a forbidden word and any criticism of capitalism akin to heresy. Newly elected Pope Francis took heat for faulting unenlightened capitalism’s greed and avarice. The money changers oversee the temple. Mainstream congregations’ Christian preachers take care not to preach Jesus is socialist for fear of loss of lunch and maybe worse. Perhaps millennials swinging back to our socialist roots? Perhaps Christians in support reclaim theirs?
