The Other View

Christian Socialism

By Billy Mitchell

A common charge levelled against loyalists like myself is that we have abandoned the faith of our Protestant heritage and sold out to secular socialism. Those of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ are especially targeted for our alleged apostasy.

The belief within certain sections of the Protestant-Unionist community is that Christianity and class politics are mutually exclusive has fuelled the bitter antagonism which religious fundamentalists have towards the Progressive Unionist Party.

The fear that any interaction between Christians and socialists must lead to a dilution of the faith is completely irrational and displays a clear lack of faith and a lack of confidence on the part of the fearful.

While Christianity and Marxism are philosophically irreconcilable I believe that Jesus and Marx, as individuals, shared many common ideals. If it were possible, I believe listening to a dialogue between Jesus and Marx would prove to be very informative and most enlightening for Christians and Marxists alike.

Jesus and Marx

Both Jesus and Marx had a passion for transforming social structures. Both wished to empower those who were excluded from the power structures of their societies. Both sought to enrich and enhance the quality of human life for the disadvantaged and the possessed. Both were outraged at the social and economic inequalities that forced people in their days to live in poverty and oppression. Both had a deep and abiding sympathy for the deprived, the disadvantaged and the dispossessed.

While they would clearly have expressed irreconcilable differences with regards to philosophy and theology, they would have found much in common to talk about and, more importantly, to act upon. I believe too that both would openly disassociate themselves from much of what has been said in their names.

Jesus would certainly have disassociated Himself from the religious wars, the inquisitions and the persecutions that have been carried out in his name. I would like to think that Karl Marx would disassociate himself from the purges, the Gulags and the suppression of human rights that have been carried out in the name of socialism.

Jesus’ Manifesto

The Bible abundantly testifies that there is a special place in the heart of God for the poor.

Indeed when Jesus commenced His earthly ministry He used the following statement to outline the focus of His mission: - "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of the sight of the blind, to release the oppressed". (Luke 4.18)

The church has often attempted to spiritualise the words of Jesus to say that He referred only to the spiritual bondage, spiritual oppression and spiritual blindness. However, as the Christian historian, Timothy L. Smith, points out: - "The poor are not oppressed simply by their sins but by an exploitative society. To face up to a social wrong – unfair wages, desperate housing conditions, the reign of ignorance and deference to the idols of race or class or nationalism – is the obligation of every Christian".

In his book, Religion and Revolution, the Marxist revolutionary Fidel Castro said, "the church should take the lead in responding to the widow, the child, the hungry and the needy." Notwithstanding the differences in belief and ideology that exists between Castro and Jesus, I would suggest that no genuine follower of Jesus could disagree with his statement.

Indeed if we set Castro’ comments alongside those of the Apostle James (James 1.27) we will see that they are both singing from the same hymn-sheet.

Jesus and the Poor

Jon Sobrino, the Latin American Liberation Theologian, has identified two classes of "the poor" for whom Jesus the Liberator had a soft spot. The First class was the economic poor – the hungry, the poorly clothed, the badly housed, the sick and the infirm. The second class included the social outcasts of his day – woman, prisoners, prostitutes, winebibbers, lepers, strangers, and the one who was different.

Looking back on my childhood days our family certainly fell into the first category. My own experience of life was one of watching my young widowed mother struggle to feed, clothe, house us and nurse us through the many sicknesses that came with poverty. For our family, life was a struggle to obtain the basic necessities of life and to ward off the attention of the moneylenders, the tick men and the host of other parasites who fed on the misery of the poor.

It wasn’t until I went to prison, and fell into the second of Sobrino’s categories, that I had time for both personal reflection and the interaction with others from a similar background. In Long Kesh we explored issues that we took for granted on the outside.

Even in prison we did not attempt a scientific analysis of our experiences. I have never exhaustively read Karl Marx but I have read and experienced Other Marks – the marks of pain furrowed across the brow of my widowed mother who was at her wits end because her money and her food had run out, the marks of pain on the faces of at least a dozen neighbours or friends who died before their time as a result of industry induced cancers, the marks of shame on the face of a school friend who felt that the only marketable commodity left to sell was her own body. These marks spoke volumes.

Doctrine socialists may well be correct in producing their scientific analyses of the causes of poverty and deprivation. My analysis, flawed as it might be in terms of doctrine and theory, is the product of personal experience. I have been there, I have experienced it and I am entitled to wear the tee shirt.

Spiritual Dimension

I know too, from personal experience, that there is more to human well being than material things. There is a spiritual dimension to human existence that needs to be nurtured as much as the physical. For me, a living relationship with the Risen Christ meets that need.

Tony Benn, the left-of-centre socialist who has described himself as a ‘Christian without God’, acknowledges that the moral roots of socialism lie in religion. In his "Arguments for Democracy", Benn follows Kier Hardie and George Lansbury in acknowledging that his "political commitment owes much more to the teachings of Jesus … than to the writing of Marx whose analysis seems to lack an understanding of the deeper needs of humanity".

Jesus fully understands those deeper needs of humanity. Thus, a socialism that is informed by the spiritual passion of Jesus ministers to the whole person.

I see no contradiction in being a follower of Jesus Christ while, at the same time, seeking the social, political and economic emancipation of either the economic poor or the social outcasts. On the contrary, I believe with Jon Sobrino that that is exactly what Jesus Himself would seek to do.

Thus, I am neither ashamed of my faith in Jesus Christ or of my commitment to class politics.

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