Communism, Fascism, Socialism

I was reading a blog yesterday where the writer was expounding on the wonderful merits of socialism, and apparently trying to convince others (and himself) that socialism is better than communism because people still have the right to own property. And whereas communism is inherently atheistic, socialism values all religious contributions to the global community.

Getting past the obvious utopian fluff, the fact is communism and fascism are both types of socialism. That’s why the second “s” in USSR stood for “Socialist.” That’s’ also why fascist Benito Mussolini admitted fascists were foremost socialists.

The difference between the two is that whereas the communist would say, “Workers unite,” the fascist would say, “Germans unite,” or “Italians unite.” In other words communism is based in class warfare whereas fascism is based in nationalistic pride.

But neither communism nor fascism nor socialism necessarily has anything to do with atheism as they are both economic, not religious, systems.

In the real world, however, they all seem to be packaged with beliefs that seem more compatible with religious skepticism or downright atheism than anything else. (There was not, in fact, much religious tolerance in France during its deChristianization efforts.)

That’s why Europe began its trek to socialism only after religious belief and practices declined considerably. Actually, I suppose you could argue the two happened in concert—the decline of religion and the increase of socialist beliefs occurred concurrently.

That’s something I always tell my more “enlightened” Christian friends. (Well, at least they think they’re enlightened.) Socialism is absolutely incompatible with Judeo-Christian beliefs.

And it’s always been that way…even in the Bible God tells Samuel that Israel has rejected Him, which is why they want a king. Beforehand, there was no king, but judges who judged based solely on God’s law. There was no concept of Church and State. The “Church” was the people and the people were the state.

And that tension has and will always exist between church and state because people are either going to look toward God as their source of ultimate security or they’ll look to the State. Consider the fact that much of the “new atheist” crowd, who claim as did Marx that religion is the opiate of the people, are almost always dependent on government monies for their research and livelihood and you’ll see my point.

Socialism continually claims a desire to help people as its prime motivation. But the most efficient way to help a person in need is to donate your money or your time to a charitable organization. Why introduce a government bureaucracy? It’s not that hard to find a person in need.

And that’s the difference between utopia and heaven on earth. But I’ll blog more about that another day.