One of the most well-worn cliches in modern politics is that the Republican party and the conservative movement have become too religious. We’ve been portrayed as scary Christianists bent on creating a theocracy. Both secular and Christian leftists have attempted to attack the right by claiming especially that conservative economic theory runs directly against Christ’s teachings. In so doing the Christian leftists have revealed their own “theocratic” leanings. Moreover, they have tried to recruit Jesus Christ to their cause on economic issues because they realize they have fallen short on social issues.
The latest portrayal of Jesus Christ, socialist superstar, is Michael Moore’s latest bomb. (Please go see this movie. Michael Moore is very sad that you are not seeing his movie. You could be in grave danger if you don’t go and support him.) As Ann Althouse details, Moore littered his anti-capitalist screed with a healthy dose of that old time religion. He trains his camera on Priests who have unkind words for the free market, and Moore of course relies on out of context scriptural readings that evidently support the hypothesis that Christ was the original Marxist.
Alan Colmes – noted non-Christian – also claims that Christ would be not-so-approving of the modern GOP. It’s always helpful when non-Christians try to claim some insight into what the non-Messiah might have been thinking.
Again, this is all very silly. But what’s most infuriating about these arguments is that it reveals the left’s own attempts to appropriate Jesus to advance their political interests in a fashion that their opponents rarely do. Aside from the promoters of the Prosperity Gospel, few conservative Christians actually try to advance the idea that their particular economic theories have been especially endorsed by the Lord. Of course we’ll argue that our ideas do not conflict with Christian values, and Catholic conservatives will cite passages from both Scripture and the Catechism to disprove the notion that our ideas are at odds with Church teachings. But rarely will you these same people act as though their ideas and their ideas alone are the only God-approved ways of thinking about economic issues.
The fact of the matter is that we probably all fall short when it comes to economic matters. There is a strand of conservative thinking that is uncaring when it comes to addressing the needs of the poor and is influenced by a Randian worldview that places far, far too much stock in individualism. But leftists are guilty of violating subsidiarity, and I believe their reliance on government assistance de-emphasizes personal responsibility and charity.
The Christian left can rationalize all they want, but the fact of the matter is social issues are much more black and white, and Church teachings on matters such as abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage and other issues are absolute and unchanging. Left-wing Catholics and other Christians either ignore clear teachings on these matters or give aid and comfort to those who do. Therefore I think that when it comes to economic issues, they are driven by a need to prove their Christian bona fides by asserting that they are the good stewards on economic matters. It’s always rather sad when guilty consciences try to over-compensate for their shortcomings in other areas. But no one should be fooled by what’s really happening here.
