If Christian capitalists weren’t blinded by whiteness, they would see that Jesus was a socialist
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Matthew 21:12–13, KJV
Despite my best efforts, I won’t be able to tell you all how I managed to stumble upon Amazon.com’s “Best Sellers in Christian Fundamentalism” list. What I can tell you is the book that’s currently listed as #1, Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise or America Will Fall, has to be one of the most unhinged and contradictory bodies of written work to date. This is not a book review. Priced at a modest $25.19, I can actually list a thousand things more worth my time and money. Instead, this is a review of the capitalist Christians’ disposition on what actually poses a threat to American democracy.
Published by Humanix Books (a subsidiary of far-right Newsmax Media), the publishing house that brought you such illustrious titles as Power Grab: Obama’s Dangerous Plan for a One-Party Nation, Big Agenda: President Trump’s Plan to Save America, and The Capitalist Code: It Can Save Your Life and Make You Very Rich, Cheryl K. Chumley dedicated her book that seeks to expose the dangers of the expansion of social programs to “Jesus, the hope of humanity.” From the prologue to the second chapter, Chumley touts individualism as biblical, praises founding, slave owning patriots like Thomas Nelson Jr. and Patrick Henry, and concludes collectivism to be un-American and the real enemy to this nation. Completely ignoring the atrocities that allowed disproportionate wealth to exist, Chumley defends capitalism and insists that “This country is good because it takes its definition of “good” from a moral compass shaped by God, dictated by the Bible, and forged by Judeo-Christian ideals.” She makes this claim without once quoting the Bible.
On Charity
Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.
Luke 14:12, NIV
Laying aside the hypocrisy that exists on both sides, can we all not agree that naming your “selflessness” to be saintly is either redundant or false? Being in agreement or not, Chumley makes the claim that the white America of today and yesterday is a “nation of faithful, God-fearing, Bible-believing, Judeo-Christian ideal-adhering patriots” and that their faith is marked by their charitable works. Ignoring the gospel of Jesus Christ, she goes on to list the billions upon billions of dollars donated to various charities annually. Why on God’s green Earth would we need government assistance when we have self-reliant philanthropists? Who gives more vigorously than the [white] churchgoers of America? The answer is simple: America would not need philanthropists and high-income families to give (and earn tax deductions of up to 50% of their AGI) if the profound gap in wealth didn’t exist.
Jesus could not have been more clear about giving. Big philanthropy is not the solution, but rather a problem in America. Though charity is presented as the redistribution of wealth, in the case of American philanthropy, the lie detector test (statistics) determine that is a lie. The donations from the elite go to elite causes that perpetuate the status quo and barely a fifth of the money donated by big givers goes to the poor. Statistics also reveal that less than 10 percent of all charity in the United States addresses basic human needs. To the selfless saints Chumley boasts of in her book, I’m urged to remind you that Jesus warned, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 6, ESV
Related read: How philanthropy benefits the super-rich
On Freedom
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Romans 6:20–22, NIV
Chumley, omiting nuance, defines socialism as force. “ — A forced government taking, a forced government redistribution, a forced government takeover of the means of production.” In the book, socialism is described as a Boogeyman-like entity that will creep into the schools and homes of patriots in the night with the aim to destroy America’s precious capitalist system and free market (aka their rights to exploit workers and escape accountability). She goes on to describe socialists as brainwashed and Godless, believing themselves to be chained by values and principles. Chumley is convinced that if Scooby and the gang got a hold of socialism, collectivism (prioritizing community) would be the unmasked. Since she opted out of explaining what’s Godly about emphasizing the interest of individuals in her book, I searched for the answer.
I don’t hate to be the one to break it to her, but to claim Christianity as one’s religion is to forfeit one’s freedom. Not to the State, but to righteousness — enslaved by the very God that Christian capitalists claim to serve. There is no individualism in the body of Christ because the body of Christ is itself a collective that is prioritized over each individual believer. This is further supported by 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 in which believers are asked, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”
For the unconvinced capitalists in the back: We, Though Many, Are One Body in Christ
On Protesting Oppression
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
James 5: 1–6, NIV
It was of no surprise to me that the author of a book titled Socialists Don’t Sleep couldn’t even conclude her book’s introduction without mentioning the George Floyd protests as an example of the “seeds of socialism.” Despite all the research aligning with the truth that 90% of the protests last summer were peaceful, Chumley insists for her readers to look no further than videos of “BLM rioters” and “ANTIFA thugs” smashing windows, burning cars, and destroying and defacing monuments of America’s history. The worst of their demands? Providing free health care to all local citizens, freeing all prisoners serving time for marijuana-related offenses, and the abolition of jails for youth. The horror! Chumley goes on to convince her readers that the chaos, insurrection, and thuggery was “driven by youth long-taught, long-trained to believe America, at root, is inherently racist and therefore, from the beginning, inherently evil.”
Would Jesus have turned a cheek to the injustices that existed before and persist after the government funded murder of George Floyd? Would Jesus have criticized the “social justice angst” of protesters and mirrored the opinion that the unrest was an “outright rebellion to all things godly” or is the entire book of Proverbs just omitted from the Bibles of conservatives?
Related read: As protests erupt, Christians ask: What would Jesus do?
On Capitalism and Wealth
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions — is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2: 15–17, ESV
TL;DR — You cannot be an advocate for Christ and an advocate for markets without morals.
See entire thread of NY Times articles on the matter: Has Capitalism Become Incompatible With Christianity?
On Service to God
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6: 24
It’s a reoccurring argument of anti-socialists like Cheryl K. Chumley that those in support of dismantling capitalism, healing from the centuries of trauma inflicted by it, and finding alternatives to an economy built on a foundation of exploitation are ruled by an everchanging god. A god that can be whatever is wished at the time. Considering conservatives are such unwavering advocates of the First amendment, it escapes me how they are so often able to disregard “freedom of religion” as an inherent part of our rights. Individualists cry out the loudest about their right to think and speak freely, yet time and time again, they use the Bible as justification for continuing down a path of manufactured scarcity in the name of the market. Is it more likely that billions of people pray to a god in flux or that the fixed god that capitalists serve is money — by any means necessary? Even if those means include betraying the Creator they’re certain endowed us all with the same inalienable rights? The Christ they claim to know was clear: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Altar call: Jesus’ teachings were radical once. They are not anymore. If you or a loved one has been bamboozled by Republican conservativism, visit https://christiansocialism.com/
