Christian socialism
"[7] The Hutterites believe in strict adherence to biblical principles and church discipline, and practices common ownership of nearly all property, resembling a form of communism to secular observers.
In the words of historians Max Stanton and Rod Janzen, the Hutterites "established in their communities a rigorous system of Ordnungen, which were codes of rules and regulations that governed all aspects of life and ensured a unified perspective.
[25] Christian socialism was one of the founding threads of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom and is said to begin with the uprising of Wat Tyler and John Ball in the 14th century.
For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from their sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.Basil of Caesarea, the Church Father of the Eastern monks who became Bishop of Caesarea, established a complex (later called Basileias) around the church and monastery that included hostels, almshouses, and hospitals for infectious diseases.
"[36]During the English Civil War and the period of the Commonwealth of England (1642–1660), the Diggers espoused a political and economic theory rooted in Christianity that bears a strong resemblance to modern socialism,[37][38] particularly its anarchist and communist strains.
[42] In "Religion and the Rise of Socialism", historian Eric Hobsbawn argued that the "modern working-class socialist movement has developed an overwhelmingly secular, indeed often militantly anti-religious ideology."
At the same time, he and other historians cited examples where this was not the case, particularly Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, where E. P. Thompson and Stephen Yo said a form of ethical socialism dominated the labour movement.
Those socialists argued that socialism was the embodiment of the teachings of Jesus, and that it would also rescue the church from Mammon, which they said caused it to have lost its way and become corrupt by siding with the rich and powerful against the poor.
[44] Connolly, who wrote a story for the Christian socialist journal Labour Prophet,[45][46] said: "It is not Socialism but Capitalism that is opposed to religion ... when the organised Socialist working class tramples upon the Capitalist Class it will not be trampling on a pillar of God's Church but upon a blasphemous defiler of the Sanctuary, it will be rescuing the faith from the impious vermin who make it noisome to the really religious men and women.
Part of a larger, nationwide movement in many American Protestant churches, Christian socialism in Utah was particularly strong, and dedicated Christian socialist ministers, such as Episcopal Church bishop Franklin Spencer Spalding of Utah and Congregational minister Myron W. Reed in the American West,[50] were fierce advocates for the miners laboring in the Mountain states.
Tolstoy sought to separate Russian Orthodox Christianity—which was merged with the state—from what he believed was the true message of Jesus as contained in the Gospels, specifically in the Sermon on the Mount.
Under the Reign of God, human relationships would be characterized by divided authority, servant leadership, and universal compassion—not by the hierarchical, authoritarian structures that are normally attributed to religious social order.
[84] Beginning in the 1960s after the Second Vatican Council,[85] it became the political praxis of Latin American liberation theologians, such as Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff, and Jesuits like Juan Luis Segundo and Jon Sobrino, who popularized the phrase "preferential option for the poor".
In his 1849 work Nostis et nobiscum, he referred to communism and socialism as "wicked theories" that confuse people with what he called "perverted teachings".
[116] The right to association, such as the creation of and involvement in trade unions and co-operatives,[117][118][119] are regarded as a core part of Roman Catholic social teaching.
"[127] Some prominent Catholic socialists existed during Pope Pius XI's era, including the American anarchist Dorothy Day who advocated for distributism and the Irish priest Michael O'Flanagan who was suspended for his political beliefs.
[130] Later in 1937, Pius XI rejected atheistic communism in an encyclical entitled Divini Redemptoris as "a system full of errors and sophisms", with a "pseudo-ideal of justice, equality, and fraternity" and "a certain false mysticism",[131] and contrasted it with a humane society (civitas humana).
[132] In 1949, Pope Pius XII issued the Decree against Communism, which declared Catholics who professed communist doctrine to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith.
[133] In 1952, when referring to socialism, Pius XII stated: "The Church will fight this battle to the end, for it is a question of supreme values: the dignity of man and the salvation of souls.
John XXIII wrote: "Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism.
[139] The group also cited the words of Chilean papal prelate Raúl Silva Henríquez, who stated: "There are more of the Gospel's values in socialism than there are in capitalism.
At the same time, Chilean bishops warned that Catholics must reject variants of socialism that are based on atheism or a materialistic view of history, as these were elements incompatible with the teaching of the Church.
From this mistaken conception of the person there arise both a distortion of law, which defines the sphere of the exercise of freedom, and an opposition to private property.
Reformed or Calvinist theology did not seem to sit easily with that interest, so I spent many a long year rejecting that tradition, only to realise later that Calvin himself was torn between the radical potential of elements in the Bible and his own conservative preferences.
Within the movement emerged conscientious objectors, such as Jacques Martin, Philo Vernier, and Henri Roser, economists pursuing policies that reflected cooperation and solidarity, such as Bernard Lavergne and Georges Lasserre, and theologians like Paul Ricoeur.
[157] Under the Vichy regime, which had seen the emergence of other forms of witness, particularly the support of internees in the camps and aiding Jews to escape, the movement was reborn to tackle the problems of a changing world.
Its beginnings may be traced to Griffith Jones (1684–1761), of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire, whose sympathy for the poor led him to set on foot a system of circulating charity schools for the education of children.
Until the 19th century, the prevailing thought amongst Welsh non-conformists was that "it would be wiser if the churches limited their activities to those of the altar and not to meddle at all with the state and social questions."
His political stance, combined with Calvinist doctrine, created an integrated vision that was significant to the religious life of Christian Wales in the later half of the 20th century.
The life and teaching of Jesus Christ were seen as the foundations of nonviolent direct action [for Plaid Cymru members] ... loving their enemies on the one hand, but not compromising on what they saw as an issue of moral rightness.
