In October 2023, I wrote a Doubletake with another Breeze Opinion contributor on religion titled: “Doubletake: Are campus proselytizers good for students?” In this piece, I discussed my views on not only proselytizers but also my views on Christianity and morality itself. In it, I appear to disavow Christianity and, more at large, Abrahamic faith.
I previously complained that committed Christians emphasize the message that Jesus Christ promotes, that all people are born evil and must repent for their sins to achieve eternal life. A similar theme is depicted in Islam, though not entirely a parallel. I mainly complained about Christians’ disdain for hedonism. This complaint I had, however, was based on a desire for cheap dopamine, rather than intellectual criticism.
I ended by saying, “Honestly, calling something sin doesn’t affect the way I think of it. Any god that authorizes excruciating physical pain for premarital sex, homosexual sex, drinking, smoking, etc. seems like an irrational god.”
The problem with this argument is that it immediately fits everyone in the Abrahamic religion umbrella into a bubble, assuming they all think the same way and view God the same way. Our understanding of scripture today across all three Abrahamic faiths is from a multitude of translations and sometimes corrupted, as is alleged with the Scofield Bible, for example.
It’s true, however, that religious people sometimes use religion as a justification for repressive policies against women and the LGBTQ+ community, which is a problem. They also allow that to distract from economic issues, or even worse, they flat-out claim religion justifies capitalism.
Pope Pius XI himself even said in 1931 that “Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true Socialist.”
“Quadragesimo Anno” is an encyclical on social teaching from the 1930s by Pope Pius XI. The encyclical isn’t ex cathedra, meaning it isn’t infallible papal doctrine.
In any case, clerical figures of all faiths often acknowledge that their doctrines are a matter of opinion based on their understanding of religious texts as human beings. As bold as it might sound, especially as a Catholic myself, I disagree with Pope Pius XI on socialism. Marxism in its purest form is what mainly motivated Pope Pius XI and other popes to condemn Marxism, mainly due to its promotion of atheism. It’s important to understand that Marx’s Das Kapital, Marx & Engel’s Communist Manifesto aren’t guides, and that one doesn’t need to adapt everything a political theorist says. Nevertheless, reading a variety of political literature is important for this point. There are plenty of Christian socialists who reject Marx in part for this reason.
One model that could be used to convince conservative Christians of the ills of capitalism might arguably be G.K. Chesterton’s Distributist model. Here, Chesterton claims that small private ownership should be permitted, but that monopolies should never emerge. He advocates for economic decentralism. It’s an interesting alternative perspective.
I argue that Christians in America have allowed themselves to be assimilated into John D. Rockefeller’s understanding of economic interpretations of Christianity. The oil tycoon claimed that his wealth was accumulated as a result of his righteousness and that the true justice economically was the voluntarism he engaged in near the end of his life.
This is something that none of the Abrahamic or Dharma-based (Hinduism, Buddhism) faiths should be using their religion to justify. When religion is used to justify capitalism or imperialism, society doesn’t benefit in any way. It’s pretty clear that the conquistadors and the English, for example, weren’t embodying the values of Christ when they committed genocide against Native Americans. We should view this through the same lens in modern times. See what is happening in the cobalt mines in the Congo, for example.
This post-colonial framework, therefore, corrupts the tenets of Christianity. It has made Christians too comfortable with commodities. A lot of them claim to reject materialism but continue to advocate for the system that enables this materialism. Some claim that the issue can be addressed solely at the cultural sphere or that nationalism is the answer. This is self-defeating, however.
The Christian right often claims the Bible justifies nationalism and actions that are harsh on immigration and minority communities. Viktor Orban of Hungary, for example, seems to be acting on this thought process. Another strain of thought comes from Aleksandr Dugin in “The Fourth Political Theory”, which is a far-right nationalist perspective, now being used to attempt to justify Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. This thought process would make whatever the natives did in resistance to the Europeans justified as well.
Therefore, if you aren’t willing to advocate for a world built on cooperation and mutual understanding for the human condition rooted in empathy, you shouldn’t force submission morality on cultures you don’t like. Basically, if you believe in Christian nationalism, you also have to advocate for Arab nationalism and Black nationalism as well to be consistent.
In action, Christianity should orient people to oppose colonialism, and those actions are shown by the likes of Cornel West, who is a committed anti-colonial Christian. He ran as an independent for U.S. president in 2024. He promoted, as part of his campaign, justice for Palestinians due to what they have been facing in Gaza. Along with this, a strain of Catholic thought known as “Liberation Theology” also promotes anti-colonialism.
My ultimate new interpretation of faith, intertwined with a worldview that essentially emphasizes economic justice and discourages consumerism. It shows that one doesn’t need to maximize Marxism, for example, to have Marxist ontology in your ideology. It shows that followers of most of the major religions (with Christianity being the main focus of my argument) can and should, in my view, promote self-determination and a just distribution of wealth. In layman’s terms, my most emphasized values are based on community and class solidarity.
Contact Patrick Hanover at hanovepv@dukes.jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
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