CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIALISM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22878, 5 November 1937, Page 15

CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIALISM

Sir, —Mr. Warburton asks me to justify tho compulsory distribution of wealth by any fjnotation from the Scriptures. J am not a theologian and, in any case, my interpretation and Mr. Warburton's interpretation of the Scriptures will probably be " poles apart." For example, " He filled the hungry with good things and the rich He sent empty away," and "As many as were possessors of lands sold them and put the proceeds in the hands of the Apostles and distribution was made to every man, according to his needs " (Acts IV., 34, 35). That seems to me to be more in line with the ethics of Socialism than with an individualistic, competitive, economic system, which in effect means, " Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost." Mr. Warburton says that Gregory the Great favoured a voluntary distribution of wealth, whereas Socialism makes it compulsory. Gregory said it was an "act of justice," and if religion is to be a practical thing to bo translated into tho daily lives of its adherents, then why object when an " act of justice " becomes the law of the land? R. C. Simmons.