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Christian Network

"I keep hearing feed the poor, clothe the hungry, give shelter to those who don’t have it. The bozos that say this don’t recognize that capitalism and technology have done more to feed and clothe and shelter and heal people than all the charity and church programs in history. So they preach about it and we are the ones doing it. They want to rob Peter to pay Paul, but they always forget that Peter is the one creating the wealth in the first place." T.J. Rogers, C.E.O. of Cypress Semiconductor

The above quote, taken out of John R. Schneider’s book, The Good of Affluence, is one capitalist’s frank response to the wing of the church that condemns both affluence and the engine that sustains it. While somewhat overstated, his viewpoint is well taken. The Evangelical Left has often made the mistake of condemning the very economic system that has more effectively lifted people out of physical want than any other in human history. Whatever capitalism’s faults it is incumbent on Christians to compare it to other constructs, from feudalism to state socialism, which have failed to be anywhere near as effective in ameliorating poverty.

Many might argue that First World capitalism in developed countries is built on the backs of the Third World nations. This is an accurate observation in some cases. It is true that millions are presently working for multi-national corporations in conditions no Western worker would endure. However the salient question is whether these millions would be doing better had they never been offered such employment opportunities. Subsistence farming, for example, has left millions to die in famines when weather or soil conditions have turned unfavorable. What if such starving farmers and their families had been employed in these much-maligned foreign-funded manufacturing jobs? This is an important question for social justice-oriented Christians to ask.

Another question the Ron Sider’s and Tony Campolo’s of this world might want to ask themselves is what the real reason is for extreme poverty in places like Africa. That continent, for example, has been blessed by abundant natural resources, probably valued in the tens of trillions of dollars. The conventional wisdom is that oppressive, usually capitalist, nations in the West have economically raped the people of Africa over the past three centuries. While it is certainly factual that economic colonialism has played a role in the misery that we unfortunately now almost take for granted on this continent there is another reason that rarely gets much play. Many African nations have no functional rule of law regarding property rights. In addition these same countries often have few enforced laws designed to further the market mechanisms that have been in place for hundreds of years in Europe and America. Without both property rights and the market mechanisms such rights support the massive wealth potential of natural resources in Africa will remain untapped and useless to the welfare of Africans.

Perhaps Western financial aid to developing countries should be tied to progress in establishing the practical institutions necessary for the functioning of market economies. Many charitable Christians are already involved in "micro-enterprise" projects in these nations, but what about campaigning for "macro-enterprise" as well? We do the global poor no favors sending them fish without helping to make them fishermen.

A century ago sweatshops staffed by new immigrants were a common part of the economic landscape in the United States. Today the descendants of those immigrants are among the most affluent people in human history. Western capitalism ultimately developed, by necessity, into a more perfected system that did away with the sweatshops. Given time this same system can be imported into Third World countries if the West invests political and economic capital in building the undergirding structures required for modern market economies. The Church can and should be a major partner in this 21^st Century effort.

It has been said that God "helps those who help themselves". While this phrase is found nowhere in the Bible it does contain some truth. The global welfare state mentality implicated by the words of some prominent evangelical social activists needs to be replaced with one that sets the poor free to climb the same economic ladder that the affluent citizens of the West have already climbed. This is the most effective way to help those caught in poverty around the world. We who identify ourselves with the name of Christ are indeed called to feed the poor and clothe the naked, but at some point we must enable them to feed and clothe themselves.