The traditional Alliance we have seen between the Christian churches and the Capitalist system is one that once examined more closely, makes no sense whatsoever.
The teachings of Jesus on which the Christian churches are based stress ideas such as 'sharing' and 'self sacrifice'. Indeed the early Christians lived in communities which in many respects would have been seen as ideal models by later leftist thinkers such as Marx. Property was owned by the community rather than the individual. This can be seen in Paul's letter to one such community, in which he criticises a member for refusing to share his wealth with the remainder. Is this not the a socialist society?
If we then examine the Capitalist system, we can see this is far less in line with the teachings of Jesus. The capitalist system is based around the indivudual striving to meet the needs and desires of him or herself at the possible expense of others. It places particular value on ideas such as material wealth which mainstream Christian churches reject.
If we look at Guevara's ideal of the "hombre nuevo", we see it shows striking similarities to the idea of the perfect Christian, a man motivated by "moralistic rather than materialistic rewards"... it sounds almost like a quote from the Bible.
Perhaps it is time that Christian and Socialist Leaders both take a big step back and look at the what their core values are...
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