Spread the Wealth

Given the shared interest, I thought I’d use Luba Lukova’s social justice posters as jumping-off points for some posts. By way of giving credit where credit is due, following is some more about the posters:

Social Justice 2008 is a powerful portfolio that features 12 thought-provoking posters by world-renowned artist and designer Luba Lukova [with] themes that include peace, war, ecology, immigration, privacy, health coverage, media, corruption, censorship, and Sudanese poverty. …Lukova’s portfolio captures many of the complex issues our society faces…and yet each poster speaks to the viewer in an accessible and honest way.

Starting with the income gap, I’ll revisit my particular dumbfounderment at one of the 2008 Presidential election’s later attacks. While a background in political science tells me that seizing upon the idea of “spreading the wealth” in the United States is sure to play well, my Christian identity was stunned by some of the response to this attack.

I’ve always been a bit confused how some seem able to find a basis in Christianity for capitalism when the book of Acts is perhaps as close to a socialist manifesto as many Christians will ever read. The problem with any man-made economic system, of course, is that it necessarily involves men (in the generic use of the term, of course). While communism may look great on paper, it falls apart when sinful human beings enter the equation.

Never mind Acts – if you really want to talk about “spreading the wealth,” how about that Jubilee Year, where everyone is freed from their debts and bondage? I dare say that looks pretty good to a lot of Americans right about now.

So, I was confused when crowds so vehemently booed the idea of “spreading the wealth,” especially when the demographics of these crowds would indicate a largely Christian base. When did Christians begin advocating holding on to all their own money and not helping others with the resources God has provided?

While I have to admit to being one of the seemingly few that like paying taxes, I also understand all the problems with which this system is fraught. Certainly, there are things to which my taxes contribute that I would rather not support, but there are also many social programs that go to help people in need that I could never reach myself nor through my tithes and offerings.

The other point of confusion was that this “spreading the wealth” was somehow a new and novel concept. Instead, what was novel was that a politician was honest about what the tax system is and how it works. The simple reality is that some of us pay more than others, and that’s okay.

If the latest economic crisis has taught us anything as a nation, it’s that we need to stop sticking our head in the sand and thinking everything is run by the “invisible hand” of a completely free market. Again, human beings are involved, so our irrational choices don’t make this almighty “free” market as functional as we’d like to pretend.

More importantly, as Christians, we need to own Biblical teachings on economic justice. The first chapters of Amos condemn the nations around Israel for committing some truly barbaric atrocities, but as the prophet hits closer to home, God’ people are condemned with at least as much ferocity for “trampling on the poor,” depriving them of justice, and oppressing the righteous (ch. 4). The idea is that God’s people know better and are held to a higher standard — “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48).

Let us, then, not look for a prescribed political or economic system in the Bible, for God gives and allows us freedom of choice, but let us live up to the knowledge that we have, to the prescription for what it is God requires of His people: to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

We would do well to allow our faith to inform our societal choices, rather than allowing the society in which we live to restrict our reading and understanding of God’s Word in our lives.