THE MARRIAGE OF THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT WITH FREE MARKET ECONOMICS WAS NOT A FOUNDATION OF CAPITALISM
BUT A MODERN, 20TH CENTURY CREATION
Today in America, the forces of free-market economics and the Christian, conservative right are inextricably bound. A Republican politician does not have a realistic chance of success without promoting both. Ted Cruz, for example kicked off his bid for the Republican presidential nomination by speaking about free-market economics to the student body of the world's largest Christian college, Liberty University. Much of this goes back to Ronald Reagan's definition of American Conservatism as a three legged stool: consisting of national security, religious conservative Christians, and economic/libertarians.
Much of the Christian fervor in American political life is a very recent addition. Congress added the phrase 'Under God' into the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus. The phrase "In God We Trust" wasn't on American money until 1957. Much of this was a by-product of anti-communist hysteria in America, where Americans sought to contrast themselves against the 'Godless' communists by embracing religion in political life.
In speaking about America as a 'Christian nation,' many conservative politicians like to make the argument that our forefathers were Christian men.
Yet even a cursory review of the beliefs of America's key founders, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, will reveal that most of these men were in fact Deists [CITE SOURCE]. In fact, we will go further to say that many of these men were privately atheists who used Deism as a cover.
It is interesting to note that the birth of Democracy came at a time in which Christianity was at a low point in the West. The 18th century in America and Europe was the Age of Enlightenment. After the brutality of the Thirty Years War in Europe, the Western World was in the midst of a religious hangover.
The same holds true for the birth of Capitalism.
Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a British moral philosopher and the pioneer of political economy. He is best known for his work 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776),' which is typically abbreviated to 'The Wealth of Nations' (1776). He laid the groundwork for the concept of Free Market Economics. The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the modern academic discipline of economics. In this work, he expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity. Smith's ideas lead to the decline of Mercantilism in the late 18th century. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain embraced free trade and Smith's laissez-faire economics, and via the British Empire, used its power to spread a broadly liberal economic model around the world, characterized by open markets, and relatively barrier free domestic and international trade. [1] So there is no doubt that Adam Smith's ideas were the foundation of modern day capitalism.
It is also well known that Adam Smith was a deist and close friend of David Hume, who was commonly characterized in his own time as an atheist. The publication in 1777 of Smith's letter to William Strahan, in which he described Hume's courage in the face of death in spite his irreligiously, attracted considerable controversy. [2] (he was a student of hume)
Some argue that Smith's statement about "The Invisible Hand" in the Wealth of Nations was a reference to God. But others argue that he was referring to the invisible hand of self interest (and given his personal beliefs, this is most likely true). It was his belief that self interest furthered society more than public interest, because by helping themselves, people also unintentionally helped the economy. Private vices turned into public benefits.
(more adam smith quotes)
Adam Smith's quote about 'The Invisible Hand' in The Wealth of Nations:
"As every individual, therefore, endeavours as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it."
THE INHERENT CONFLICT BETWEEN CAPITALISM AND CHRISTIANITY (too big a subject, don't cover this)
The idea of pursuing self interest over that of the public does not fit well with biblical concepts of feeding and clothing the poor. Capitalist ideas are very new in history. There is very little in the bible to support Capitalism, and the type of society that existed in biblical times has little to no resemblance to today's consumer economy. In fact, the bible has several laws that outrightly condemn certain Capitalistic practices, such as usury - or charging interest (Exodus 22:25). There are also laws, such as the 'gleaning laws' that bear a closer resemblance to Welfare, than the Free Market. The biblical book Leviticus commands farmers to leave the corners of their fields untouched, so that those corners may be harvested by the poor (Leviticus 19:9). Then there is the biblical concept of 'The Jubilee Year,' an occasion that happens once every 25 or 50 years, in which all debts are forgiven. (Leviticus 25:8). There is even the infamous bible quote that condemns the rich: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25).
Note: We're not supporting the bible, we're merely pointing out the reality that there is no connection between ideas in the bible and modern day ideas of Capitalism.
In terms of the history of Christianity in American politics, it is important to note that the Catholic Church had a pretty extensive role in the political Left up until recently. From the onset of significant immigration in the 1840's, the Catholic Church in the United States was predominantly Urban, with both its leaders and congregants, usually of the laboring classes. Meanwhile, the Republican party championed Nativism, Anti-Labor and Anti-Catholic movements in the late 19th century.
It wasn't until "the great political realignment" of the 1980's" that the forces of Christian conservatism united under the Republican Party, alongside ideas of neo-liberal Economics and deregulation. The 1980's marked the height of this union.
Yet now as economic inequality and unemployment become a predominant political issue, there are questions about whether this political union can last. Pope Francis recently called capitalism the 'dung of the devil' in his trip to Bolivia (The Guardian, 2015), and has marked his career by unbridled attacks against Capitalism in general. And given that Catholicism is now the largest Christian denomination in America, the words of the Pope cannot be easily ignored in our political climate.
Then there is also the general decline of Christianity in the West. According to research done by the Pew Research Center, the percentage of American adults who describe themselves as Christian has dropped nearly eight points in just seven years (Washington Post, 2015).
So how much longer will politicians be able to support the deregulation of the economy by working up conservatives about gay marriage and abortion? How much longer will such politicians be able to state that today's staggering wealth inequality is an invisible act of God rather than a result of deliberate political policies? This is unclear.
But it is important to remember that the union of neo-liberal economics and religion is not a tradition, and is not even a long term trend in the comparatively short history of Capitalism as an ideology. Adam Smith was a Deist. He was not a Christian. He supported an economy built on self interest, not acts of God.
[1]: L.Seabrooke (2006). "Global Standards of Market Civilization". P. 192. Taylor & Francis 2006
[2]: Eric Schliesser (2003). "The Obituary of a Vain Philosopher: Adam Smith's Reflections on Hume's Life" (PDF). Hume Studies 29 (2): 327–362.