How Socialism Causes Atheism
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SUMMER 2019 | VOL.29 | N0.3 ACTON INSTITUTE'S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION, ECONOMICS AND CULTURE How socialism causes atheism The Burning Bush in Single-payer healthcare: Should we deep-six the Communist Desert A Christian view the Jones Act? EDITOR’S NOTE Rev. Ben Johnson MANAGING EDITOR “When anyone hears the word of the Cover Photo: Minnesota Atheists protest in the Twin Cities. (Photo credit: FibonacciBlue. CC BY 2.0) kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (St. Matthew 13:19). No nation has been as uniquely marinated in the Scriptures as the U.S., yet our peril is represented by two crisscrossing charts. Millennials are four times more likely to disdain religion than members of the Greatest Generation, and nine times more likely to view Communism favorably. This issue of Religion & Liberty focuses on the interrelationship between the two words in our title, especially when both are threatened by totalitarianism. Our cover story recounts how socialist utopianism lures believers from true religion to its own secular faith. “Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm COVER STORY Christianity,” wrote Antonio Gramsci, as How socialism causes atheism Roger Kiska reminds us. 11 Mihail Neamtu recounts Marxist Rev. Ben Johnson oppression of Christians in his native Romania before noting the “stories of resistance and heroism need to be fittingly acknowledged.” Additional stories recognize such heroes of the human spirit as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. Stephanie Klaves writes the socialist Israeli kibbutz system, often celebrated as a successful example of socialism, failed because it stood at odds with Judaism and “innate human desires.” We also reflect on besieged Iraqi ESSAY ESSAY Christians, American farmers struggling 03 Single-payer healthcare: 09 The Burning Bush in the against a system that enshrines A Christian view Communist desert cronyism, Brits suffering under the Philip Booth Mihail Neamtu NHS, and hurricane victims ill-served by protectionist legislation. Fr. Robert Sirico returns to this 02 Acton Briefs issue’s theme in his column, calling 05 Solzhenitsyn’s advice to the free world atheism and socialism the twin pillars of totalitarianism. His article is perfectly 07 Antonio Gramsci’s long march complemented by Acton Institute Director through history of Research Samuel Gregg, whose new book (Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for 08 The Israeli kibbutz: a victory for socialism? Western Civilization) presents reason and faith as the foundations of liberty. 14 Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Even as we probe the depths of this (1865-1944) present darkness, the Acton Institute ESSAY shines a light on the qualities necessary 17 The BBC’s critique of ‘I, Pencil’ The hard fall of the Light-Horse for freedom and virtue to thrive in the 20 misses the point United States and worldwide. Ray Nothstine 22 The twin pillars of totalitarianism 01 SUMMER 2019 ACTON.ORG Protecting farmers, Christians in Iraq: Should we deep-six or crony capitalism? The brutal truth the Jones Act? Michael Matheson Miller Samuel Gregg Jordan Jorritsma ACTON INSTITUTE ACTON INSTITUTE ACTON INSTITUTE Reuters has reported that a large portion When it comes to understanding the In the past three years New Jersey, New of U.S. farm aid went to the wealthiest present plight of Middle-Eastern Christi- York, and Massachusetts have announced farmers and advocacy groups: anity, one author to whom I usually turn plans to build offshore wind farms that is Father Benedict Kiely. He’s the founder would generate hundreds of megawatts of More than half of the Trump of Nasarean.org, which tries to help per- power. But they face a major hurdle: the administration’s $8.4 billion secuted Christians in the Middle East. Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly in trade aid payments to U.S. Sometimes Kiely’s observations are referred to as “the Jones Act.” The Jones farmers through April was re- difficult to read, not least because they Act is what is known as a cabotage law, ceived by the top 10% of re- force Western Christians to face up to which protects a shipping industry from cipients, the country’s biggest the full nature of the plight confront- foreign competition. and most successful farmers, ing their confreres, which no amount of There are four main requirements a study by an advocacy group happy-talk can quite disguise. In a recent to be registered as a Jones Act-compli- showed on Tuesday. Catholic Herald article titled “The Harsh ant ship. It must be built in the United Truth about Christianity in Iraq,” for in- States. It must be controlled by a com- Highlighting an uneven distri- stance, Kiely marshals a formidable array pany that is 75 percent U.S.-owned. It bution of the bailout, which was of facts that underscore the bleak future must be flagged (or registered) in the designed to help offset effects facing Iraqi Christians. U.S., and 75 percent of the sailors must of the U.S.-China trade war, the Leaving aside the ongoing harass- be American. Environmental Working Group ment, Iraqi Christians face major eco- U.S. food aid data show that carrying said the top 1% of aid recipients nomic challenges. Once upon a time, goods on U.S.-flagged ships increases received an average of more Christians in Iraq and many other Middle costs by as much as $50 to $60 a ton. than $180,000 while the bot- Eastern nations were disproportionately The Maritime Administration (MARAD), tom 80% were paid less than represented among the commercial and an agency within the U.S. Department of $5,000 in aid. business classes, partly because they Transportation dealing with waterborne were often legally restricted from en- transportation, reported in 2011 that it The EWG, a Washington-based tering other professions. That overrep- costs almost three times more to trans- non-profit, said it obtained resentation of Christians in commerce port cargo on U.S.-flagged ships as op- data from the U.S. Department is still true in countries like Jordan and posed to foreign ships. Puerto Rican vic- of Agriculture through Freedom Lebanon. tims of Hurricane Maria may have lost 10 of Information Act requests for However, in today’s Iraq, the situ- to 20 percent of their aid by being forced its research, the results of which ation is very different. As Kiely states, to use Jones Act-compliant vessels. Gov- could not be independently “The steady dwindling of the Christian ernment reports have also found that it verified by Reuters. population of Iraq continues because of costs more than twice as much to pro- As we discussed in the documentary, Pov- the lack of security and employment. duce a U.S.-flagged vessel than the same erty, Inc. and the PovertyCure DVD series, Without jobs, families have no incentive type of vessel in another country. farming subsidies can have a negative to stay, and without security they will As long as wind farms are placed on impact on both small- and medium-sized not stay.” the Outer Continental Shelf, the sites American farmers, as well as farmers in Kiely also underlines another di- are bound by Jones Act restrictions. This the developing world. mension of the problem: the awkward means that ships from Europe, which is Smaller farmers in the U.S. have to silence from so many Western Chris- where the vast majority of offshore wind compete with subsidized big agricultural tian leaders about the plight of their ships and expertise come from, cannot firms, and they must navigate complex Iraqi Christian brothers and sisters. He transport any equipment from the main- regulations that make their farming more notes how Chaldean Catholic Archbishop land to the worksite. If a company wants difficult and expensive. Joel Salatin high- Bashar Warda of Erbil in Iraq views such to use European installation vessels, they lights this problem in his book Everything Western Christians as being, as they are must transfer all of the equipment and I Want to Do is Illegal. Agricultural subsi- on so many other subjects, paralyzed by components to a Jones Act-compliant dies in the U.S. and Europe also distort political correctness and fear of being vessel before transferring it to the Eu- world markets and can have negative ef- labeled “phobic.” ropean installation vessel. This only adds fects on farmers in the developing world, “A phobia,” Kiely writes, “is an irratio- extra steps, and cost, to the process. who cannot compete with the free or nal fear: There is nothing irrational about Americans deserve the benefits of artificially cheap food that arrives on an the fears of Iraqi Christians.” competition in the shipping and wind irregular schedule. sector. It is imperative that we realize that goal by repealing the Jones Act. 02 planned system is not one of them. care of the sick. Of course, this work in the ESSAY The Roman Catholic Church opposed first 1,500 years of the Church’s existence the creation of the NHS. Cardinal Bernard was a response to Jesus’ instruction. As Je- Griffin managed to negotiate an opt-out sus said in Matthew 25: “For I was hungry Single-payer from nationalisation of the tiny number of and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me Catholic hospitals arguing, “It will be a sad drink. I was a stranger and you received day for England when charity becomes the me in your homes. Naked and you clothed healthcare: affair of the state.” me. I was sick and you took care of me, in The most appropriate role for Christians prison and you visited me.