I don’t see many “conservative Christians” discuss this topic, but frequently in the Bible there are calls for people to care for the poor, like the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), where the rich man was condemned for having the means to help Lazarus who was poor and in need and did not do so.
Therefore, “naturally” or “supernaturally”, God allows or makes people to be rich and poor which is unequal, and urges the richer to help the poorer, which makes them “more economically equal” (no?). Hence is it not a goal of “conservative Christians” to promote some kind of “economic equality” where all are able to be able to meet their needs? For the rich to voluntarily become poorer, and for the poor to become richer, or for all to have a certain amount of needs met, whether through their own earning or charitable aid?
An attempt at “absolute economic equality” would seem to be impossible or undesireable (hence I think of such economic equality as “relative”; there can still be richer or poorer, but is there a desire for trying to eliminate extremes on either end?).
So are “conservative Christians” for “economic equality”, or what do you think of this topic and issue?
The ones who break things when you’ve got a strong push towards economic equality aren’t usually the rich, it’s the poor who are in their situation due to their own moral failings. It’s called the “free rider problem”, and one of the reasons why both Jesus and Lenin said “He who does not work shall not eat”.
You can definitely get sociopathic rich people, but often rich people learn how to play the game of life, and historically you actually ended up with a lot of philanthropy from the rich in cultures that encouraged it. I think our current culture is a bit damaged in that regards, we’ve sort of handed responsibility for the downtrodden to the state and we get taxed so badly that it’s not an unreasonable expectation that they be taken care of.
Let me give you an example. Someone we know recently became homeless. “Oh, poor thing” you might say – but he had the money to pay rent (provided by the government for that purpose), and then instead used that money on pot and cigarettes. Not for one day, not for two days, not for a week, not for a month, but for a year. After a year (and his landlord finding out that on top of that he was getting money for covid payments) he got kicked out of his apartment…and immediately got into another one. Well, guess what happened? For a year he spent the money he got specifically for rent on frivolities. He became homeless because despite having everything handed to him he wanted more.
A guy like that takes and takes and takes and complains he’s so poor. And he’ll demand more and more and he’ll look at anyone with more than him and demand to know why he isn’t getting his share. I know this because I lived it. I barely know the guy, but my wife and I have a soft spot for people who are down on their luck, and the levels of entitlement were off the charts.
Reminds me of another time… Someone I know had to take 6 months off work to care for his wife who was dying of cancer, and we donated a bit to help him ride through it. One of the free riders we know was outraged that despite getting constant help from us, the money I gave to the guy who was watching his wife die could have gone to her.
What I’ve found is that the people who will make the best use of help are people you practically need to chain the money to their hand. They’re proud, they don’t want hand-outs, but if you help them in their darkest hour then they’ll make great use of it and quite possibly never need help from you again.
With respect to your last paragraph, there’s an interesting concept out there called the “odin switch” – it’s an idea that germanic people are generally law abiding and decent people, but there’s something in them that if set off will turn them into barbarous lunatics. There’s a number of historical examples that support this idea. In this idea, the last thing you want to do is set of the odin switch and be on the wrong side of that. I think we see it with how unreasonably reasonable a lot of people are being with respect to stuff like the summer of love riots, but at this rate something will set it off, and if it does God have mercy on us all…
"The ones who break things when you’ve got a strong push towards economic equality aren’t usually the rich, it’s the poor who are in their situation due to their own moral failings. It’s called the “free rider problem”, and one of the reasons why both Jesus and Lenin said “He who does not work shall not eat”.
This