Nowadays, you hear people frothing at the mouth about socialism at every turn. I got a roommate who's a tea partier and thinks every single tax he pays is proof of 'socialism'. Healthcare reform is reduced to 'socialism' by its critics, including some of my family members back East.
Freaking socialismeverywhere. Somebody save us.
If paying taxes is 'socialism' because other people benefit from the expenditure of your money, and if the government is 'socialist' for using public resources for the greater good, then I can't help but wonder:
is church socialism?
In the fundamentalist churches like the one I grew up in, it's customary to pay 10% of your income to the pastor's tithes, plus a weekly/monthly "offering" to the church. [keep in mind that churches are tax-exempt even though many actively campaign against political candidates that are not anti-abortion]. At any given church service, you can show up for free and only pay what you want during the 'offering'.
And if 'socialism' in America is Obama "brainwashing" us by...giving speeches once in a while on TV (as every other president in past half century has done many times)...then what is church? You sit in a pew for an hour or more and get sermonized to on how to life your life, what values you should hold, and even to worship a man, as if the divine power of the universe is masculine. And Jesus was obviously a DFH, telling people to care for the poor and the needy. Throwing the money-changers out of the Temple. Feeding the hungry for FREE with bread and fish. Talk about socialism.
While biking past a local church, the connection just occurred to me. But not being a church-attending guy during my adult life makes me forget sometimes just how pervasive Christian culture can be. Not to mention socialistic....at its best. At its worst, Christianity turns into the televangelist-scam type crap that has been perpetuated quite a bit right here in Southern California church tv studios.
just a thought.
flame away...