MWR : Communal society

Last updated November 24.

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Aug. 16, 2010 issue

Communal society

By Marlow Ediger North Newton, Kan.

I read with great interest “Tea Party’s ‘Uneasy Marriage’ ” (from Religion News Service) about how Tea Party supporters believe in small government and little, if any, government intervention in the economic realm. Their beliefs generally are for individuals to reach out to those in poverty and in need of food, clothing and shelter.

Matt. 25:31-46 speaks of dividing the nations into two groups in separating the sheep from the goats — those who fed the hungry, took strangers in, clothed the naked, visited the sick and so on. The division was made in terms of nations. Then there are numerous mentions made in the Bible of individuals reaching out to help the less fortunate. The prophet Amos speaks frequently about helping the less fortunate, such as widows and orphans.

When writing “The Hutterites, a Communal Society” for The Social Studies Review, published by the California Council for the Social Studies, I reflected upon some of my university graduate students who believed Karl Marx initiated communal society. They were surprised that the early Christian church practiced, paraphrasing the Marxist slogan, from each according to their abilities and to each according to their needs, as recorded in Acts 2.

The Hutterites have a long history of communal living and purport to take care of members’ needs. They integrate economics with a religious philosophy.

Questions arise for Tea Party advocates about a small-government philosophy:

How much freedom from paying taxes should there be in an era of heavy unemployment with lost income and lost health insurance for the needy?
With extreme emphasis upon freedom, might anarchy prevail?

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