John Robbins’ Capitalism is Unbiblical

by David Bishop

John Robbins dropped the ball in his book, “Ecclesiastical Megalomania”.   While he performed a thorough enough job explaining why and how the Roman Catholic Church’s political and economic thought is destructive, he did a far less than stellar job providing biblical proof for his assertion that capitalism is a Scriptural mandate.

Although Robbins twice reminds his readers that –

“The complete and infallible Bible, not the fallible Church; a permanent, public, written document, not fallible, living men, is the sole authority in doctrine” (pg. 18)

– he nevertheless fails to provide any evidence from Scripture to prove his assertion concerning capitalism.  He rests his entire argument instead upon the notion that because capitalism was the economic invention of the Reformers (an argument highly suspicious considering the fact that Zwingli detested capitalism and blamed it on many of his countrymen’s woes), and that since it proved more beneficial than Rome’s system, it is therefore biblical.

“Out of the religious liberty that is implicit in the idea of the Reformation – the end of an ecclesiastical monopoly enforced, as all genuine monopolies must be, by a system of command, coercion, and control; the liberty not to contribute to its maintenance; the liberty not to believe whatever the Roman Church-State required – flow all the liberties with which this nation, and to a lesser extent Europe, Canada, and the Pacific Rim, have been blessed: constitutional government, civil rights (by which I mean the freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights), and economic liberties.   Religious liberty is the mother of all liberties; it is deliberately listed first in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights; and historically it is the fountainhead from which all other liberties have flowed.” – pg. 14

There are a number of problems with this argument, not least of which is the fact that it is an appeal to human authority.  So what if the Reformation gave birth to constitutional government.  That doesn’t make constitutional government Scriptural.  It only makes it Reformational, and that fact in itself proves nothing.  There were a lot of things the Reformation gave birth to that are not biblical.   Just because something is Reformational does not necessarily mean it is biblical.

But appeals to human authority aren’t Robbins’ only blunder.  When Robbins isn’t appealing to human authority, he is washing his hands of history.  He assigns a definition to capitalism that is outside historical fact.

“In a purely capitalist system, government does not interfere with private property, free association, freedom of contract, or the other freedoms protected in the Bill of Rights.  Its only function is the apprehension and punishment of criminals, and the protection of life and property from criminal action.  In a capitalist system, government does not own or control the means of production, subsidize churches or other institutions, provide or pay for education, retirement benefits, health insurance, recreation, or any of the other innumerable goods and services provided by governments at the end of the twentieth century.” – pg. 49

“Now it is this economic system of capitalism, the most moral economic system on Earth because it is the only economic system logically compatible with what the Bible requires of government and personal ethics, the economic system that has permitted more people to live and to prosper than ever before in the history of the world” – pg. 52

So dreamy, isn’t it?  With a cute puppy dog on every leash.  And oh golly, looky there! a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.  Too bad Robbins never got around to reading Upton Sinclair.  Someone should have introduced him to Rick Bragg.  Historical fact is a mutha.  Someone should have reminded Robbins of it.

The no interventionist capitalism of John Robbins created the human meat grinder that was the Chicago meat packing industry of the 10’s and 20’s.   And before anyone strawmans me with poorly researched wiki pages, or irrelevant appeals to the fact that Sinclair was a yellow journalist (of course he was, but this doesn’t turn facts into lies!), I suggest they do themselves a favor and bother to actually read Roosevelt’s cover letter to the Neill-Reynolds report.

The fact is that Robbins’ capitalistic utopia put young women in sweatshops, shoulder-bent, back-broken fathers in bread lines, and a child behind every heavy industrial machine.  It made economic slaves of the Appalachian people and tore open the belly of the earth beneath their feet for added measure.  It cratered vast portions of the American Southwest in search of oil, fostered war with Mexico and Spain, cheated and slaughtered America’s indigenous peoples, made slaves out of an entire race, and ground refugees and immigrants into fodder.  In short, Robbins’ capitalism made the American economic system an instrument of human torture.   Some moral system, eh?  Think about that the next time you hear someone try to justify capitalism as the currency of Heaven.

This is not a revisionist, non-conformist, liberal view of history either.   Rather, it is cold, hard, verifiable, historical fact, and as I said, it is a mutha.   This is what Robbins’ capitalism did.  It was government intervention that corrected it.

Robbins can complain about the Roman Catholic system all he wants – hey, I agree with him that the Roman Catholic economic system is destructive! – but the fact that the Roman Catholic system turned families into meal worm does not mean capitalism doesn’t do the same.  Roman Catholic theology gave us feudalism and the intellectual dark ages.  The Reformation helped turned the intellectual lights on, but it left the economic door wide for abuse.  Robbins’ ideological, zero-tolerance capitalism may have furnished a solid foundation for future titans of industry, but it also unleashed the krakens of greed.  Not all that ironic when we consider the way the Reformers treated people they didn’t agree with.   Anabaptists, anyone?  This doesn’t mean Rome’s economic system is good.  It means Robbins’ system is no better.

Robbins argues that because capitalism was the economic invention of the Reformers, and because it proved more beneficial than Rome’s system, it is therefore biblical.  But how does this prove capitalism biblical?  The lesser of two evils does not make the lesser evil good!

I am waiting for someone to prove to me just where in the New Testament capitalism is mandated by God.  So far, all I have managed to find are people who either philosophize themselves into a corner, or who give me that tired old false dichotomy that if I’m not a Protestant capitalist, then I must be a Roman communist.   This seems, in fact, to be Robbins’ argument.

Robbins does philosophize in his book on occasion, but even here he is mightily shortsighted.  At one point he argues that one of the curses of Rome’s system is that it concentrates wealth into the hands of a few.  Excuse me, but doesn’t capitalism do the same?!  Not everyone can own the company, after all.   Well paid CEO John Smith will always need a force of poorly paid Tom, Dick and Harrys to pack the cheap bottles into cheap boxes.  Doesn’t this ensure that a majority of the company’s wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a few?  And this doesn’t even take into account the fact that John Smith will one day replace all his poorly paid Tom, Dick and Harrys with unpaid robots.

I am not arguing that capitalism isn’t better than Communism, or Marxism, Fascism, or any other ism.   What I am saying is that capitalism is no more biblically mandated than communism is.   There will be no light bills to pay after the kingdom is realized, for Christ Himself will be His people’s source of light.  The economy of God’s kingdom consists of justice and righteousness rather than sweat equity and cash.  The Bible doesn’t favor any of the world’s economic systems, and it certainly doesn’t favor one just because it happens to be better than most others.

This isn’t to say that I should not care about my financial affairs, because God’s word does instruct us to treat money a certain way no matter what economic system we find ourselves under.  He who doesn’t work, doesn’t eat.  Owe no man anything except a debt of love.  The fool and his money are soon separated.  But do I have to be a capitalist in order to obey these instructions?   Of course not.   Which is why it would have been nice here had Robbins been honest about capitalism.  Capitalism, like Communism, like Socialism, like Fascism, has separated the wise man and his money many times over in the past, is doing so now, and will do so again.  Even Solomon’s economic system, though it brought jobs and untold wealth to the land of Israel, also brought with it a heavy yoke (1 Kings 12:4).  This doesn’t mean I am a fool to prefer Solomon’s system over Rehoboam’s, but it also does not mean Solomon’s economic system is a Christian mandate.  Choosing between capitalism and communism is like choosing between stale cheese and a rotten egg.  If I must eat one of them, then I suppose I would do better to eat the stale cheese.  This does not mean God mandates stale cheese.

Robbins does not agree though.  He argues that capitalism is indeed a biblical mandate, though he fails to provide a single instance from Scripture in which this is true.  He appeals to the Bill of Rights instead, as though the Bill of Rights were God’s infallible word.  But I have to ask, what is so biblical about the Bill of Rights?

Where in the New Testament does the Spirit mandate the rule of the people by guaranteeing them the right to oppose human government by violent means?

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” – Luke 6:27-28

“You have heard that it was said, “And eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil.  But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” – Matthew 5:38-41

Where in the New Testament does the Spirit mandate the rule of the people by guaranteeing them the right to operate a free press?

“And why not do evil that good may come? – as some people slanderously charge us with saying.  Their condemnation is just.” – Romans 3:8

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.” – Matthew 10:16-18

Where in the New Testament is there guarantee of the rule of the people by judicial means?

“To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.  Why not rather suffer wrong?  Why not rather be defrauded?  But you yourselves wrong and defraud – even your own brothers!” – 1 Corinthians 6:7-8

By democratic means?

“Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.  For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” – Romans 13:5-7

“If the world hates you, now that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” – John 15:18-19

By economic means?

“And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” – Luke 6:34-36

 “for I have learned in whatever I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:11-13

 “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” – James 3:13-18

“Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” – Hebrews 13:5

Someone show me where in the New Testament can I find the Bill of Rights.   I ask, because every time I look all I keep finding is the economy of God’s justice and righteousness, and it doesn’t appear His economy gives a fig about the United States’ Bill of Rights.