God and Communism

So my pastor leads the Sunday School which I attend on Sunday mornings.   This past week, we were discussing the meaning of justice in the context of the Bible, and someone offered the definition of fairness.  The pastor disagreed with this definition for justice because of the different interpretations of "fair" and the political ramifications that this word could denote.  He then actually mentioned, more than once, that to define the Bible's "justice" as fairness comes too close to communism.  Now he did not actually say that God would be against communism in general, but the political climate in the room definitely gave me the feeling this was what he meant.  I also got the feeling that I was alone in thinking that fairness and indeed the Utopian idea of communism is just what God would have in mind for us if He had not given us free will and therefore allowed the strong to prey on the weak. 

I was good and held my tongue during that part of the discussion. Still, my mind was reeling, thinking of how so many people misunderstand the true meaning of both communism and socialism because of the abuse that leaders around the world have given to the institution.  The age group of the class ensured that my feelings toward the economic system would definitely differ from the others since I was by far the youngest one in the room.  I did have my childhood during the Cold War, but I did not live with as much of that threat as the rest of them.  Facing less of a physical threat of imminent World War III, I am able to view the institution more objectively and see past the disgrace that Soviet leaders such as Stalin and Cuba's Castro have done with the nineteenth century ideal.  I am not saying that I think that we should abandon capitalism and turn toward a complete egalitarian economy.  What I am saying is that equality among all of His children is something God may look upon with favorable eyes. 

What does your faith tell you?