Congressman Ro Khanna: Breaking Up Silicon Valley 

Considering that you are preaching, would that not make you a preacher? And if so, are you telling us not to listen to you?

No it is not. Socialism is forced giving. Christianity is giving from the heart.

Margaret Thatcher - 'The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.'

This comment is surprisingly insightful in how carefully it's worded, and the first replies to it reveal how poorly understood the relevant terms are in the general public: capitalism, socialism, communism. Fundamentally, socialism is about social ownership of the means of production. It's hard to read the Acts of the Apostles and conclude that socialism is opposed to Christianity; the early church (at least as portrayed in Acts) was a community that shared all. Granted, there wasn't really a "means of production" back then; it was more the fruits of production that were shared. Socialism fundamentally is not about "forced giving;" it doesn't specifically address the means by which things are shared, but rather articulates social sharing of resources as a fundamental virtue in contrast to competition-driven private ownership. Communism is a bit more slippery. In much modern economic teaching, it's described as socialism enforced by the state, i.e., government ownership of the means of production and government distribution of resources to society (ideally). What's strange about this is that it's almost the antithesis of how Marx described communism. He never formally defined it, but his description is of a kind of advanced socialism where sharing of resources is so profoundly valued across society that there isn't even any role for the state left. Quoting him: "State interference in social relations becomes, in one domain after another, superfluous, and then dies out of itself.... The state is not 'abolished.' It withers away." The fundamental value of communism, again in Marx's words, is: "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." It's hard to see that ideal as opposed to Christian values. But historical and modern communist economies and governments seem to me to not resemble Marx's ideas much at all. That's why I think it was particularly astute that @johncollins2557 used the term "Soviet communism," referring to the government-enforced socialism (sort of, but not really!) that does indeed seem to me to be anti-Christian in many respects. -Tom

Socialism is government owned industries.

​@georgemichaels9511 No, by this definition all taxation is Socialism. Americans are taxed more than any 1st world country. So many Americans poorly understand democratic Socialism.