Why do Christians Find Marxism Attractive?
This is a companion piece to our podcast episode “Why is Marxism Attractive? And Even to Christians?”
The American evangelical church has a major problem — one that, until perhaps recently, has largely gone unnoticed. Some of the most prominent voices in evangelicalism today are touting Marxist philosophers, and indeed, even Karl Marx himself, speaking of him in glowing terms. For example, renowned pastor Tim Keller asserted in an October 22, 2000 sermon,
There has never been, except for one person I know, there’s never been another major thinker…that had this high a view not only of work but of all work, and all workers… The only person who had this high a view of work was Karl Marx.
Made for Stweardship, October 22, 2000, Timothy Keller
According to Keller, the man who had the highest view of labor on earth, except for God Himself, was Karl Marx.
Keller is not alone in this view. The infamous Black Liberation theologian James Cone wrote in his book, For My People, that the
Christian faith does not possess in its nature the means for analyzing the structure of capitalism. Marxism as a tool of social analysis can disclose the gap between appearance and reality, and thereby help Christians to see how things really are.
James Cone, For My People. Quote available online here
Despite Cone’s explicitly Marxian views, his writings have been recommended by well-known Christian author Jemar Tisby,1 Southeastern Baptist Seminary professor Walter Strickland, dean of Howard University School of Divinity Yolanda Pierce, and the Salvation Army, among many others.
What is Marxism, and the Rise of Cultural Marxism
Classical Marxism is defined as “both a current within the revolutionary movement against capitalism and a current of social theory which engages a wide spectrum of people.” The phrase against capitalism refers to overthrowing any economic system in which people have private property rights, in favor of socialism, a system where a dictatorship of the proletariat (working class people) “seizes political power and turns the means of production into State property.” According to Marx, once the conflict between the bourgeoisie (capitalist business owners) and the proletariat (working class people) is over, socialism eventually will usher in a stateless, classless utopian society. Marx called that society communism.
By the early twentieth century, it was clear that classical Marxism wasn’t working. The revolutions predicted by men like Marx weren’t happening, were short-lived and violent, or produced bloody, repressive states like the USSR. Popular support for Marxism was struggling. This did not deter the diehard Marxists, though; they held onto their religious belief in the inevitability of the communist utopia. However, they knew that selling an ideology that caused so much death would be difficult, at best. Therefore, men like Antonio Gramsci began applying Marx’s theory to culture. The ideology that resulted is now known as “Cultural Marxism.”
Since people were beginning to turn against socialism and communism, Gramsci devised a plan to make the proletariat, or members of the working class, believe in it again. The plan shrewdly called for infiltrating cultural institutions and changing minds from within on a widespread basis. In Gramsci’s prison notebooks, he laid out his plan:
“Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity…In the new order, Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society.”
Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks. Quote available online here
Gramsci’s scheme has succeeded! Over the twentieth century, the teachings of the Cultural Marxist Frankfurt School, which was established in Germany between the two World Wars, invaded the United States. Marxist professors began infiltrating American universities, promulgating Marxist teachings to younger generations. Most significant among these professors was Herbert Marcuse, who lamented that the working class in America was enjoying their lives under capitalism. He theorized that the working class never would want to overthrow capitalism under these conditions, so he believed that a new proletariat would have to arise in the form of the “ghetto populations,” alongside radicalized college students and the leftist intelligentsia.
Efforts to radicalize the “ghetto populations” gave rise to Critical Race Theory (CRT), the belief that “[systemic] racism is the operating principle of society created by white people for their own benefit.”2 In this view, “white people” are the new bourgeoisie; they hold power and are beneficiaries of “the system” (in this case the ways of knowing, speaking, and creating policy that maintain whites’ superior access to wealth, resources, and opportunity in society). By contrast, “nonwhites” (especially “blacks”) are victims of white “oppression,” even if whites do not engage directly in racist actions. Critical Race Theory says the system itself is perpetuating black subordination while whites benefit from it. It is not surprising that in a 2010 interview, Critical Race Theorist Richard Delgado admitted that the founding conference on CRT in 1989 was composed of “a bunch of Marxists.”3 Thus, CRT can be rightly characterized as Marxism applied to race.
Dodging Accountability
As we have seen, Marxism has made significant inroads into both secular society and in the church. Why is it appealing, given its abysmal track record?
In secular society, Marxism appeals to atheists, pagans, and people who claim to be nonreligious because it is a belief system that sets the state up as God and thereby allows its adherents to avoid a sense of accountability to the real God, the God of the Bible. That God demands accountability. (Hebrews 4:13)
Even though atheists and agnostics tend to boast that they don’t have a religion, the truth is that all people, as image-bearers of God, have an intrinsic need to submit to and worship someone or something, whether it be a deity, a man, or the government. As C. S. Lewis once observed, “Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything.”
In The Communist Manifesto, Marx offers this opportunity for worship of the State above God. He declared, “There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc. that are common to all states of society. But communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience.”
No Absolutes
For secular Marxists, there are no transcendent truths or moral imperatives, so man is free to do as he wishes, with the government’s permission, of course. This isn’t a huge hindrance to these people, because secular governments permit much of what sinful secular individuals wish to do! But the discerning Christian reader will notice that Marx’s rhetoric is directly in line with Satan’s lie in the Garden of Eden. Tempting Eve to disobey God’s command not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Satan told Eve, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4–5)
One thing Satan was insinuating here is that God was oppressing Eve and her husband by withholding knowledge that would make them equal to God. Thus, Satan urged Eve to overthrow her “oppressor” by rebelling against His command. Marx’s call to eat of the tree of communism includes a call to abolish religion and morality, which is reminiscent of the same temptation Satan placed before Eve.
Giving Greed the Green Light
Another allure of Marxism to secularists is that it exploits the innate propensity of humans to be covetous. In Exodus 20:17, God commands His people, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
God included this as the tenth of His Ten Commandments, guidelines that summarize the moral law, because He knew that as sinners, all people tend to be jealous of those who possess material goods and wealth that they themselves lack. Coveting is a breeding ground for rabid envy and hatred, God forbade it.
By contrast, Marx encourages it when he writes,
You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths. You reproach us, therefore, with intending to do away with a form of property, the necessary condition for whose existence is the non-existence of any property for the immense majority of society.
The Communist Manifesto
In the first place, the objective observer will realize that Marx’s contention is a gross exaggeration. The idea that 90 percent of the population have nothing while 10 percent own everything is obviously silly. But hyperbole aside, the main thrust of Karl Marx’s argument is that abolishing private property is justified because most of the property is in the hands of the wealthy, and Marx simply can’t stomach that! Ironically, taking it from the wealthy and giving it to the State doesn’t improve the lot of the poor; it makes it worse. Nevertheless, eying the wealthy with a focus on what they have versus what he or she does not have is fertile ground for blatant covetousness — and discontent.
Marx was saying the working class should have disdain for the wealthy merely because they own more property. Never mind that most wealthy folks worked hard to earn what they have! Never mind that those who are rich might be in a position to offer jobs to those who need them! Never mind that they might even be generous as well as frugal with their assets! Again, Marx’s rhetoric directly opposes God’s injunction not to covet one’s neighbor’s property, no matter what he has, how much he has, or how well he manages it.
Eyeing a Utopia
We must be aware that covetousness is a Marxist tool. Marxism utilizes it to create a desire for a communist utopia, a “fair” and “just” society in which everyone is equal and there is no oppression. According to the communist narrative, everyone will share all of the communal property, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”4 But a biblical worldview informs us that attempts to create a utopia here and now are futile, as the world has been stained with the curse of sin ever since Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree: “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” (Romans 8:22)
Furthermore, we will not experience perfect paradise on earth until Jesus returns to restore His creation at the end of history: “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”(Revelation 21:4) Any attempts to create a utopia before Jesus returns will be both futile and counterproductive.
That said, until Christ returns, we do well to heed Scripture’s inherent affirmation of an economic system that
- leaves room for individuals to acknowledge God,
- allows participants within the system to be creative, work hard, and be rewarded for their work,
- penalizes laziness,
- permits and even commends charity, and
- by upholding moral values, sets the stage for ordered freedom and liberty.5
Don’t be fooled. That system is the free enterprise system, commonly called capitalism.
Core Question: What is Sin?
A fourth reason why Marxism is such a draw for people is that it offers answers to fundamental questions about the meaning of life, and it does so without God. Let’s consider several of these.
For one, Marxism defines sin as oppression perpetrated against you by the capitalist system. Just ask Robin Diangelo, a Critical Whiteness Studies scholar who makes a mountain of money in speaking fees in capitalist countries, even as she disparages capitalism as racist. Diangelo contends,
When a racial group’s collective prejudice is backed by the power of legal authority and institutional control, it is transformed into racism, a far-reaching system that functions independently from the intentions or self-images of individual actors.
Robin Diangelo, White Fragility, p.20
In the foreword to Diangelo’s book, Michael Eric Dyson claims that racism is the “original sin.” Therefore, systemic racial oppression, regardless of anyone’s intentions or actions, is a sinful reality, according to the prevailing Marxist worldview.
Core Question: Who is Guilty?
Another question Marxism attempts to address is: who is responsible for sin? And the answer is…oppressors! As we have seen, in Marxism and the “woke” ideology it promotes, it isn’t your actions as an individual that make you responsible for sin, but your belonging to a group that is deemed to be oppressive and racist. Thus, you are responsible for the wrong actions the group is guilty of because you are a part of that group.
Let’s be even more specific and direct. If you are white, you are guilty of “whiteness” and of racism and oppression. As Diangelo goes on to state in her book, White Fragility,
[F]irst we [whites] exploited people for their resources, not according to how they looked. Exploitation came first, and then the ideology of unequal races to justify this exploitation followed. Robin Diangelo, White Fragility, p.16
Notice how Diangelo uses the pronoun “we” when referring to past injustices committed by whites in American history. Because she views whites as a collective, she sees herself as responsible for perpetuating the same system of oppression that resulted in slavery, Jim Crow laws, and so forth. Let’s put aside for a moment the glaring fact that Diangelo’s assertions about racism ought to be viewed skeptically because, in her worldview, she herself is a racist, simply because she is white. If she is a racist, then why should anyone listen to her insights about racism? Obviously, this major contradiction is largely ignored by both her and her fans.
Diangelo’s claims demonstrate that under Marxism, collective oppressor group identities — not individuals —are responsible for sin. But don’t for a New York minute think this fact absolves you as an individual of responsibility! No! As part of the oppressor group, white individuals are guilty and must repent of their “whiteness”! Instead of being responsible individually as an individual, CRT activists would make whites responsible individually as a collective group identity. Since they always will have white skin, though, they’ll always be guilty; so this is an arena in which repentance and forgiveness are simply impossible!
Core Question: Who is in Authority?
Marxism has an answer for yet another crucial question people ask: What is the source of right and wrong? Here is the answer: government and those in power. Today, this includes both the federal government and corporations. For example, in his response to the trial that found Officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd, president Joe Biden said this in his address to the nation, “Systemic racism is a stain on our nation’s soul, and a knee on the neck of justice for black Americans.” Yet it was Chauvin on trial, not America. And it was within the American justice system that Chauvin was found guilty. President Biden’s statements painting all Americans guilty of racism, represent a redefinition of justice, in which Robin Diangelo’s conception of whites being beneficiaries of a system which subjugates nonwhites, creating disparities in wealth, resources, and opportunity, is the new Marxian definition of injustice. Thus, justice would mean adjusting shares so that nonwhites would have the same amount of wealth as everyone else (socialism).
There’s more. A striking instance of racial Marxism backed by corporate power surfaced in a leaked slideshow presentation given by Robin Diangelo at a diversity training event for the Coca-Cola company, in which she exhorted white people to “try to be less white” and clarified how to do this: “To be less white is to: (1) be less oppressive; (2) be less arrogant; (3) be less certain; (4) be less defensive; (5) be less ignorant; (6) be more humble; (7) listen; (8) believe; (9) break with apathy; (10) break with white solidarity.”
Since ordinary people would not become Marxists on their own, Marxism utilizes state and corporate power to impose on society its views about what’s right and wrong. Historically, the same method for imputing sin to collectives and using government to impose its own arbitrary will has held true for Marxism. Under Mao Zhedong’s communist revolution in China, ordinary artists were denounced as “counter-revolutionaries.” Only propagandized art that promoted the Chinese Communist Party narrative was allowed to be disseminated. These portrayed “greedy capitalists” as power-hungry tyrants, and communists as peaceful, fair-minded people living in harmony.
Core Question: Who can Restore What is Broken?
Every human being has a natural tendency to wonder who can or will restore what sin has broken. Marxism’s answer: the government. In a now infamous sermon, pastor and theologian Dr. Eric Mason said the following:
If I’m honest about reparations over the years, I haven’t thought a lot about it as much as I would have liked to as one of the outworkings of what it looks like to kind of fix things and deal with some of the racial tensions in our country.”
(114) CANCEL CULTURE | A Biblical Case for Reparations | Dr.Eric Mason — YouTube
In this sermon, Dr. Mason contended that the government should forcibly confiscate wealth from whites and redistribute it to blacks. Incredibly, Dr. Mason went on to attempt to make the case (unsuccessfully) that this Marxist redistribution scheme was biblical.
Core Question: How can the Problem of Sin in Society be Resolved?
Apparently leaving few core religious matters untouched, Marxism even tries to address how sin should be paid for — with the eradication of the oppressor class. In America, that idea manifests in the form of calls to “abolish whiteness (private property, capitalism).” An Al-Jazeera article addressing the topic states, “Today, we would add that as long as 150 million Americans define themselves as white with all the expectations, privileges and violence that accrue to that identity, there is no hope for us as a nation.”
For now, abolishing whiteness involves calling for abolishing the “system” and calling on whites to renounce their white identity. However, it seems obvious that this type of anti-white sentiment also will eventually lead to widespread calls for genocide against whites, which is already happening in South Africa. Julius Malema, member of the South African Parliament and leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, the third largest political party in that nation, recently chanted in a stadium filled with tens of thousands of supporters: “Shoot to kill!… Kill the Boer, the farmer! [white people].” If Critical Race Theorists continue scapegoating whites for all of America’s problems, we can expect Malema’s rhetoric to spread to the United States in the not-too-distant future. Be forewarned! Marxism already has shown that it can only be imposed by the barrel of the gun: In the twentieth century, Marxist governments claimed the lives of more than 100 million people, according to the most conservative estimates.
The Bible Has the Answers People Need
We’ve seen that Marxism is a religion, but not a benign one. It appeals to and provides fertile ground for base, primitive, raw, selfish, and evil human instincts.
The Bible gives entirely different answers to the core questions we have cited. In reality, sin is anything contrary to God’s character; and the breaking of God’s law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, are rightly often cited as perfect examples. (1 John 3:4) In addition, Ezekiel 18:20 clarifies that “The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” It is God Himself who gives us revelation about what sin is through His law: “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’.” (Romans 7:7) Most importantly, Jesus, God’s Holy Son is the only One who can pay for sin and restore what sin has broken; and He did so on the cross: “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56–57)
Masquerading As a Vehicle to Accomplish Biblical Goals
If the Bible is so clearly anti-Marxist, anti-statist, and anti-communist, then how can theologians like Tim Keller attempt to blend Marxism with Christianity and not get caught promoting self-refuting ideas? First, to the undiscerning ear, the rhetoric sounds legitimate. The problem is that minds lack discernment. In other words, the church is rife with Christians who are biblically illiterate. Today, pastors are moving away from what the Bible says and catering to the felt needs of the congregation. This approach leads to larger congregations, but as the congregations grow, so does the number of non-Christians within them. I’m all for evangelism, but not at the expense of discipleship. Remember that Jesus’ commanded His followers, including us, to “make disciples,” not “attract converts” (see Matt. 28:19–20). Obviously, people must be converted to become Christ’s disciples, but getting people who are outside the church merely to come inside must never become the primary goal.
The blending of Christianity with worldly consumerism raises no defense against Marxism, because only God’s Word has the answers for how to defeat man-made philosophies: Note also that Paul warned the Christians in Colosse, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)
And to the Christians in Corinth, the apostle wrote, We cast “down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Redefining Words
One of the main ways Marxists are able to infect Christianity with their lies is by appealing to the Ten Commandments and Old Testament Law, since most people do not know the meaning of the words in some of the Commandments, and since the Commandments use broad language (because they address a wide range of human activity). For example, “Christian” rap artist Lecrae claimed the following in a video about politics: “The Democratic party or the parties of the like uphold ethical values such as “love your neighbor as yourself,” the justice of the oppressed, which is all throughout the Old Testament.”
Lecrae said this in the context of the Democratic party’s willingness to forward Marxian narratives of systemic racism. Because most Christians do not know the biblical definitions of “love,” “justice,” and “oppression,” Lecrae has been able to infuse racial Marxian power dynamics into these Commandments. As long as you believe that:
- “Love” means being willing to give up your private property; that
- “Justice” means forced confiscation and redistribution of wealth and other resources; and that
- Being “oppressed” means having less wealth as a collective statistical category,
Then yes, you will conclude that the Bible teaches Marxism. But those are not the true definitions of these words.
- Love means being self-sacrificial for the good of one’s neighbor, in keeping with the Ten Commandments (1 John 4:9–11; Romans 13:9)
- Justice means treating people impartially and fairly, no matter how rich or poor, and no matter their skin color. (Leviticus 19:15)
- Oppression means suffering wrongful violence or an injustice at the hands of another. (Exodus 3:9; Deuteronomy 26:7; Job 35:9) We’re speaking here about an actual injustice, not one merely assumed or supposed.
If ignorance of God’s Word is the reason the American church got into this socialist mess, then the solution is clear: Christians need to be grounded in a biblical worldview. God says in Ephesians 4:11–15 that, through teaching and learning from God’s Word, pastors, and other members of Christ’s body seeking to edify all the believers in the church, believers in Christ will mature in the faith so that “we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
Christian Truth Versus Marxist Lies
Furthermore, there is only one hope for those outside of Christianity to escape from the snare of Marxism: the gospel. Unbelievers need to know that they have sinned against a holy God by coveting against their neighbor and by desiring to tear others down, among other things. They need to hear that although they are heading to hell if they don’t repent of breaking God’s law, they can find hope in Christ. He carried our sins upon Himself on the cross, paying the penalty that we all deserve for our rebellion against Him. After dying, He defeated death by rising from the grave and is now the defense lawyer in heaven for all who trust Him to save them. (1 John 1:5–2:2)
All who repent by turning from their sins, confessing their guilt before God, and trusting alone in Jesus to save them, will be reconciled to God and will inherit eternal life.
That is the message every Marxist (and all of us) needs to hear and believe. If God can save a wretched sinner like me (and like you), He can surely save Marxists too.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
This article was an expansion on the EWTC News Podcast (formerly the Wokepedia Podcast) episode “Why is Marxism Attractive? And Even to Christians?” linked below.
- Jemar Tisby, “Color of Compromise,” Chapter 6 ↩︎
- What is Critical Race Theory? | James Lindsay — YouTube ↩︎
- Seattle University School of Law, “Living History Interview with Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic,” p.225 ↩︎
- Karl Marx, “Critique of the Gotha Programme” p.10 ↩︎
- Deuteronomy 8:18; Genesis 1:26–28; Proverbs 6:6–11; 2 Thessalonians 3:10; Ephesians 4:28; Romans 13:1–7; 1 Peter 2:13–17; 1 Timothy 2:1–4 ↩︎