Communism is an experimental social system based on a set of ideals that, at first glance, seem to agree with some biblical principles. On a closer look, however, little evidence can be seen that the Bible truly supports or endorses communism. There is a difference between communism in theory and communism in practice, and the Bible verses that seem to comply with communist ideals are in fact contradicted by the practices of a communist government.
There is a surprising sentence in a description of the church in Acts 2 that has led many people to wonder whether the Bible supports communism, and has led some people to defend strongly the idea that communism is actually biblical. The passage reads, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need” (Acts 2:44-45). This statement seems to imply that communism (which has, at its heart, a desire to eliminate poverty by “spreading the wealth around”) is found here in the earliest of Christian churches. However, there is a crucial difference between the church in Acts 2 and a communist society that must be understood.
In the Acts 2 church, the people were giving to each other out of their own good will to those who had a need, and they were giving freely, without regulation of how much they were to give. In other words, they shared what they had out of a shared love for one another and a common goal—living for Christ and glorifying God. In a communist society, people give because a system of government forces them to give. They don’t have a choice in the matter as to how much they give or to whom they give. This, therefore, does not reflect on who they are; it says nothing about their identity or character. Under communism, the cheerful, generous giver and the stingy man are both required to give exactly the same amount – namely, everything they earn.
The issue is one of cheerful giving (which the Bible supports) vs. forced giving. Second Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” After all, the Bible contains a great number of references to helping the poor, being generous with what we have, and looking out for those who are less fortunate. When we obey in this area with cheerful hearts with the proper motivation, our giving is pleasing to God. What is not pleasing to God is giving out of compulsion, because forced giving is not giving out of love and therefore profits nothing in the spiritual sense. Paul tells the Corinthians, “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). But that is the inevitable result of communism.
Capitalism is actually a better system, when it comes to giving, because it has proven to increase individual wealth, which allows its citizens to give out of their increase. Communism has proven to simply make all its citizens poor, except the very few in power who decide where the wealth goes. But even capitalism won’t work, by itself, as a system for aiding the poor. It depends on its citizens to be diligent (Proverbs 10:4) and generous with the fruits of their labor (1 Timothy 6:18), and to give out of love for God and their neighbor. Thus, we see that God has designed for the physical and financial needs of the poor to be met by Christian individuals, rather than by any system of government.
All Communist governments have several things in common, tyranny, repression, totalitarianism, and a suppression of religion. Each Communist government in existence has proclaimed atheism. Karl Marx, the founder of Communism himself, called religion an opiate of the masses.
Marx had a rather pessimistic view on religion. He believed that religion was created by the upper class to control those below them. In other words, "You can't oppose us because God says that you must serve us." According to Marx, religion was meant solely to distract the workers and keep them from learning of their "depraved condition."
The Soviet Union under both Lenin and Stalin suppressed religion. The official Communist Party (the Party that ran the Soviet Union) line was Marxist. Therefore, organized religion was ended. Church lands were stolen by the government, clergymen (as Russia was mainly Christian) were imprisoned or executed, private schools were closed, and schoolchildren were indoctrinated to believe that God did not exist. Despite this, the Church survived in these areas, with the now Pope John Paul II championing the Catholic Church's cause in occupied Poland, up to celebrating Mass in all weather outdoors in an open field.
Communist China under Mao Zedong and his predecessors also attempted to scourge religion. He conducted a cultural revolution to rid himself of all threats and to "purify" China. This horrible act was carried out by thousands of brainwashed children wielding the little red book. In it, his soldiers killed clergymen of all religions, burned places of worship, not to mention killed millions of "subversives." Even as recent as today, China has suppressed religion; this summer it was busy jailing members of a religious sect conducting peaceful worship (it called their beliefs dangerous).
Cuba possibly the most pathetic of all of the Communist countries, also suppressed Christianity (again the dominant religion) up until the Pope's visit in the late '90s. Fidel Castro, Cuba's dictator even claimed that Christmas had to be cancelled because it interfered with crop harvesting! With the arrival of the Pope, Castro attempted to get back into the good graces of the world and allowed open religion again.
Now, it is impossible to destroy religion, people take it very seriously and even give their lives for their beliefs. Therefore, when the Communists ban religion, they replace it with a person. That is, the rulers form a cult of personality around their leader. Stalin made himself into a god for the Soviet Union; everything that turned out well was attributed to him. He even had Lenin's body embalmed after Lenin died so that people could "pray" to him. Mao also formed a cult of personality around him. George Orwell portrays this in his famous dystopia 1984. Big Brother, the all powerful ruler of the world in 1984, was created by the ruling class as a god of sorts. Religion had been completely destroyed, only the Party could be worshipped. Therefore, the Party created a face to rule Oceania, the super-state of Orwell's world. This person was basically worshipped by the people and represented an all-knowing omnipresence. All of Oceania's citizens had their religious drives channeled into serving the State in the form of Big Brother.
Now, why would tyrannous governments want to stop religion? Well, the most obvious answer to that is simple: competition. Communist governments do not want to have to compete for the loyalty of their followers, without God, these governments don't need to worry. Another reason is the "moral barometer." God, whether you believe in Him or not, represents all of the goodness in the world. Contrary to Marx's opinion, religion gives people a reason to fight tyranny, namely that it's wrong. If Communist governments acknowledged the existence of God, then their citizens would realize how horrible their governments really are. This is much too dangerous an option. Instead, God must not exist. To accomplish this, Communists create the "cults of personality" described above to channel all religious drive into the State. The State, represented by a Big Brother or a Stalin or even a Lenin, is the supreme good for which all people must slave for. The government can never be wrong if the government is God! Therefore, it seems that Communists don't not believe in God, they fear Him. Unfortunately for oppressors, as time has shown us, the suppressed movement is never destroyed; fortunately some religion or resistance remained, and even thrived, under the tyranny of Communism.
