Christianity's Complicated Relationship with Capitalism

As with many other aspects of religion, Christians in the early 1900s were not united on the impact capitalism had on the American way of life. And this got even more complicated after the two world war’s and the anti-communist red scare created a sense of Americanism that became synonymous with capitalism. In 1929, Reverend Jerome Davis called for a check on capitalism saying 

“Property values were in some instances placed above human values in industry, and this is contrary to the precepts of Christ”¹ 

He points out how capitalism's focus on increasing capital at the expense of others is not what Jesus Christ, the person on whose teachings Christianity’s teachings are based, advocated for. ² 

On the other hand, Christians of the early 1900s who did support capitalism based their support on the idea that success was gained based on how deserving they are. ³ In her essay Capitalism and Christianity, A Symbiotic Relationship or Quiet Replacement she says

“The early Protestant belief that hard work was equal to salvation echoes the neoliberalist approach to the poor today. Many Christians believe that people are poor due to their lack of hard work. They are poor because they chose not to work hard and are undeserving of assistance.” ⁴ 

And finally, there were Christians who were unable to decide what the best economic system was for the country and its citizens. In 1930, Reverend Dr. Wicks warns that capitalism and Christianity are not necessarily symbiotic, saying

“We Americans must change completely our economic system. It is amazing how many people blindly assume that this capitalistic commercialism of ours is as ancient and abiding as the very order of nature […] sanctioned by industrial practice, justified by philosophy, obsessed by so-called religion, this worldwide selfishness is cataclysmic.” ⁵