The conventional wisdom is that the individualist, evangelical style of American religion is a strong antidote to socialism. If faith alone can lead you to salvation, then efforts to reshape society are beside the point. But the animosity between them has been more pointed, especially regarding so called “Godless communists” who portrayed religion as the “opiate of the masses.” In these data, those who agreed that social problems would be resolved if enough people had a personal relationship with God were 20 percent less socialist than those who disagreed. A worldview that pits faith directly against collective action explains clearly why collectivist efforts have traditionally foundered in the U.S.
By the same token, Americans who are not religious (sometimes called the Nones) would be those most likely to hold socialist values. And indeed, this is what we find: Nones are 10 percent more socialist, on average, than religious Americans.
Another reason that Christianity is inversely correlated with socialism is that according to the Bible it is wrong to steal.
Christianity has served as a bulwark against tyranny for centuries. Consequently, leftists attack it on all fronts: culturally, through public ridicule; legally, by forcing Christians to violate their faith regarding subjects like abortion and homosexual marriage; and most insidiously, from within, as seen in the rise of politically driven, leftist religious figures like Pope Francis.
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