What Christians and Neo-Marxists Have In Common

(and it’s not what you think)

You’re poor. You see rich people all around. They own the property and have control of the political institutions. Naturally, you’re going to be a revolutionary.

Nope.

For the vast majority of human history, the poor have lived alongside the rich and powerful elites, and yet revolutions are remarkable for their rarity. If Rousseau is right - he’s not as he’s dead wrong about virtually everything but let’s say he is right about this – and that “man is born free but everywhere in chains”, why have the poor, with nothing to lose but their chains, not risen up? Why have they not seized the wealth and the power and distributed them equally and fairly?

Some might argue it was mostly fear that stopped the poor from revolting, but read the literature of the ages, look at the art, and drink in the culture, and you will see that the idea of monarchy and aristocracy was popular for centuries.

It still is. These days our aristocracies are mostly politicians, billionaires and celebrities. But even though we are more aware than ever of the flaws our elites, very few are arguing for wealth redistribution, state ownership or egalitarianism on a Marxist – or neo-Marxist – scale.

This is intensely frustrating to neo-Marxists and potentially bewildering. Why have the poor actively participated in their own oppression and enslavement? There is an explanation: false consciousness. This is a phenomenon in which oppressed people internalize and identify with the attitudes and ideology of the controlling class.

One-Dimensional Marcuse

Marcuse uses the term in his One-Dimensional Man that I mentioned last week.

To the degree to which they correspond to the given reality, thought and behavior express a false consciousness, responding to and contributing to the preservation of a false order of facts. And this false consciousness has become embodied in the prevailing technical apparatus which in turn reproduces it.

Although he never used the term in his public writing, Karl Marx clearly believed that religion played a large part in this false consciousness, writing:

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.

Therefore, argues Marx, religion must be destroyed as it is causing the oppressed worker to love his chains, rather than despise them. Once the worker has that illusory comfort withdrawn, he or she will realise they’ve been tricked by the powerful elites, will grab the nearest pitchfork, and march with burning torches to the local lord’s manor.

How Convenient

The doctrine of false consciousness sounds convenient and self-fulfilling. If you don’t agree with Marx, or Marcuse, that’s because you’ve been blinded by the hegemonic powers of the capitalist elites. You may say that you understand precisely the issues at play here, and how power and money work, and that you are responsible for your own decisions, but the neo-Marxist will say that you just don’t understand how internalised your false-consciousness is.

It's not a very compelling argument, is it? Neo-Marxism is a solution to a problem we’re not perceiving to be a problem. And we can’t be convinced otherwise.

But before you cast the first stone, Christian, recognise that you believe something similar.

The Dark Dungeon

If you’re a Christian reading this article, you’ve probably sung the words of Charles Wesley’s popular hymn, ‘And Can It Be?’:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

Sound familiar? Sinners of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

Christians say this because the Bible clearly teaches this. Paul’s words in Ephesians 2 leap to mind:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. (Ephesians 2:1-3a)

Without Christ, we aren’t just enslaved, or in a dark dungeon but dead. We don’t just have the chains of false consciousness, but are actively serving the spirit of disobedience, giving into every bodily whim and desire.

False consciousness is so strong that a rich young man can meet Jesus and ask him how to get into heaven and on receiving the answer, can walk away sad, imprisoned by his own wealth. Does he stay that way? We’re not told.

I say that because he’s not the only member of the elite to encounter Jesus this way. There is Nicodemus and his reaction is rather different.

In my Water into Wine show, I note the slow progress of Nicodemus, who is initially baffled by what he hears Jesus say. But four chapters later in John 7, he is urging his friends to give Jesus a fair hearing. We next see Nicodemus at Jesus’ tomb, burying Jesus with a king’s ransom of spices.

In John’s gospel people see glimpses of the true reality. John tips us off in his prologue, which gives you all the themes like an overture before a musical:

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:10-13

Jesus Christ is not waking people up to see what reality is really like. He has created reality. He renews it. He steps into. We aren’t woken up, but reborn into it. It’s a story I never tire of telling. If it’s opium, I’m hooked.

The problem is that we do our evangelism like Neo-Marxists which is why it’s not terribly effective. But we’ll get onto that next time – but don’t miss out. Subscribe.

In the meantime, you can catch me doing my Water into Wine show at the following places. And why not consider booking me to do the show at your church? Get in touch here.

20th May All Saints Church, Eastbourne

21st May 7.30pm St Mary Bredin Church, Canterbury BOOK HERE

25th May 7.30pm St George’s Beckington, Nr Frome – in aid of the Friends of St George’s Contact me for this

24th June 7.30pm Christ Church, Stone

25th June 7.30pm St Peter and St Paul, Shepton Mallet BOOK HERE