A call to spiritual arms

By Michelle Laque Johnson

Before the fall of the Iron Curtain, I took one of those, “If it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium” tours through Europe. I’ll never forget traveling through Checkpoint Charlie to visit East Berlin.

Our tour guide, who was with us at all times, was pretty, pleasant and spoke good English. She presented all sorts of “facts” in an attempt to convince us Westerners of the glories of the Communist regime. What she–and the regime itself--didn’t realize was that what we were seeing had a far greater impact on us than what we were hearing.

A traveler to West Berlin was overwhelmed with vitality, noise, color, people, shops, restaurants and theater–life. A traveler to East Berlin was overwhelmed by silence, deserted streets, gray buildings and static monuments–death. The stark contrast between the divided cities spoke to Westerners louder than any textbook of the oppressiveness of life under a Communist regime.

In the ’60s and ’70s, most Americans learned that communism and its cousin socialism are wrong. We read about the horrors going on behind the Iron Curtain; we heard accounts about it from survivors; and many of us watched and cheered as the Iron Curtain fell.

Today, however, our government is peopled by czars who are quite open about their ties to communism, socialism and unsavory organizations like the North American Man-Boy Love Association, supported by the “Safe School” czar. Policies are being proposed and implemented which are clearly anti-democratic. Many Americans feel in their hearts that such policies are wrong, but they are not sure why. More importantly, they are not sure where to turn for answers.

How have we come to this? Try this on for size:

“The explanation lies in the fact that too few have been able to grasp the nature of Communism. The majority instead succumb to its deception, skillfully concealed by the most extravagant promises. By pretending to desire only the betterment of the condition of the working classes, by urging the removal of the very real abuses chargeable to the liberalistic economic order, and by demanding a more equitable distribution of the world’s goods (objectives entirely and undoubtedly legitimate), the Communist takes advantage of the present world-wide economic crisis to draw into the sphere of its influence even those sections of the populace which on principle reject all forms of materialism and terrorism”

As we will discuss, these are the pillars on which communism is based.

The above quote, which sounds like it is ripped from the headlines, is actually excerpted from an encyclical written by Pope Pius XI in 1937. Surprised?

Among other things, he talks about the vast financial resources behind the spread of communism and their use of cinema, theater, radio, schools and universities to spread their errors. Guess who else gets blamed for communism’s spread? “[T]he conspiracy of silence on the part of a large section of the non-Catholic press of the world. We say conspiracy, because it is impossible otherwise to explain how a press, usually so eager to exploit even the little daily incidents of life, has been able to remain silent for so long about the horrors perpetrated in Russia, in Mexico and even in a great part of Spain…”

Sound familiar?

To fundamentally change a nation, a would-be dictator needs to co-opt a lot of things: the educational system, the media and the military come easily to mind. Although in a superpower, taking over the economic system may be more important than the military. However, even with all of this, a dictator cannot hope to capture the hearts and minds of the populace without co-opting the most important sector of all: religious leaders and institutions.

While secular society does its best to denigrate the religious as weak-minded – following the axiom of Karl Marx who famously declared that “religion is the opiate of the people” – the truth is that it is popes and missionaries, priests and pastors who have historically stood against tyranny of all kinds. You may be surprised to learn that during the 20th century, more Christians were martyred for their faith than at any other time in the history of the world, according to Robert Royal’s book, “The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century.”

So why have so many people been willing to die? What exactly is wrong with communism? Here is a brief primer, courtesy of Pope Pius XI. His encyclical, “On Atheistic Communism,” quoted above, lays out the principles of communism so well that communists themselves reportedly use its definitions (minus its counter-arguments, of course) in their own literature.

Communists believe:

• •.There is only one reality in this world: matter, which evolves into plants, animals and man in a random way. “By a law of inexorable necessity and through a perpetual conflict of forces, matter moves towards the final synthesis of a classless society.”  

• •.We can hasten our rush towards this utopia by encouraging class warfare. (Explains a lot, doesn’t it?)  

• •.Individual rights don’t matter; neither does individual personality. Everything is subordinated to the collective. The system has no regard for personal welfare. “[V]iolence could be legitimately exercised to dragoon the recalcitrant against their wills,” says the pope.  

• •.All forms of private property must be eradicated since property rights are a major source of wealth and could give one man power over another.  

• •.Marriage and family are subordinate to the state. They reject the idea of an “indissoluble marriage tie” and “any link that binds woman to the family and the home. … The care of home and children then devolves upon the collectivity.”  

• •.Education of children is the “exclusive prerogative of the community, in whose name and by whose mandate alone parents may exercise this right.”  

• •.All authority is rejected, including authority of parents over children or God over man.  

The Christian idea that we were created by a loving God (not “random matter”) who cares about each of us individually (and not as a collective), who has prepared a place for us in heaven (and not a classless society here on earth), which we can get to by loving God and our neighbor (rather than through violence and destruction) is anathema to a communist. So is the institution of marriage, parental rights over children and personal rights when they conflict with the collective will.

Knowing this, is it any wonder that religion–especially the Christian religion and, in particular, the Catholic Church–is under attack? President Barack Obama may claim we are not “just” a Christian nation, but he is wrong. America proudly supports the free exercise of religion, but our nation was founded upon Christian principles and it is Christian principles which people on both sides of the aisle are using even now to prevent us from devolving into one of the “isms.”

Some disagree that we are sliding into communism. They think it ridiculous to worry that newly-enacted “hate speech” laws may eventually be used to prevent the free exercise of religion and abridge First Amendment rights. They are not concerned when a crucifix is covered up before a president will give a speech. They refuse to see that the mass murder of babies under the guise of healthcare reform or healthcare rationing based on age or disability undermines the importance of each individual no matter how small or old or crippled; or that revocation of parental notification laws abridges a parent’s rights over his or her child–to name only a few of this year’s headlines.

But to Christian America, this matters.

In 1937, Pope Pius XI spoke about saving the world, not by class-struggle and violence, but by infusing social justice and the sentiment of Christian love into the social order. His encyclical, “Divini Redemptoris,” is worth reading today (http://bit.ly/PBa0N). Americans need to remember that there is a reason that Christians and their churches have been targeted by dictators through the ages. There is a reason that Mr. Obama sought to align himself with Christians before the election.

For the sake of our country, let us pray that Christians remember who and Whose they are; that they stand up and stand strong.

God bless America.

-Michelle Laque Johnson is director of communications for EWTN, the largest religious media network in the world. The views expressed are solely her own and do not necessarily reflect those of EWTN.