Christianity has a unique perspective on the world with its Trinitarian model of life.  It is revolutionary in its focus on relationship as the basis of morality: a relationship based on love between God and neighbour brought to life by the continuous and immanent action of the Holy Spirit.  Clearly, there are many in society who do not share this view of life.  It would be impossible to outline every such idea which holds sway in a person's mind; even giving a general description is not free from problems.  However, it can be very helpful to examine some of the ideas which influence us as individuals and as groups in society, as these perspectives can help us understand ourselves and our society better.

     The following abstracts are designed to wet your appetite in the hope that you will begin to look more widely and deeply into what makes your world tick.  

Capitalism:
     Capitalism at one level may be viewed as an economic theory.  It was given its first systematic expression in the book "The Wealth of Nations", written by Adam Smith during the eighteenth century.  In a Europe dominated by agriculture and cottage industry, he proposed a new economic order.  One in which production would be increased manyfold by developing the principles of specialization and mass production in the production process.  The driving force of the "economic miracle" would be the entrepreneur, who provided managerial skill and capital for investment.

      In line with crude capitalist theory, the heroes ("saints") in society are the "rags to riches" entrepreneurs and successful business men and women.  As the middle class grew in Europe following the industrial revolution, it sought to reconcile its new found faith with its Christian roots:  the result - the "Protestant Work Ethic".  Although called the "Protestant Work Ethic", it was in no way confined to Protestant Europe; in fact, it was often strongest in Catholic regions.  It was a theory which focused on the idea that the most important human virtue was to work hard and seek perfection through work.  It emphasized the idea of "blessing" for those who lived righteous lives and "cursing" for those who lived immoral lives.  Success in business was seen as a sign of divine approval.  This was clearly a break from the Christian world view which focused on the idea that "the rain falls on good and bad alike".  What is interesting is that, as an idea, it kept the outward appearance of Christian virtue, whilst inwardly transforming it into a capitalist virtue.

     Love of neighbour and love of God in union with the Holy Spirit was replaced by a new moral code:  living to amass a fortune was transformed from grievous vice to superlative virtue; fraternal hatred became healthy competition; oppressing the poor and weak became natural selection and survival of the fittest; selfish aggrandizement became the laurel wreath of God's predilection -- after all, were not all men born equal?  Ironically, democracy became the instrument through which this new "religion" spread its talons to challenge Christianity in its vying for the hearts and minds of many in the Western world.  Its successfulness as an ideology is nowhere more clearly seen than in the fact that, even today, many Christians identify the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Steal" with capitalist theories of ownership, rather than the ideas expressed in Deuteronomy, Leviticus, the prophets and  by Jesus himself.

     Capitalism is only one of many ideas which shape our society.  Thankfully, our demand as a people for human standards of conduct and practice have blunted the more extreme dimensions of pure capitalism.  It must also be stated that capitalism, at least in modified form, is not completely incompatible with Christianity.  Still, it remains a potent socio-political force militating against the Christian world view.     
  

Marxism:
     As the nineteenth century progressed, capitalism grew in vitality as one of the principal ideologies of the western world.  Its daughter, the industrial revolution, had taken hold of many of the great cities of Europe and the New World by mid-century - and transformed them forever.  The human cost had been very high:  overcrowding, poor wages, dreadful hygiene and violence - most evident in the sprawling slums. This was truly the dark age of capitalism.
 
      Out of the chaos came many hopes of reform. These ranged from moves to improve factory conditions through legislation to establishing a socialist state to that of violent revolution.  It was to this last group that Karl Marx belonged.  A German by birth, influenced by French sociology, he spent much of his life in exile in England, where he is now buried.  Marx looked beyond the