His alleged populist economic ideology, by contrast, has not been examined nearly as closely. Bannon decries secularism, because he believes the evils of capitalism emerge when religious beliefs are no longer a brake on rapacity. But, pious Christian capitalists, like those of other faiths, typically have compartmentalized: their religious values were rarely expressed in their businesses; often in places of worship and the dinner table. Christianity, in its institutional form, the church, has largely been a bystander as capitalism emerged, burgeoned, and triumphed over all competing economic systems. In the U.S., unionization drives, strikes, and voting for Democrats, produced what the religious values of capitalists did not: greater equality of opportunity; less inequality in wealth and income distribution; a minimal welfare state.

Source: Huffington Post November 21, 2016 16:19 UTC