Socialism is based, largely, almost exclusively on Christian interpretations of Jesus’ life. The idea of communal property, communal wives, and Utopia come from Protestants and their disillusion with the Catholic Church, its wealth and hypocrisy. That said, many Americans, especially on the Right, are realists. We recognize human error and don’t insist on responding to them each with a law or fine. We recognize that evil is different then error and that evil should be combated. We understand there is collateral damage and we hope to minimize it. We recognize that perfection is for the next world even as we struggle to achieve some level, an imperfect level, of goodness in our life. As for the Christians in Martin Luther’s time, not all the Protestants were content to live the simple life as interpreted by some of their sect nor did they create their communes and wait there for Jesus to return. Some of them found love for G-d’s creation, studied it, learned how to function better within G-d’s world and made a better life for themselves. It is these Christians that contributed mightily to making America and it is their ideal that the Christian Right, which I am not a member of, is progeny of.
