Bp. Barron vs. Collectivism and the "Same God" Theory

Beneath the surface, Bp. Barron exposes the fragility, if not falsehood, of the "We worship the same God as the Muslims do" theory.

 

...During his inaugural address, the newly minted socialist mayor and New York’s first Muslim mayor, declared, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”

The line prompted immediate backlash from many conservatives who expressed alarm at such a phrase being used by the leader of America’s biggest city.

Barron, a popular podcaster and founder of “Word on Fire,” took to X to say Mamdani’s declaration “took my breath away.”

“He said he intended to replace ‘the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.’ Collectivism in its various forms is responsible for the deaths of at least 100 million people in the last century,” Barron wrote.

“For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism.’...

This is at least partially a matter of theology.  Muslims accept 'collectivism' because Allah is NOT a Trinity; he is a Totalitarian Despot.  In marked and very significant contrast, Christians* believe in a Trinitarian God wherein there are three "Individuals", the Third of Whom is, literally, Love.  This is why Belloc declared that Mohammedanism is one of the seven Great Heresies.

One of the effects of that difference is the contrast in the method of distribution of 'collective goods.'  One posits that all goods are the meant for  all men and the State determines the allocations thereof; the second believes that, while all goods are meant for all men, there is such a thing as 'private' property which--in charity--can and should be dispensed to others as needed.  The first, as +Barron notes, requires forcible and often murderous extractions.  The second, by and large, does not, (albeit there are 'common goods' which require taxation.  See, e.g., national defense). 

Generally speaking, Muslim countries distribute goods to their citizens and are not averse to private property.  But their theology allows for the 'common good Totalitarianism' in contrast to Christianity.  That allowance is shared by the practical- and real-atheists of Communism.

Thus both Muslims and Communists are enemies of the Church.  So are the little totalitarians of State capitals and D.C. bureaucracies.

*Torah-believing Jews can find the Trinity in the Scripture--if they look.