Church and Statism

An excellent piece by Ed West, writing for the Telegraph:

Statism is theoretically attractive because only the virtuous state can eliminate the natural inequality and discrimination that occurs when groups and individuals are left to their own devices. That’s human nature, and to eliminate inequality one has to eliminate human freedom; I seem to remember previous attempts to do this haven’t been entirely successful.

What’s striking is that so ingrained has statism become that it has even infiltrated the Church. Indeed many in the Catholic Church’s hierarchy, both bishops and lay people, see the Church as just one more branch of the state with its holy mission to deliver “social justice”. Which is a strange strategy, since statists ultimately wish to enfeeble the Church.