Lux Lucet

English political philosopher Sir Robert Filmer, c. 1588-1653

“[F]or it is not possible for the wit of man to search out the first grounds or principles of government (which necessarily depend upon the original of property) except he know that at the creation one man alone was made, to whom the dominion of all things was given, and from whom all men derive their title.

    – Sir Robert Filmer, Patriarcha and Other Political Works, 203-204

One of the major, perhaps the major, overarching themes of this series of essays, which has now stretched to twenty installments, is that Rome’s faulty economic and political thought, which itself is derived from Rome’s faulty theology, is the primary cause of the migrant crisis in the United States and in Europe.

But while there are many problems with Roman Catholic theological, political and economic thought, the examination of which is beyond the scope of this series, one error in particular stands out as relevant to the topic of mass migration: Rome’s doctrine of the universal destination of goods.

This series has examined the universal destination of goods at some length in previous installments, and it is not my intention here to go over it again in close detail. Let it suffice for our purposes today to quote John Robbins’ magisterial work on the political and economic thought of the Roman Catholic Church, Ecclesiastical Megalomania,

The Thomistic notion of original communism – the denial that private property is part of the natural law, but that common property is both natural and divine – is foundational to all the Roman Catholic arguments for various forms of collectivism, from medieval feudalism and guild socialism to twentieth century fascism and liberation theology. The popes refer to this original communism as the “universal destination of all goods” (38).

As this quote points out, the universal destination of goods depends upon the idea that God, at the time of creation, gave the world, not to individual men, but to mankind collectively. This view, what John Robbins calls “original communism,” is the official position of the Roman Catholic church, having become part of the warp and woof of Roman Catholic Social Teaching, not only as a result of the Church-State’s establishment of Thomism as the official doctrine of the Church, but also through the many repetitions of this idea through papal encyclicals and other important church documents over the past 100 plus years.

The universal destination of goods resting on the idea of original communism is the foundational idea of all of Rome’s teaching on the issues of immigration, migration and refugee resettlement. If you doubt this, please read, or re-read the last two posts in this series where, quoting directly from Roman Catholic sources, this author has made this assertion abundantly clear. You may find these posts here and here.

Having the universal destination of goods as a unifying concept behind all its Social Teaching, including its teaching on migration, has allowed Rome to systematize its economic and political teaching in a way that would not otherwise have been possible. Instead of having random ideas strewn about, Rome’s teaching on political and economic issues is highly organized, with statements on one topic serving to reinforce the Church-State’s teaching on another topic. Roman Catholic Social Teaching is, for all its many errors, testament to the power of systematic thought.

But while Rome’s systematic approach to addressing political and economic questions is a great strength, at the same time, it’s also Rome’s great point of weakness. Why is this? For the reason that, if one can demonstrate from the Scriptures that the “community of goods” is false, that God did not, in fact give the Earth to mankind collectively, then the entire system of Rome’s Social Teaching comes crashing to the ground, including its dogmatic assertions about the right of migrants to impose themselves on host nations. Or, as Martin Luther might put it, one little word shall fell them.

It is the contention of this author that not only is it possible to demonstrate from the Scriptures that Rome’s community of goods is a fiction, but that this point already has been demonstrated in the works of 17th century political philosopher Sir Robert Filmer.

Today’s post, and, Lord willing, the next few posts will focus on showing that, far from endorsing the idea of “original communism,” the Bible instead posits a system of original private property. God did not give the Earth to mankind collectively, but rather he gave it to Adam individually, and it is from Adam that “all men derive their title” to private property. Far from being a late addition to the economic order, private property, original capitalism, was what was established by God at the time of creation.

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