Rebutting Rockefeller. (Letters to the Editor).

William F. Jasper's response to Steven Rockefeller's letter upholding the Earth Charter was a masterful refutation of Rockefeller's attempt to mislead readers with half-truths, truths out of context, and outright lies ("Rebutting Rockefeller," November 4th issue). There is one Rockefeller claim, however, that begs for rebuttal even now. Point 6 of his letter refers to the Bible, to "Hosea, Jeremiah, and Isaiah' as well as "the ethical teachings of Jesus' all of which he cites as proof that "the growing gap between the rich and the poor ... is clearly unjust." In this assertion is contained the Big Lie of socialists past and present--that is, that true devotion to our Lord requires that we create a "dictatorship of the proleteriat' as Marx called it.

Rockefeller and his intellectual ancestors sustain this lie by taking the words of the prophets and of Jesus out of context, especially historical context. Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and our Lord Himself never condemned any income gap or asset gap between rich and poor; they condemned the denial of justice to the poor. Moreover, that denial of justice was not the result of denying legal favoritism to them, but was the result of the ancient version of Big Government. The leaders of tribe, clan, and family--the elders--could and did impose obligations of tribute--in goods and services--upon those who were under their rule. Under this system of tribal government, these leaders exacted forced labor and taxes from those who were their own relatives. In ...