Last Wednesday, the Young Conservatives of Texas at St. Edward’s hosted a talk called “Was Jesus A Socialist?” in Carter Auditorium. The talk was led by Lawerence W. Reed, an economist and the President Emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), a right-wing and free-market think-tank. Mr. Reed has had no formal theological or biblical education and approached the talk through his own interpretation of the bible.

Peter Seferia, the Chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas, was familiar with Mr. Reed’s work and sought to “expose other people to this point of view.” This question led Chairman Seferia to invite Mr. Reed to address the topic. 

The answer to the question “Was Jesus a Socialist?” was an easy one for Mr. Reed. Throughout the talk, Mr. Reed used his interpretation of some of Jesus’ parables to paint the picture as to why.

For example, Mr. Reed claimed that the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is an example of Jesus defending supply and demand, and employer-employee work contracts. He also used the Parable of the Talents as an example of Jesus being in favor of individual enterprise.

James Puglisi, Associate Director of Campus Ministry, said that he believes Jesus’ teachings “lean towards social responsibility” and our role in helping those in need. He stated that his view on whether Jesus was a Socialist or not was more of a “middle route approach.” 

“We cannot find our home in unbridled capitalism or unbridled socialism,” he said, quoting St. John Paul II. He believes that there are aspects of both capitalism and socialism in Jesus’ teachings. While Dr. Puglisi was not on the same page with what was being said during the talk, he said he “was pleased in the sense that we need all different voices on campus.”