Jesus Christ: A Socialist?

In the St. Pete Times' Your Letters that appeared today, a writer claimed that Jesus Christ was a socialist. The basis for that claim was the Sermon on the Mount. According to the writer, Jesus said something like, "Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you." Since I don't subscribe to the Holy Book of Parables I will have to assume that was an accurate quote.

The real question here is, was J.C. a socialist? That quote didn't sound to me like anything more sinister than a suggestion that we be a little more charitable to those who are less fortunate, and not be so damn Tea Bagger Republican (as in: I've got mine, so F--K you).

I suppose that it would be reasonable to have a clue as to what is this thing called socialism. "Socialism generally refers to an economic system that seeks to manage the economy through deliberate and collective social control. At its heart, socialism stands for a belief in government for the benefit of the whole of society," not just the filthy rich and special interests.

Just for clarification and contrast: "Communism seeks to manage both the economy and the society by ensuring that property is owned collectively, and that control over the distribution of property is centralized in order to achieve both classlessness and statelessness." Read MORE.

I am not a fan of anybody's religion, but it sounds as though this J.C. dawg was just trying to be a nice guy. If he was a socialist, he has got some interesting company: