Christianity is the Greatest Anti-Poverty Program in History

What is the greatest anti-poverty program in history?

As a Christian and a political conservative I have been constantly criticized by the political left for a lack of compassion for the poor. This criticism is ridiculous. My Christian faith has done more to defeat poverty then all the left-wing poverty programs and governments that have ever existed. In this video I want to explain how Christianity won the war on poverty.



According to one historian, by any quantifiable measure, including life span, calories consumed, or child mortality, the lived experience of virtually all of humanity didn’t change much for thousands of years after the Agricultural Revolution. Annual income per person did not change. It remained the equivalent of $500 U.S. dollars, adjusted for inflation. Materially William Shakespeare lived no better than an ancient Hebrew shepherd. They both had about the same income. Then in the 1600s that began to change. Today people in the West are nearly 100 times richer than their ancestors a few generations ago. And that wealth is spreading all over the world. 

No economic observer denies that in the last 400 years humanity has done more to defeat poverty than in all previous history combined. In 2015 the President of the United States said that “the free market is the greatest producer of wealth in human history—it has lifted billions out of poverty.”  That President was Barack Obama. I know there are still very poor people on the earth but their numbers are dramatically shrinking and in much of the world historic levels of poverty have completely disappeared. I am confident that in the next 100 years it will disappear everywhere else. 

No one argues that the defeat of poverty began anywhere but in Western, Christian culture and the weapons used against it were forged by Christian doctrine.

How did the Christian West defeat poverty?

It created free market capitalism; all growth economies in the history of the world are free market economies. There are no exceptions.  It started with the economies of Great Britain and Holland but quickly spread throughout northern Europe and to British colonies around the world—places like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and that largest of British colonies—the United States of America. Then in the 20^th century nations outside the West began to implement free market practices. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore all experienced spectacular economic growth through market economies. In 1978 China began to implement free market reforms that caused this, the most populous nation in the world, to go from extreme poverty to wealth and well-being in a single generation. In 1992 India left its socialist past and joined the free market revolution and has experienced wonderful economic growth ever since. Free market economics are clearly a consequence of Christian culture. I used to have my students look at the lists of the richest nations in the world. All of them were countries created by Christian culture or colonized by Christian nations. To this day nations that are culturally Christian dominate the list. 

How did this happen? Obviously, It was a product of Christian doctrine. To produce economic growth a society has to have several  doctrinal assumptions.

First, your view of man. Christianity teaches man is a free moral being before God; free market economies depend on this Christian assumption. Humans have free will and by releasing their creative energies they produce the most good for the most people. Socialist and communist systems hold that man is a mere cog in the giant state machine and that his freedom is unimportant and when it raises its head it must be suppressed.

Second doctrine: Christians hold the view that private property must be protected.  3500 years ago the Ten Commandments said,  “Thou shalt not steal.” God himself said a man’s property was to be protected from theft—theft by criminals or theft by the state. Because property rights are respected in a free market economy individuals are highly motivated to create wealth—because they can keep it. Men will not work if they think the fruit of their labor will be appropriated by the government or stolen by gangsters.

The third Christian doctrine that produced free market economies is the rule of law—property is protected by the law; government cannot seize it; neither can others; and the law applies equally to everyone. In the 1600s Christian philosophers argued the novel idea that ideas were property, intellectual property; if you come up with an innovation or invention you can protect it with a patent; without patent law there would be no modern economic miracles. 100% of economic growth is caused by innovation.

A fourth Christian doctrine that led to the free market revolution is the sanctity of work. Theologians like John Calvin argued that the merchant is just as called of God as the minister. All work is a sacred and a divine calling. And wealth is a blessing, something that can be sought after and enjoyed. Some economic historians have argued that Calvin affected modern economics more than any other thinker.

Fifth many Christian virtues contribute mightily to economic growth. Christianity stresses honesty; discipline; sacrifice; punctuality; generosity. All these qualities aid the growth of economies.

The result was the spectacular growth of first, Western economies, then many others, so that the blessings of the Christian West have spread all over the globe.

Marxist and socialist economies produce poverty and suffering. Free market economies produce blessing and prosperity.

You want to defeat poverty? The best thing you can do is become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Every blessing we enjoy in the modern world is because He walked the earth—including our economic blessings.

Thanks for watching, please check the resources below. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

More Resources: “Religion and the Rise of Capitalism,” https://thefederalist.com/2021/04/23/how-religion-influenced-modern-economics/

In my opinion, the best book on the Economic and technological revolution of the 1700s and 1800s is William Rosen’s, The Most Powerful Idea in the World. You can get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Most-Powerful-Idea-World-Invention-ebook/dp/B0036S49WS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GFNOGW14UDMN&keywords=the+most+powerful+idea+in+the+world+william+rosen&qid=1643389021&sprefix=the+most+powerful+idea%2Caps%2C297&sr=8-1

The story of one man’s awakening: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/02/06/confessions-catholic-convert-capitalism

For an excellent overview of the process of economic growth, see Nathan Rosenberg, “How the West Grew Rich.” https://www.amazon.com/How-West-Grew-Rich-Transformation/dp/0465031099/ref=sr_1_1?crid=37PBZX9C6YV80&keywords=how+the+west+grew+rich&qid=1643389192&s=books&sprefix=how+the+west+grew%2Cstripbooks%2C157&sr=1-1

The Heritage Foundation ranks the world’s economies on their degree of economic freedom. Here are the latest rankings: https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking

Rodney Stark has an excellent treatment of the impact of Christianity on economic growth in “How the West Won.” See especially chapter 17. https://www.amazon.com/How-West-Won-Neglected-Modernity-ebook/dp/B00JK4OS0K/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1643477551&sr=8-1