It is a tenet of our Christian faith that all men are equal, born in the image of God.

They are entitled to their dignity and freedom is their birthright. This is where equality stops, and where differentials start becoming a reality.

This is not a question of some being more intelligent or less, shorter or taller than others, leaner or more obese, dark-skinned or otherwise. At the very core of Christian teaching, there is the assumption that God is not committed to equality of results.

Not all give a satisfactory account of their stewardship. The “prodigal” son receives a far more generous treatment when he returns home than the son who is faithful to the father. Workers who report for work at the 11th hour receive the same wages as those who toil all day. St Paul told us to measure ourselves by his standards and to outdo him. The levelling of the collective seems to be out of place because all are not equal in the contest.

Our “pilgrim’s progress” implies a sort of journey, a struggle against the evil within, and the evil that surrounds us.

Issue of responsibility

Some who receive many talents may squander them or be lazy enough to bury them. Those who use their talents fruitfully and, therefore, profitably, will be rewarded. In this context, the importance of human responsibility stands out against the background of such inequalities.

“Many who are now last will be first, and many who are now first will be last” (Mt 20:16). It is emphasised, in the same scriptural passage that “many are called, but few are chosen”. The implication is that Christian soldiers must forever strive onwards, inspired to compete with the heroic saints of yesteryear, and in daily combat with evil and all “the works of the devil”.

Competition is relentless. It is, in a sense, the natural play of the free person, striving to measure one’s self by high ideals under God’s judgment.

It does not seem inconsistent with Christian teaching for each human being to struggle, spurred on by the competition, to fulfil his potential. Indeed, this sentiment is pre-Christian. Competition was vital among the Greeks, as it is among all people endowed with creativity and a will to better themselves. The desire to do better is the soul of the spirit of progress, and of the advancement of the spirit. It is a non-competitive world that relishes the status quo.

Root of all evil

Critics of the market system claim that competition opens the way to greed and avarice, and for multiple abuses by ‘capitalists’.

It is true that, on the Day of Judgment, the rich may find it hard “to enter the Kingdom of Heaven “with as much difficulty as a camel passing through the eye of a needle”. But it is equally true that, among the things for which humans compete, money is neutral, and may be used in either wise or foolish stewardship.

Its possessors may use it for a wide range of choices. Those who are not careful stewards, and use it foolishly and risk losing it, cannot be compared with others who invest soundly and well, and produce more for the benefit of their families, their country and their fellowmen beyond.

So, although human liberty can lend itself to good or evil ends, it is not illogical to hold that the root of evil does not lie in competition and the market system, but in ourselves when we are wayward.

The issue to be addressed is not the market and the principle of competition, but that of responsibility and probity of entrepreneurs.

The solution is not to throw away the apple, but to do everything possible to prevent the worm entering the apple and starting the rot.

This is why the good running of the market system presumes an efficient system of regulation.

Constructive alternative

The competitive market system, which is essentially a system of liberty, does not repress sin, but fragments, and seeks to check power.

One could visualise a market system that would suppress market vice. Freedom ceases as soon as coercion imposes an iron hand and when corruption vitiates the market.

The constructive alternative is to reinforce confidence in human decency, and to shore up the “moral majority” that militates against decadence, and in favour of the rule of law. Such an alternative implies checks and balances that prevent abuse.

Men of goodwill have grappled with the problem of how to unleash human creativity and productivity in a sea polluted by human frailty and sinfulness. Some argue that the answer is to appeal to social solidarity and high moral ideals. Others hold that greater incentives will fuel greater economic activism. The optimum is a mixture of both.

Marxist theory holds that, under the market system, the rich get richer and the poor poorer, implying that the plight of the poor is attributable to the wealth of the wealthy

Fallacious argument.

This fallacious argument has been the subject of endless debate. The condition of the common man has improved whenever and wherever the market system unleashed the forces of economic activism. The broader the stimulation of such activism, the greater the wealth created.

This does not mean that all economic activists are

equal in talent, luck or judgment. But, whether on the part of the few or of the many, whether in Europe or South East Asia, economic activism benefited entrepreneurs as well as the communities in which they have operated.

The market system is designed to be reformed and transformed and, of all known and proven systems, it alone has the potential for transformation by peaceful means, and for the uplifting of living standards in freedom.

To go back to where we started, God did not make creation coercive, but designed it as an area for liberty and creativity, exercised in an atmosphere of fair competition

Looked at in another way, competition in freedom is a cog in the machinery of creation.

Readers interested in going deeper into this subject would do well to read Michael Novak’s absorbing treatise on The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism to which acknowledgement is due.

This seminal study ought to be required reading in any university or business school where the search for truth and business progress is conducted in an environment free of Marxist notions. It would do a world of good if it were also to form part of extra-curricular studies in Malta’s seminary.

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