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Transatlantic Blog

Bishop Robert Barron explains Marxism in 21 minutes

    Despite Marxism's growing popularity among young people, church authorities spend little time discussing the topic – and when they do, they oftenspeak in a misleading way. Thankfully, Bishop Robert Barron, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, addressed the topic at length last week.

    He made “Karl Marx and Millennials” the topic of a recent episode of his podcast, “Word on Fire.”

    In addition to giving a brief overview of Communist philosophy, Bishop Barron answers such questions as:

    Can you be a Marxist without being an atheist?

    What is the relationship between private property and freedom?

    Is Communism inherently violent?

    He also addresses the opportunity cost of reading Karl Marx, and the better materialhe suggests reading in its place.

    You can watch the episode here:

     

    (Photo credit: Mark Surman. This photo has been cropped. CC BY 2.0.)


    Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as executive editor of the Acton Institute from 2016 to 2021. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews and FrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books, including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His work has appeared in National Review, the American Spectator, and The Guardian, among other outlets. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com.