Haves and Have-Nots

“The Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus” by Henrick ter Brugghen (1625), Centraal Museum (Accession No. 11241), Netherlands, Source/Photographer https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/nwGdfR1Asi9YSQ, (PD)

“There’s a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
And he’s always at home with his back to the wall
And he’s proud of his scars and the battles he’s lost
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man”

— “Angry Young Man”, Billy Joel

The plight of the poor should concern anyone with a conscience.  But the means available to alleviate that plight – or purportedly alleviate it – are not all equally valid in the eyes of God.

Conflict

The activist Saul Alinsky has been lionized by the political left (even in Christian circles) as a champion for the poor and disenfranchised [1][2]. 

Alinsky emphasized community organization and conflict as key strategies for social justice.  But he advocated the use of any means necessary to achieve the ends he considered laudable – means which included deceit, fraud, and character assassination, in an effort to motivate the “have-nots” and demonize his adversaries.

Alinsky began his best-known work, Rules for Radicals, with the following statement:

“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical:  from all our legends, mythology, and history…the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.”

In an interview with Playboy Magazine, he stated:

“Hell would be heaven for me.  All my life I’ve been with the have-nots.  Over here, if you’re a have-not, you’re short of dough.  If you’re a have-not in hell, you’re short of virtue.  Once I get into hell, I’ll start organizing the have-nots over there [3].”

These remarks may sound clever to some, cheeky.  But they are extremely revealing.

Satan, the Father of Lies, is motivated by pride and an icy hatred of mankind.  Alinsky, too, was motivated by hatred, in his case for all those he viewed as unjust.  But it is a lie that we must be motivated by hate to overcome injustice.

“Sin Nature” of Mankind

Alinsky considered life a bloody battlefield and morality something optional, a fiction created by the “haves” to justify their position at the top of the heap.  Morality, however, is an objective standard, established by God.

The struggle by one group to dominate another then, in turn, be dominated by still another is meaningless.  Couching the struggle in democratic terms does nothing to change the reality.  It is not emblematic of progress.  Nor is it redemptive. 

The “sin nature” of mankind prevents such progress. 

History demonstrates that mankind does not move inexorably in the direction of freedom, equality, justice, and peace.  Both the horrors of communism and the excesses of capitalism bear witness to that fact. 

Conflict Resolution

The poor need food.  They need decent housing.  They need and deserve humane working conditions.  But a just society cannot be achieved if reason is abandoned in the pursuit of raw power, and the threat of violence looms over every political disagreement.  That can result only in polarization, and continued conflict.

In his over 60 books, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen repeatedly pointed out that Christ was more than a mere social reformer, more than a mere defender of the poor and oppressed [4][5].  He was and is God Incarnate, the Redeemer who took on a human nature out of love, and died out of love for the rich and poor alike.

This does not relieve of us of our obligation to aid the poor.  The Bible makes that clear.  Indeed, what we do for the least of these, we do for God (Matt. 25: 40).

Through his radio and television programs, Sheen, himself, gave millions to the poor. As Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Sheen raised millions more for missionary efforts worldwide.  The impact of that will far outlast the efforts of agitators like Saul Alinsky.

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[1]  Wikipedia, “Saul Alinsky”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky.

[2]  The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP), “How Saul Alinsky Took Lessons from the Mob and Influenced the Catholic Left” by Julio Loredo de Iczue, 6/2/22, https://www.tfp.org/how-saul-alinsky-took-lessons-from-the-mob-and-influenced-the-catholic-left/.

[3]  Crisis Magazine, “Saul Alinsky:  Playing Merry Hell” by Paul Kengor, 10/13/20, https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/saul-alinsky-playing-merry-hell.

[4]  Wikipedia, “Fulton Sheen”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_J._Sheen.

[5]  EWTN, “Saints vs. Scoundrels:  Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen vs. Saul Alinsky” by Benjamin Wiker, Parts 1 and 2, first broadcast 10/23/25 and 10/26/25.

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