Marx was a Lutheran?

 Barry Goldwater, 1964 (photo: Public Domain)

January 2 is the birthday of Barry Goldwater (1909-1998). He's one of the most well-known defeated Presidential candidates of the last century. But that's not why I'm mentioning him.

You see, yesterday I learned that Karl Marx was baptized a Lutheran.

So, what does that have to do with Goldwater?

It's the similarity between the two men, which is also a vast difference.

I had always thought Marx was a Jew. That is, raised as a Jew before adopting his atheistic philosophy. 

Why did I think that? Because I had always been told that Marx was Jewish.

Well, his grandparents were Jews, but Marx's father and mother both converted to the (Lutheran) state church of Prussia. Marx was raised Lutheran.

Goldwater's grandparents were Jews as well, but his father converted to the Episcopal Church. Goldwater was a member of that denomination all his life. 

I have never been told that Goldwater was Jewish. That's because he wasn't. 

But neither was Marx.

Only in the racialist theories of Nazism might either have been designated as "Jews" due to their ancestry.

Goldwater's name is linked to conservatism and his "Jewishness" is forgotten.

Marx's name, as we are all aware, is linked to radical political positions that stand at odds with existing political and religious institutions. Pointing to his Jewish ancestry as his identity is to insinuate that his "Jewishness" is innately tied to his communism.

The ancestry of either man doesn't matter to me, and I have nothing against Judaism. But some people think it's important that we all know Marx was Jewish even though he wasn't.

Those people are lying to advance an agenda.

James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase, Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, and JL Cells. Thanks for your subscriptions and support! You may contact James for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.