As we discussed in my previous blog, “Unlimited Power”, the original Christians felt quite put upon by the Roman Empire, complaining loudly (many years later) about the cruel persecution, horrific acts, and just plain mean-spiritedness of their secular leaders.
“Why can’t we just be friends?” as Rodney King later plead to the LAPD.
When the Christian clergy gained strength at the court of Emperor Constantine and his successors, it used its influence to absolutely crush opposing versions of the new Christian religion and wipe out any vestiges of the pagan religions, which most of the populace still practiced. They used cruel persecution, horrific acts, and just plain mean-spiritedness…honest to God.
What short memories; what hypocrisy!
As things turned out, the Christian religion became dominant in the Roman Empire, and, eventually, the Catholic Church extended its tentacles into the secular arena. By the Middle Ages, all of the countries in Europe were Catholic, other religions were forbidden (or, in the case of the Jews, severely discriminated against), and any type of blasphemous act, real or imagined, could earn the transgressor a nice barbecue over slow-burning coals. Church and State were essentially the same.
This is probably not what Jesus had in mind when he was quoted as saying, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s”. This saying is generally defined as separating worldy authority (government) from heavenly authority (religion). But, officials at the Vatican ignored that Heavenly advice, as they became hypocritical pastoral plutocrats…and even bragged about it.
In 779 A.D., Charlemagne (the “Holy Roman Emperor”) rewarded his ally Pope Hadrian I by issuing the Capitulary of Herstal, ordering all men within his realm (essentially all of Europe) to pay tithes to the Church. In 1400, the Church followed up by decreeing it a mortal sin not to leave at least ten percent of one’s estate to the Church in a will.
Lots of other unseemly things went on, as well.
The scandals, greed, and overreach of the Catholic Church boiled over in 1517, when Martin Luther ignited the “Reformation”. This was chiefly a theological dispute wherein European religious intellectuals chose to pursue other interpretations of Church teachings. The result of this revolt was the creation of various Protestant factions that weren’t beholden to the Pope. This is how Lutheran, Methodist, Calvinist (Baptist/Presbyterian), Quaker and other denominations originated.
All of these goings on (i.e. the quest for religious freedom) provided part of the impetus for the formation of our country. Remember the Pilgrims? They were of the Puritan religious sect, essentially fleeing the domination of the Church of England (Anglican), which was another of the Protestant spin-offs. The Puritans thought that the Anglicans (nominally headed by the British sovereign) were too much like the Catholics…in theology and mixing of state and church.)
As I have previously postulated, the clergy (of any religion) is constantly seeking more power, and, ultimately, that quest involves the secular political realm. In other words, not satisfied with mind-control over its own parishioners, the clergy is always attempting to exert control over other religions, non-believers and government actors…in an attempt to achieve hegemony. As in “calling the shots” for society as a whole: “This is my belief, therefore it should be your belief.”
The Hebrews did it (the whole Old Testament tells the tale), the original Judeo-Christians did it, the Catholic Church did it, the Muslims did it, and the Protestant denominations have done it. Essentially, the goal (of religion) is to force-feed a belief system onto everyone within their grasp. The more converts, voluntary and forced, the more power to entrench their belief system.
The fact that, in the Christian experience, this is totally hypocritical… seems to escape the conscious awareness of the true believers.
Evangelical Christians perceive their mission in life is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the United States, these “born again” Christians, commonly Baptists and Methodists, are extremely aggressive in pushing their beliefs into the secular arena. Not satisfied that they “know Jesus as their personal savior”, it appears to be their sworn duty (as pushed by their pastors) to force all citizens to believe as they do. This manifests itself by political efforts (by so-called “moral majority” and “family values” groups) to mandate prayer in public schools, prohibit abortion, permit public funding of church schools, allow tax breaks to religious institutions, etc. Darker aspects of the agenda include legalized discrimination against the LGBT community and non-Christian religions, opposition to immigration to the United States by non-Christians, and discrimination against non-white races.
Ironically, all of the major Judeo-Christian religions (including Islam), base their fundamental philosophy on the Golden Rule; i.e. “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Sunday school lessons are all about this. What do the The Ten Commandments say? Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, etc. Supposedly, these are the cornerstones of Christian values and morality; i.e. “family values”.
Who among us wants discrimination done unto them? Certainly not the original Christians, who were allegedly tormented, crucified, and thrown to the lions by the Romans. They didn’t appreciate discrimination one bit. However…when the Catholic Church gained the power to discriminate…they used it, gleefully, for a thousand years.
The early American settlers came here to escape religious discrimination…they didn’t like it. The framers of our Constitution made it very clear that religious freedom (i.e. the ability to believe in God, or not, as one wishes) is one of America’s bedrock civil rights.
And, yet, we Americans endure a constant onslaught of political pressure by the evangelical Christian clergy to operate our government and regulate our society…in accordance with “fundamental Christian values”, which, apparently include discrimination.
The Protestants hated the Catholic Church for cramming its dogma down their throat; now, the evangelical Christians want to cram Protestant beliefs down America’s throat. Does anyone see the irony? And, the hypocrisy?
The current flag bearer of the evangelical Christian political movement is, astoundingly, Mr. Donald Trump, who would be hard to characterize as a moral Christian of any stripe.
This is a guy who is a known: (1) serial adulterer; (2) dishonest businessman; and, (3) pathological liar. His only appearance in a church over the past fifty years has been to get married (three times), which he followed up by dishonoring the vows with various women. As he has been quoted as saying, “When you’re famous, you can just grab ’em by the pussy.”
(The latest revelation about Reverend Trump is that he had an affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels 1n 2006 while his new wife was pregnant with (eventual) son Barron. Just guessing here, but…I think I know Jesus would have said about that!)
The fact that a low-life like this bum is strongly supported by the evangelical Christian community seems odd, to put it mildly. One might even say…hypocritical.
“The end justify the means”. That seems to be the thinking of the evangelical Christian/Moral Majority crowd nowadays. But, where exactly in the Bible can one find that principle, Reverend?
Nowhere…it is from Sergey Nechayev, a 19th Century Russian revolutionary, and it became the rationale for famous Marxist dictators Lenin and Stalin who murdered 20 million people. God-fearing evangelical Christians and conservative politicians have screaming at those atheistic Communists for the past 100 years. Now? They like their style.
Apparently, the moral teachings of Jesus pale in comparison to the secular political opportunity presented to the Christian clergy. Apparently, as long as President Trump makes it easier for them to force-feed their theological and nationalistic agenda upon non-Christians, they will continue to bless his Administration.
As Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council (a prominent evangelical activist group) said last week, “We’re giving him a Mulligan” on the Stormy Daniels affair.
It’s apparent the our Moral Majority friends have also given the President Mulligans on his “grab ’em by the pussy” comment, his previous affairs, his calling African nations “shithole countries”, the 5,000-plus public lies that he told last year, and his statement that Mexicans immigrants are “murderers and rapists”.
And, also for attempting, numerous times, to deny health care to millions of poor citizens…all the while he was engineering a massive tax cut to his already obscenely rich American buddies. So much for, “Blessed are the poor…”
The question I pose to the evangelical Christian clergy who are enabling this fool by making excuses for him:”For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) Have you no shame?
The “Trump Is Savior” fiasco reminds me of the curious decision by Pope Urban II in 1095 to bless the first Crusade to “liberate” Palestine of the heathen Muslims. It was a bad enough idea to begin with; a shameless power grab. However, the Pope doubled-down on his avaricious mistake by giving the mercenary European soldiers “forgiveness, in advance” for any sins that they may commit while pursuing the greater good of securing the Holy Lands for the Church. Many crusaders, who were criminal thugs in everyday life, used this license to murder, rape and pillage innocent Europeans as the army made the long trek to the Middle East.
They, like Trump, were granted unlimited Mulligans.
This is what can happen when “the end justifies the means”.