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Faith-Based Imperialism: Christian Zealotry and the
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Counterpunch - May 23, 2007http://www.counterpunch.org/alberts05232007.ht=
ml
Faith-Based Imperialism
Christian Zealotry and the Occupation of Iraq
By Rev. WILLIAM E. ALBERTS
The very nature of Christianity is imperialistic. A resurrected Christ
reportedly told his disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Go therefore," he ordered them, "and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey [italics
This seems to be a late addition. On the day of Penthecost, the
mission that went out
had a different structure as reported in the Acts of the Apistles.
Persians, greeck, Arabs, Egyptians all those proselytes were in
Jerusalem
and each of them heard them in their own language, consequently
when returning to their people in their own land, each of them was on
mission
to among his own people, without a burden of a foreign mission.
This is why Paul who was a Roam never preached outside the Roman
borders...
added] everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus'
assumed resurrection is believed to be proof of his own unique divinity
as the only Son of God and savior of the world. "I am the way, and the
truth, and the life," he is recorded as asserting. "No one comes to the
Father except through me." (John 14:6) It is about authority and
obedience far more than about individuality and equality. Thus
Christianity is embraced by most adherents as "the highest revelation
of God." In the words of The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist
Church: "We believe the Christian Church is the community of all true
believers under the Lordship of Christ. . . . the redemptive fellowship
in which the Word of God is preached by men divinely called . . . {It}
exists for the . . . edification of believers and the redemption of the
world" [italics added]. ("Article V =AD The Church," pages 67, 68) Jesus'
death on the cross is also central to many Christians imperialistic
claim of possessing the global religious truth for all human beings. A
favorite authoritative verse is John 3: 16: "For God so loved the world
that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life." [italics added] As the passion of
the Christ-makers dictates: Jesus died on the cross "for the sins of
the whole world," and whoever believes in his sacrificial act of
atonement, as the only pure Son of God, will not perish but inherit
eternal life. Thus may an otherwise theologically damned hell-bent
humanity escape the eternal punishment of an otherwise loving god.
"The sins of the whole world?" It all started innocently enough, if one
believes in the literal truth of the Bible. "In the beginning God
created" Adam and Eve and a womb-like Garden of Eden for them.
Unfortunately, they committed the "first" or "original" sin: they
disobeyed their god by eating from "the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil;" and their "eyes [were] opened" and they became "wise . . .
like God, knowing good and evil," which evidently was taboo. So an
obedience-demanding, apparently jealous god banished them from the
Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3) Thus much of hierarchical and
"bibliarchical" Christianity would have us believe that Adam and Eve
actually existed, or represent mythical truth, and that their
disobedience marks or symbolizes "the fall" of the human race: i.e. all
human beings thereafter inherited Adam and Eve's disobedient, sinful
nature. The only saving grace for all people is prayed often in many
Christian churches: "Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of they
tender mercy didst give thine only Son
Jesus Christ to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, who made
there, by the offering of himself, a full, perfect, and sufficient
sacrifice for the sins of the whole world." [italics added] ("The Great
Thanksgiving," Holy Communion ritual, The United Methodist Hymnal,
1989, p.28)
"Original sin" of a real or mythical Adam and Eve? Or taking a bite to
see the light, and cutting the "umbiblical" cord of patriarchy and
moral obliviousness? Disobedience? Or individuation? Religion as power
over people? Or as empowerment of people? Mindless? Or mindful of right
and wrong?
On any given Sunday in almost any given Christian church one may hear
professions of an ingrained imperialistic faith. It may be heard in a
call to worship: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. . . . The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world. . . . And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth. . . . No one has
ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has
made him known [italics added] (John 1).
On any given Sunday, faith-based imperialism may take wings in an
opening hymn: "From all that dwell below the skies, let the Creator's
praise arise; let the Redeemer's name be sung, through every land by
every tongue." (Words: Isaac Watts; Music: John Hatton, The United
Methodist Hymnal, p. 101)
A similar affirmation of an imperialistic faith, often said in unison
in Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, is the Apostles' Creed:
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I
believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our lord, who was conceived by the
Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried; . . . rose again; he ascended into
heaven, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and
he will come to judge the living and the dead" [italics added].
("Apostles' Creed," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Faith-based imperialism may be reflected in the Scripture lesson read
at a given Sunday service: "Therefore God has exalted him and bestowed
on him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father." [italics added] (Philippians 2:9-11) Then may follow "the Word
of God . . . preached by men divinely called" to lead "the community of
all true believers." Here again the emphasis is far more on believing
than on being. Far more on submission and domination than on liberation
and equality.
Faith-based imperialism is oblivious to its own self-contradictions. On
any given Sunday one may hear the following prayer "For Peace":
"Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword
of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So
mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered
under the banner of the Prince of Peace [italics added] as children of
one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and forever, Amen. (The
Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 p. 815) Here is
unawareness of the "banners" under which people of other faiths may
"glory."
At any given Sunday service, the closing hymn may sound an
imperialistic note: "We've a story to tell to the nations, that shall
turn their hearts to the right, a story of truth and mercy, a story of
peace and light . . . For the darkness shall turn to the dawning, and
the dawning to noon-day bright; and Christ's great kingdom shall come
on earth, the kingdom of love and light." (Words and Music by Ernest
Nichol, 1896, The United Methodist Hymnal, p. 569) And following the
hymn, this benediction may be said: "Now to him who is able to keep you
from falling and present you without blemish before the presence of his
glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ
our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time
now and forever. Amen" [italics added] (Jude 1: 24, 25)
Faith-based imperialism is especially seen in claims regarding which
Christians represent "the one true church." Catholicism teaches it
alone possesses "the keys to the Kingdom," since disciple Simon Peter,
who became the first apostle, is recorded as recognizing Jesus' unique
divinity: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," and Jesus
rewarded him with, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And
I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and
the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven . . ." [italics added] (Matthew 16: 16-19)
Citing the above Scripture as its authority, the Catechism of the
Catholic Church stakes Catholicism's claim as the one true church:
"This is the sole [italics added] Church of Christ, which in the Creed
we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic." (811, p. 232). The
Catechism continues, "The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our
Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care,
commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it. . . .
This Church . . . subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by
the successor of Peter and by the bishops in commune with him." (816,
p. 234) The Catechism then reinforces its imperialistic authority: "The
Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism explains: 'For it is
through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help
toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be
obtained.'" [italics added] (Ibid) The Catholic Church's bottom line:
"God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of
the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him,
the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to
evangelize all men." (848, p.244) Faith-based imperialism, in Germany,
in other European countries, and in America, made it easier for
Hitler's fascist Nazi ideology to murder some six million Jews in the
1930's and 1940's.
If Catholics find their imperialistic authority in their Church,
evangelical and other Christians find it in their Bible. Many
evangelical Christian websites declare that salvation is not through
any "church but through Jesus Christ alone." Christian Resources Net,
for example, states Catholicism's position: "The Second Vatican Council
Decree on Ecumenism explains: 'For it is ...
read more =BB
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