Religion and Politics=Control

Religion and politics are a powerful, sometimes poisonous combination: rulers as different as G W Bush and Emperor Constantine have used religion to gain and maintain control, and to justify their rule. Constantine announced his conquest in the sign of the cross (in hoc signo vinces), so, therefore he had to take control of the nascent Christian church. That's what the Council of Nicaea was about: regularizing Christianity in a form that would be compatible with Imperial government, so that it could seamlessly take over the civic religion of Empire. The Emperor was no longer a god, but he was God's Viceroy on Earth.

In the US we have no government established religion, although those who proclaim that this is "a Christian Nation," apparently wish we did. The radical conservative religionists (not just Christian, Jewish, as well), have cleverly combined religion and politics, by allying with conservatives inside and outside the Republican Party.

It wasn't always this way; until the 1980's most conservative, and/or fundamentalist Christian leaders were determinedly anti-political. Now, they are the foot soldiers of Bush's Republican Party. In the three elections before 2006, "moral issues" like gay marriage, "gay life-style" and abortion were important tools in mobilizing conservative voters and getting them to the polls; that was why there were so many ballot initiatives on gay marriage, or on so-called "gay life-style" issues like repeal of laws barring discrimination against homosexuals. Those initiatives drove millions to the polls, and Karl Rove and other Republican strategists were quite aware that most of those voters were theirs.

The Roman Empire was there before us, and for much the same reasons: combining religion and politics makes control that much easier. In the case of Rome, the Catholic Church became the only legal religion by the end of the fourth century, and the church hierarchy paralleled the government bureaucracy (even in its names, like diocese and vicar). It carried out government functions: keeping the masses quiescent, teaching them to obey the powerful. By the end of the fifth century, the church had replaced the imperial government, since Rome had fallen. Bishops were instrumental in the struggle against the Goths, for example, and it's likely that the Goths were replaced in Gaul by the less-civilized Franks because the Franks were Catholic, the Goths were not; they were Arians. That's religion and politics with a vengeance!

Just as fundamentalists now castigate our loose morals, and demand morals reform--including restrictions on TV, and "intelligent design" in the schools--in the fifth century priests railed against the games and theater as moral outrages, and demanded that the immoral Greek and Roman classics be replaced by the Bible and by church teachings. Ancient temples and libraries were destroyed. Now, school boards just ban books, but it's still religion and politics. For more on religion and politics click here

In the fifth century, the laws concerning women became even more draconian: a woman could be executed for not resisting a seducer, whereas before Constantine only the seducer would be punished. The tightening of our abortion laws provides a parallel. In some states now it is a felony to aid a minor young woman across state lines to get an abortion, and she may be required to get both parents' consent, even if her father is the rapist. And in some states, abortion is now no longer legal at all--unless the US Supreme Court rules their laws unconstitutional.

Why has this happened? Religion and politics are being used, mostly by Republicans, to divert attention from issues like war and class exploitation. It's all right to break unions, export jobs to Asia, send young men (and women) off to die in Iraq and Afghanistan so that firms like Bechtel and Halliburton can earn huge profits--and even steal billions from the government--and it's all right to cut funds to education, job training, environmental protection, health care--as long as those queers aren't allowed to marry. After all, the Bible says….

In other words, the combination of religion and politics has been used to persuade voters that the only issues that matter are not the ones that concern them personally, such as losing a job, or having no union to advocate for higher wages, or sending sons and daughters off to war. The only issues they are taught to think about, if they are members of evangelical or fundamentalist churches, are the "moral" ones. Besides, obedience to authority appears to be a central tenet of these churches, which may be why they are so well-funded by prosperous parishioners.

It's paradoxical to think of the politics of the Sermon on the Mount and to compare that with the so-called "Christian" agenda! The Sermon was radical; it was religion and politics all right, but what Jesus advocated was very different from the politics of the Christian right.