Some arrived by sea, some by land. Wherever they arrived, they established footholds among the local population. They settled in. They built networks.
As time passed, they began to impose the values and standards of their culture on the existing population. Eventually, they became the dominant group. Their values, their standards, became the law of the land.
Like a giant vacuum cleaner, they sucked up other religions, other faiths, and other cultures, and homogenized them in their own image.
You thought I was describing the European settlement of the Americas, didn’t you?
Nope. I was talking about the colonization of the Mediterranean basin by the followers of Jesus.
And let’s not kid ourselves, it was colonizing.
The Jews had already started the process. Wherever Jews had emigrated, they established synagogues. Every major city of the Roman empire had at least a small colony of Jews.
The new followers of Jesus -- they weren’t called “Christian” until about 30 years after Jesus’ death -- capitalized on that initiative.
Remember that Jesus did not set out to create a new religion. He wanted to revitalize Judaism. So his followers started by visiting the synagogues that already existed.
They established colonies, just as white settlers did in Plymouth Rock or Jamestown, in Quebec City or Winnipeg.
The use of force
The primary difference between the Christian colonizers of the Mediterranean and the Christian colonizers of North America is that the early Christians didn’t use force to subdue the existing inhabitants. At least, not until Emperor Constantine co-opted Christianity as the official religion of Rome.
From that time on, force was acceptable, both as a means of spreading the faith and of controlling it. Think of the Crusades, the Inquisition, Protestant vs Catholic civil war in England, the Indian wars in the American west, the residential schools in Canada….
Islam did much the same as it flooded across North Africa.
And although recent fads have romanticized North America’s Indigenous peoples and their belief in the Great Mystery, they had their own histories of conquest, torture, and slavery.
It seems to me that only Baha’i and Buddhism have not spread their faith by brute force. If I’m wrong about those two religions, I’m sure I will be corrected.
But just because force has so often been used doesn’t make it right.
Infiltrate and subvert
If I were writing a history of religions, its recurring theme might be the way that evil can subvert good intentions. Every religion starts with lofty ideals of promoting peace and love, compassion and caring, empathy and neighbourliness.
And then, gradually, an evil spirit infiltrates the institution. Its leaders become addicted to power. To controlling people’s actions. And even controlling their thoughts. The rule becomes, conform or else.
When reformers arise who attempt to reclaim those original virtues, the powers-that-be within the institution crush them. They beheaded John the Baptist. Crucified Jesus. Burned William Tyndale at the stake. Silenced Galileo. Exiled de Chardin. Shot Gandhi.
Maybe Zorastrianism, one of the world’s oldest religions, had an insight. It preached two gods, two forces, locked in immortal combat. Maybe, in Zoroastrian terms, the good god Ahura Mazda inspires new ways of living; the evil god Ahriman continually subverts them.
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Copyright © 2018 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
In last week’s column, I wrote, "I have been in many situations where people prayed. I have never felt an intensity to match that piano recital. It was like a living thing."
I received half a dozen comments about that column, mostly congratulatory. But I’m going to turn this feedback space over to one letter, from Laurna Tallman.
Laurna wrote, “I spent all of the years until I was 26 in churches where people prayed with only few signs of success until I encountered that intensity you describe every time a group of charismatic Christians prayed. That all-out, other-focused intensity of good intentions connected with Something (we called it the Holy Spirit) always showed up, even when only two or three of us were gathered together. We became confident in that Force appearing and bringing ‘signs and wonders.’
“We were people who had become able to focus our attention on a mutual goal: communion with God to meet our needs (all of them quite practical) and to help others. We had been forgiven, healed, rescued from situations of abuse or neglect of many kinds, raised from comfortable situations to new dimensions of hope and purpose, filled with praise, blessed with new visions, prophecy, healing, teaching, guidance, and the repurposing of our lives.
“That intensity of loving purpose you describe became the default setting of our hearts and minds. Among the group I knew best and stayed in touch with, remarkable stories of service and accomplishment became the norm.
“Prayer changes situations. Even seemingly absurd scientific experiments with plants have proven it. Rational Christians abiding by strict standards of self-examination have been testing that premise for 2000 years and thereby (mostly) turning back the darkness. How many people prayed for glasnost? How many people prayed for the tearing down of the Berlin Wall? A huge literature on the subject of prayer is available for analysis. Vast numbers of people are solving problems that way, while acting as kindly and diligently as the piano teacher you portray.”
Laurna then went on to discuss her own work with people who have hearing and listening problems, by stimulating their brain function through auditory therapy. If you want to learn more about that, write Laurna directly at rtallman@xplornet.ca
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PSALM PARAPHRASES
Philosopher Blaise Pascal once argued that if in your life you gamble there is no God, and there is, you will have lost everything. If you gamble there is a God, and there isn't, you will have lost nothing. If you gamble there is a God, and there is, you will win everything.
I’ve used this paraphrase several times. Each version is slightly modified from previous versions, as my own understanding evolves.
1 Only fools say, "There is no God."
They delude themselves.
Their actions reveal their foolishness;
whatever they do ends up harming people.
2 For there is a God,
who exists in our relationships with each other.
This God grows in those
who seek justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with each other.
3 But those who turn their backs on God will lose their way;
they will stumble in the darkness cast by their own shadows.
4 Can't they see what fools they're making of themselves?
They crunch people's dreams like popcorn;
they grow fat on others' famine.
They deny the reality of a holy presence.
5 When they discover their error, they will subside
into putrid puddles of sweat,
For they have challenged the basis of being;
they cannot win.
6 But we who have nothing must rely on the God-presence among us.
7 Holy Wholeness, save us from those who prey upon us.
Topple the proud from their pedestals,
and restore all living things in a universal Jubilee.
Then all creation will rejoice.
For paraphrases of mostof the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalmsfrom Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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And for those of you who like poetry, I’ve started a webpage http://quixotic.ca/My-Poetrywhere I post (occasionally, when I feel inspired) poems that I have written. If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca, or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blankemail(no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca(If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)
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PROMOTION STUFF
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have been blocking my posts because they’re suspicious of too many links.
Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,”an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom
Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony”-- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’sreaders. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet