[aka "The Pitfalls of Theocracy Building"]
Every so often, my blogs (especially this one) show some mysterious increased traffic from Russia. It happened again a few weeks ago, only my other blog showed more traffic that time. I'm never really sure why. I don't have advertisements or high-profile things on this blog.
Since it does happen, and mostly to this blog, I would like to hope that maybe some sincere Christians over there are looking for other spiritual expressions to support them. Maybe some people stumble on it, trying to find different voices from America than they expect.
But since it happens and this is a Christian blog, I'm going to address the problems with trying to create a state religion. In doing so, I want to absolutely reaffirm that I am a Christian who greatly values my citizenship in heaven. I take the Bible seriously and read it often... but I come out with some different societal expressions than some of the very vocal conservative Christians.
In Russian history, the last time Russian Orthodoxy was the required religion, it didn't go well for the Russian people. The Church, when used by the government, often became an instrument of repression itself. Plus it went along with cruelty to Russian Jews. That's not an appropriate way for Christians to conduct themselves in the world, even if we don't agree with others' beliefs. St. Paul said, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live in peace with all people." (Romans 12:18, ISV) We once again have issues over here with people saying they're Christian, but being ugly to Jews and others who aren't (and won't become) Christian.
In Russia, the Communists came along next and made a "religion" out of the State itself. It seems like atheism was the official religion.
Now Putin has come along and declared that he is Russian Orthodox. He gives all kinds of benefits and power to the Russian Orthodox Church. He sets laws that are basically promoted by the Church. And now Russia claims to be 71% Russian Orthodox. Yet only ~6% of Russians attend church on any given week. And a lot of the younger Russians have that same ironic, can't-take-it-quite-seriously attitude about Christianity that young Americans have.
Plus, there's Putin's own history. Although we cannot definitely judge what's in Putin's heart, I would be very skeptical about making him my personal Christian leader. Parallel to the self-proclaimed Christian leader we have here, Putin did not speak about being Christian until it was convenient for him. The Church over there embraced him when he said he would stand up for the Church, which sounds a lot like election cycles we get over here. Putin, like another leader we know, seems more about himself than the central Christian doctrine of repenting for your sins and asking Christ to forgive them. People who are all about themselves don't really want to say they're sorry for anything. They seem to think they're so elevated that they're practically on the same footing with God. They figure, from that elevated position, they don't have to be humble before God.
Then there's the unpleasant history of what has happened any time Christians have tried to grab for worldly power. We were never commanded to set up kingdoms or nations. In fact, Jesus told Peter: " 'Put up your sword. For all who take the sword will die by the sword. ' " (Matthew 26:52) The Christian Church was born under the hostile Roman Empire. The first Christians were persecuted (not that I want to return to that!!!) for over 300 years. Emperor Constantine became Christian and made Christianity legal. But he didn't make it the state religion. A few emperors later, Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. People flocked into the Christian Church, some undoubtedly for power or prominence. Then the Christians started persecuting others.
Nearly 1000 years before Rome fell to the Germans, Daniel had a dream about this in the late 600s or early 500s B.C. (Daniel chapter 2) There was a statue of four materials, and, counting the kingdoms, the feet of clay mixed with iron was the Romans. A big Rock (Christ/the Christian Church) rolled in and smashed the statue. But the German tribes began invading Rome AFTER Rome was declared "officially Christian." This was very demoralizing to Roman Christians.
The Middle Ages in Europe were marked with fighting between all sorts of supposedly Christian rulers. They would both claim "God" for their side. When the Protestant Reformation came, different types of Christians would persecute each other. The Roman Catholics were the harshest. They also used this as an excuse to start up the Inquisition in Spain. The official Catholic Church persecuted and killed non-Christians, Protestants, and anyone they were suspicious of.
Some people want to try to create a theocracy here in America. It's not a good idea here, either. Our country was not founded by all Christians, though most of them were. (Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Franklin were Deists; John Adams was a Unitarian who likely denied the Trinity and did write the Barbary pirates that the U.S. was not a Christian nation.) Since the 1980s, the Christian Right in America has tried to say America was and always shall be "a Christian nation." This is creating problems as young Americans turn their backs on Christianity. This type of "forced relgion" has been one of the biggest factors.
I'm not saying I want to return to the status of persecuted minority, as in early Rome. I'm very proud of being an American, and even happier that I'm a Christian, my eternal citizenship. But it's not good to mix the two. There are Christians all around the word that aren't Americans. There are Americans who aren't Christian.
I think we Christians in America would be better served to make a graceful exit from assuming we will be the dominant force. We should negotiate ourselves a new place where we can still ensure that we are allowed to define "sin" as the Bible defines "sin." We don't want to be forced to go along with popular whims on the definition of morality. We don't want to end up being accused of "hate crimes" because we do define certain things as sin. But, having defined morality, we need to go about our daily lives "living in peace, insofar as we are able." The Christian Church is still more mainstream than Deism or Unitarianism. It has outlasted the worship of the pagan Roman gods and the pagan Germanic gods of my ancestry. But its longevity is not due to political power grabs; those things only harm Christianity in the long run. It grows through the Holy Spirit working through God's Word. But sometimes the first glimpse non-Christians get of what's in the Bible comes from genuinely loving Christians.
Thank you for your interest in my postings. 😊❤
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