The New Inquisition

(Posted 10-20-2009)

I will discuss the most infamous Inquisition because it is one of the darkest parts of Christian history, and I will compare it to what I would call the "New Inquisition" because in some very significant ways history is repeating itself.

Of course, today the theocratic imposition and bigotry of intolerant "religious" extremists is a big problem in many countries. But, I will focus especially on those in America who boast that they are Christians because they too are hypocrites, judging, hating and condemning certain other people as "godless." After all, in doing that, they not only ignore the core universal teachings of Jesus, but they ignore the American principle of religious freedom!

Of course, religious bigotry is rampant in many places in the world now, but it’s particularly troubling and ironic in America because the founding fathers established the principle of religious freedom specifically to prevent religious bigots from creating a theocracy. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, that principle was to guarantee that the U.S. Congress "should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."

Jefferson spoke for the other wise founding fathers when he wrote that, and their intent was to prevent religious bigotry from ever again resulting in theocratic oppression, persecution, cruelty and even torture and executions, as were perpetrated by "Christian" bigots from the fourth century through the seventeenth century. But, unfortunately, some religious bigots just didn’t get it then, and some still don’t get it.

During the last thirty years in America we have seen the gradual but steadily increasing efforts of right-wing partisan zealots who feign Christian religiosity to try to gain theocratic political power and control of America, and thereby even of the whole world. And in their quest for power they have maligned, slandered and falsely accused many good people who hold different views on religion and politics.

I say that not to demonize misguided, bigoted Christians, because I understand that most of them think they are doing the "right thing." My mission is to correct them, because the Spirit of truth comes not to condemn, but to educate; not to punish, but to correct; and not to destroy, but to save. Therefore, my task is to try to educate, correct and save them from charging even further down the road that can seem right to men, but leads to destruction. After all, that’s where they’ve been charging for the last thirty years.

On other pages I have discussed how successful they have been, politically. During the last three decades they have been able to control many governing bodies, from local school boards to state legislatures to the federal government. On the page titled A New Declaration of Independence, I also mentioned how they have had a lot of success in their efforts to take over the U.S. Military, and how they even made being a Christian a litmus test for being a presidential candidate during the 2008 presidential campaigns, even though that is absolutely contrary to the intent of the founding fathers. (See the page on Little Known American History.)

However, on this page I want to focus on the impact of their partisan ideological war against those who have stood and still stand in their way, because they have resorted to waging a concerted but misguided campaign of slander and deception that in certain ways amounts to a New Inquisition. And I’ll explain what I mean by that.

First, let’s look back in history, because the seeds of the first "Christian Inquisition" were sown back in the fourth century when the Roman Emperor Constantine "converted" to Christianity and adopted it as the official religion of his military empire. That original Roman Catholic Church labeled many things as "pagan" or "heretical," or worse, and it began a long series of campaigns of oppression and persecution of everyone who did not swear obedience to the church's authority, and that eventually expanded into military crusades to conquer and rule by force of arms.

As you may know, Constantine’s original Roman Catholic Church was not like today’s Catholic Church. Back then it was a tyrannical theocracy, based on a man-made doctrine of preeminence and superiority summarized in the Nicene Creed and established as canon law. And it went so far as to banish and condemn Greek art and mythology, as well as all other religions and spiritual teachings.

On the pages titled Christians Divided, The Virgin Birth Story, The Martyrdom of Jesus, The Second Coming Myth and others, I have explained why that doctrine is erroneous, not compatible with Judaic (Old Testament) scriptures, and not compatible with the actual teachings of the Christ Jesus. But here I’ll discuss the history and impact of that doctrine.

That official church doctrine, creed and canon law, institutionalized in the fourth century, established the "Divine Right" of imperial Popes, and eventually of all the imperial "Christian Kings" of Europe. But, for about eight hundred years the Catholic Popes ruled with absolute theocratic power. Consequently, its impact plunged Europe into what’s called the "Dark Ages," and it led to the bloody military Crusades to invade and occupy Jerusalem and Palestine with "Christian" forces (see the page on The Crusades for Jerusalem). It also led to a long series of very oppressive but official church actions against all people judged and labeled as "heretics" who would not be indoctrinated and obedient to church authority.

One atrocious example of that was after the Council of Laodicea, when "Christian" Emperor Theodocius decreed that all "pagan" temples were to be destroyed, and that possession of any literature that was not "approved by the Church" was a criminal offense. Consequently, book burning started, and in 391 A.D. at the Great Library of Alexandria about 400,000 scrolls went up in flames (which is why the Judeo-Christian Essenes hid their scrolls in large jars in caves near the Dead Sea.)

All that oppression and persecution was generally known as "The Inquisition," even though it happened in different stages and in different countries. And, even though most Christians believe it was stopped with the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation between the 1300s and the mid-1600s, that is not true. It was not stopped.

Granted, during that period many Christian groups did bring about needed reforms, including many Protestant groups and most Catholics. Also, most Christians were good then, just as most are now. But, some "Christian" individuals and groups were still theocratic and power-hungry, and their controlling efforts continued, sporadically. In fact, a notorious example of that was blatantly demonstrated in America in "New England" during the notorious "Salem Witch-Hunts" in the late 1600s by Protestant Christians in what is now the state of Massachusetts.

That's why Benjamin Franklin, a Deist and Freemason, stated in an essay on "Toleration": "If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Roman church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. [The Puritans] found it wrong in the Bishops [of the Church of England], but fell into the same practice themselves in New England [in America]."

That is quite true, because that is what happens when you have an authoritarian theocracy based on a misguided and distorted idea of "religion." Persecution is usually perpetrated by spiritually blind men who think they are "holy" and "godly" and deserve to rule, and they deal harshly and sometimes violently and lethally with anyone who stands in their way. At the very least, they slander and condemn those who criticize them or refute their claims to "divine" authority.

In fact, in the late 1700s, misguided, theocratic "Christians" even slandered the founding fathers of the United States of America. Why? Because most of the founding fathers were Deists and many were Freemasons, like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. They wanted to establish freedom of religion, and freedom from religious bigotry and theocratic imposition. But misguided, right-wing theocratic Christians didn’t like that. In fact, they fought against it.

That is why Thomas Jefferson wrote: "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man."

More to the point, Jefferson also wrote: "The returning good sense of our country threatens the clergy and they believe that any portion of power confided to me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me, and enough too in their opinion, and this is the cause of their printing lying pamphlets against me. . ."

Even more important, Jefferson also said: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."

James Madison wrote: "What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not." And Madison also wrote: "Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by [Christian] Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history."

Most of the founding fathers, and later even Abraham Lincoln along with many other reasonable, fair people, felt the same way, as I’ve pointed out on the page on Little Known American History. But, unfortunately, with respect to the need for religious pluralism and equality, the founding fathers’ influence did not last for long. Aggressive, theocratic, right-wing conservative, authoritarian Christians gradually negated that pluralistic influence, and there have been times when they have been politically aggressive.

A very notable time was in the mid-1930s, when misguided, power-hungry, right-wing Christians also asserted themselves in America. They fought against the success of the good liberal progressives like Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joe Hill, Paul Robeson, Josh White, Dorothea Lange and growing numbers of others. Thus there was a revival of right-wing political activism driven by conservative, dogmatic Christian sects that wanted political power.

At the same time in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler was rising to power in Germany. He too claimed he was a Christian, in speeches and in his book Mein Kampf. And he eventually got his Nazi thugs to persecute and even imprison and murder Jews, Freemasons, Gypsies, Homosexuals and many other groups who were judged "inferior" or "ungodly."

In American the right-wing Christians were driven by the desire to establish more firm "Christian" control in the United States, and they founded a so-called "Legion of Decency" designed to do that. It consisted of right-wing conservative denominations, sects and factions much like those that today make up the "Christian Right" and what they call a "Moral Majority" or "Christian Coalition." They think they are the true Christians, but they ironically act in opposition to true Christians. After all, as I’ve explained on the pages on Christians Divided, Sheep vs Goats, and True Spiritual Values, true Christians do not judge their fellow human beings harshly, nor do they condemn people or "cast stones." True Christians actually try to love even their enemy, and they care for and/or advocate for the vast majority of our brethren, especially the poor and the least of our brethren.

Anyway, the point of this article is that the New Inquisition began in the 1970s with the rise of the modern "Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian Right," because many of its leaders have made many misleading and even false, slanderous claims about many different people and groups that they judge and hate. They have slandered and attacked "Secular Humanists," the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, Liberals, Progressives, Freemasons, Homosexuals, Anti-War Demonstrators, Democrats, Peace Advocates, and all other Christian denominations or sects that do not accept their radical right-wing political notion of "evangelical obligation," or "religious mandate," or "divine right."

I must be frank and point out that the hate speech of the American Christian Right has led to some horrible events. One of the biggest ones was the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, but there have been many other bombings of medical clinics, and many killings of people the Christian Right judges as "godless" or "evil" or "ruled by Satan." In spewing such false accusations, they not only cast aspersions, they cast stones. They totally ignore the words of Jesus advising them to judge not, lest they be judged; to resist not evil but love good (if they are tempted to judge), and love even those they judge as their enemy.

Granted, as the leaders of the Christian Right would say, it was not them but madmen who committed the crimes and murders. But they do not understand that it has been their hate speech that influenced the madmen (just as it has been the hate speech of "Muslim Jihadists" and "Jewish Zionists" that has caused misguided Muslims and Jews to commit murders and atrocities in the name of religion).

You see, even though the leaders of the Christian Right can no longer prosecute or try "heretics" or imprison them or burn them at the stake, they still slander and condemn them. They have put forth many ridiculous and outrageous conspiracy theories, which I have debunked on the pages on The Fall of Babylon and The Antichrist. And I do so because they wage their New Inquisition in speeches, on "conservative" talk shows, on "evangelical" television shows, and on Internet sites, spreading lies, spewing hate, and poisoning the minds of their misguided blind flocks and leading them to think they are superior and "holier than thou."

So, do not be fooled. These hypocrites are much like the hypocritical, misguided, proud, militant Jewish Zionists and Muslim Jihadist extremists who think the same thing! They ALL think they are waging "holy war," and they all think they should rule in the name of their religion. But they are wrong.

The truth is that the humble, gentle, peaceful and "meek" majority of people in the world shall inherit this earth, and that will be just as soon as all the proud, misguided, aggressive, militant groups stop fighting for power over each other in the name of "religious mandate" or "divine right."

God loves us all, and wants us to love one another, cooperate and collaborate with one another to make this world a better place. Let's make it so.