2010
It’s interesting that when a Church is so much as scratched anywhere in the world, it becomes front page news and we all hear about how Christians are being persecuted – again.
It’s an old story – the persecuted religion gambit – persecuted because Jesus said they would be. If he said so, it must be true: therefore Christianity is a persecuted religion. It doesn’t matter that for the past sixteen centuries Christianity has been the persecutor, ruthlessly destroying every alternative to itself.
It is a matter of some wonder that a religion that has been the majority religion in the West could be persecuted, but we’re supposed to believe it’s true.
Of course, as facts demonstrate, it is not.
And it has never really been.
The early Christians were not persecuted either, until the reign of Diocletian at the end of the third century (and we don’t know anything about this incident save for biased Christian accounts). There is no record of it happening before this. The supposed laws making Christianity religio illicita don’t exist. It is a source of some embarrassment to apologists.
There is written evidence by a well-known Christian of the mid-third century that no persecutions had taken place (Origen). The martyr stories are largely mythical. Most of those who were “martyred” were over-zealous Christians, criminals, people who violated existing local and criminal law.
These people would disrupt Pagan religious rites, often by hissing. They would vandalize sacred sites – temples, statues, etc. They would behave in such a manner that they would arouse the ire of the Pagan crowd or the authorities. When they were punished for their crimes ( which they apparently desired to be) they would cry that they were being martyred.
Zealous Christians are still desecrating Pagan holy sites. They desecrate ancient sites and they desecrate more recent sites.
Like the Air Force Academy’s sacred space set aside for those following nature-based religions. And nobody noticed. Why? Because the Air Force didn’t tell anybody.
Zealous Christians had violated the site by placing a large wooden cross there. Imagine the hue and cry if a Pagan placed a Pentacle on the altar of a church.
The Los Angeles Times reports: “We’ve been making great progress at the Air Force Academy. This is clearly a setback,” said Mikey Weinstein, a 1977 graduate of the academy. He is founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and has often tangled with the academy over such issues.
Although he credits the academy’s superintendent, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, with an improved climate of religious tolerance, Weinstein criticized other academy officials as trivializing the incident, which he said was not revealed to cadets.
Rhetorically addressing academy officials, Weinstein said Tuesday, “It’s been two weeks — were you going to get around to telling them about this horrible thing that happened, and why haven’t you?”
Academy spokesman John Van Winkle said officials reported the situation to those on base and issued a message reiterating the school’s policy of religious tolerance and respect.
In a statement, Gould said, “We absolutely will not stand for this type of destructive behavior. I consider this no different than someone writing graffiti on the Cadet Chapel.”
“The dean of faculty, Brig. Gen. Dana Born, discussed the incident at a Jan. 27 staff meeting…The reaction would have been stronger, Weinstein said, if another worship center had been involved. Had a swastika been placed in the Jewish center, ‘heads would be rolling,’ he said.”
Just as obviously, the culprit’s arrest in such a scenario would elicit joy from all; the arrest of the culprit in this case would elicit cries of martyrdom. The defense would no doubt rest on “religious freedom.”
Far fetched? Hardly. Read this piece: Christians claim hate crimes law an effort to ‘eradicate’ their beliefs
There is, after all, no crime for those who have Christ. Including hate crimes.
Reflect on that for awhile.
Further Reading: On this act being a hate crime, see Cross left Air Force Academy pagan worship site called ‘hate crime’
Hi Hrafnkell.
Indeed, for Christians any differing opinion or disagreement with them is automatically considered persecution. And you’re right, if the reverse desecration happened to a Church, it would be all over the news.
I recently joined this Catholic forum (a sheep among the wolves, hehehe: http://catholicforum.fisheaters.com/), hoping to politely drop some bombs of historical truth here and there, and one of the posts I read, talking about a recent movie about Hypatia, said that to make a movie about her is somehow anti-Christian, and would portray her as a Pagan martyr (which she truly is), as though this were somehow evil.
I also posted some vile and sexist quotes by the Church fathers against women, hoping the apologists there would explain to me why a woman, according to Tertullian, is “a temple built over a sewer”, and the first reply I got was pretty much in agreement with those quotes:
“the western views on gender equality are clearly not christian in any way. They’re perverse and promote a gender war that is detrimental to rightful social order, sane families and healthy societies.Although these quotes you’ve shown may have been distorted, I pretty much agree with the message that they’re trying to convey, even if I wouldn’t use the exact same words.”
So there you go. It’s like talking to a wall with these people.
Best regards.
Metatron
What I love is how Christians are also complaining that the stone circle is budgetary waste that could go to weapons or something. Through this action, the culprit(s) is/are increasing the amount of money the military administration has to spend on tasks related to the stone circle (i.e., public announcements, investigations …).
Seriously, if you’re going to Witness properly, wouldn’t you have left a tin of cross-shaped chocolate chip cookies instead? Mmmm atheist cookies …
I belong to a Catholic forum as well and I’ve drawn pretty much the same conclusions as a result. They trumpet the Pope’s point of view that the Truth trumps tolerance. There is a great deal of anti-Protestant propaganda (I think both Evangelicals and Catholics fail to realize the Reformation and Counter-Reformation ended centuries ago), and blatantly advertise bigotry and intolerance. I was hoping for an opportunity (like you) to throw some facts into the works but it appears to be a lost cause.
Keyleigh, I agree, that’s pretty humorous, particularly since they have no problem with money being spent on chapels and churches and so forth. What they consistently fail to understand is that the government (and by extension the military) cannot favor one religion. Provide worship space to one, provide worship space for all. And as you say, now they’ve just ensured that more money gets diverted towards the circle they detest.
A tin of cross-shaped chocolate chip cookies lol
Upon reading about this, my first thought was “free firewood.” I understand, however, that the cross was made out of old railroad ties, which would have been saturated with creosote. Too bad. It otherwise would have made excellent fuel for the bonfire at Alban Eilir. Perhaps it could be cut up and carved into Mjollnir pendants, which could be sealed with an impermeable coating and distributed to the Heathen cadets.
And, completely o/t, a quotation from John Berger:
“I knew I’d been living in Berkeley too long when I saw a sign that said ‘Free firewood” and my first thought was “Who was Firewood and what did he do?””
Makarios, thanks for the laugh! Love the John Berger quote. And can you imagine the hue and cry if the Pagans had just burnt the damn thing? We’d never have heard about it’s use to desecrate the Pagan holy site, just that nasty old Pagans had burned it and were persecuting innocent Christians.
Hi Hrafnkell.
This quote by Michael Gaddis, in “There is no crime for those who have Christ” explains the persecution complex that Christians have, and that they had since the beginning. It falls under the heading of “repressive tolerance”, meaning that co-existing with others is itself a form of persecution:
“Even under the Christian empire, some claimed to suffer
it simply because they were forced to tolerate the continued existence of pagans and heretics. This “repressive tolerance,” as Herbert Marcuse might have characterized it, seemed to some as little more than a subtler form of persecution—for certainly it was not right, they thought, that truth be forced to live on equal terms with falsehood.” (Gaddis, pg. 6)
There is is, explained by scholarship.
Best regards,
Metatron
Exactly, Metatron. It is good to meet another fan of Gaddis’ book. I have it on my shelf with a few other select titles right next to my desk. The rest of my library is in another room but some books I consult more often than others. AD 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State by Charles Freeman is right next to it.
Hmmm…never read that last one, but it looks good. I’ve been reading Macmullen’s book on Church councils – I knew organized Christianity was bad, but that took it to a whole new level – pure savagery. Bishops and other Christians cursing, beating, and massacring each other at Councils I once thought had been civilized debates. Here’s a nice taste:
“Chrysostom recommends, no doubt to applause, that his listeners should not hesitate to give a good punch in the face to misbelievers. Equally bellicose words are heard from other bishops in eastern and western pulpits. They occasionally join as combatants in the riots they have aroused or which they have certainly directed and sustained. Their clergy have been seen, above, beating and stabbing each other in the cause of Bassianus at Antioch.” (Voting about God in early church councils, 63)
But hey, Christians aren’t all bad. I just had a chat with this conservative on a Catholic forum, and laid out some good historical facts for him to ponder. We had a good, civilized chat. He recognized the destruction caused by Christianity as truly bad and misguided, and though he thinks that Christianity is the only way, he’s quite willing to listen to other views. I laid out my reasons for my beliefs, and he did the same. It turned out to be quite an interesting experience. If only all conservatives were like that…
Ah, almost forgot. This was news a couple of years ago – don’t know if you’ve seen it, but it’s a shattering discovery:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7495006.stm
The resurrection story of Jesus (risen after 3 days), could based on a pre-Christian Jewish story found on this ancient tablet from near the Dead Sea
Metatron, we seem to have the same taste in books. I have MacMullen’s book on church councils as well. Very illuminating reading. It’s a shame more Christians aren’t aware that their doctrines were not in the New Testament but were voted on centuries later by Church Councils and fallible priests who had vested interests at stake.
And yes, there are plenty of reasonable Christians out there, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses I wrote about recently, and my family back in Minnesota, and others. Unfortunately, the moderates are not the ones with the pull right now. I’d like to see more moderate Christians speak out against the dominionists and the Religious Right.
Thanks for the link. And unless I misremember, Mithras rose again too and was born in a cave, etc. Christians always say the Mithraists stole their doctrines and liturgy but I think given Paul’s birth in Tarsus, a huge Mithraic center, that we know it’s the other way around.
There’s actually a solid theory that Paul was actually a Gnostic, and it just so happens that the New Testament Epistles that are considered unauthentic by scholars have anti-Gnostic references in them (Timothym, Titus, Ephesians: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_epistles#Authenticity_of_the_epistles)
So, essentially, the fundamentalism arm of the early Church was creating pious forgeries to justify its doctrines, marginalizing the richer, mystical and gnostic traditions, and permanently corrupting Christianity as a whole. It’s especially disturbing when you compare that to an earlier time, before the end of the 2nd century, when Christians were indeed more tolerant and open, and some worshipped Pagan Gods alongside Christ. Have a look at page 143 here:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=Cmey73GtfuUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=coptic+christianity&cd=1#v=snippet&q=servianus&f=false
There are a lot of problems with Paul, ingenious solutions of various apologists notwithstanding. Too numerous to mention in a little comment box like this!
Insisting all entire Pauline corpus is genuine is as absurd as insisting all the Gospels are true. Factually, historically, it just doesn’t work. The one thing I am convinced of personally is that Paul was not a Jew; if there was anything Jewish about him at all (and he clearly had some knowledge of Judaism) he was what they called a “God-Fearer.” It is my sense that he combined his sketchy knowledge of Judaism with his knowledge of “mystery religions” and magic and gave us Christianity.
But scholars who know far more than I do argue about all that.
You mention the problem with some of the non-genuine epistles. There are also problems with some of those that are seen by most to be genuine. 2 Corinthians is an example.
Hans Dieter Betz discusses the strange interlude in 2 Cor 6:14-7. Betz shows that these passages cannot be Pauline in origin and points to parallels in the Essene Qumran literature found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
He notes that “because of these parallels and the frequency of non-Pauline concepts found in the passage, some scholars have suggested that it must be regarded as a non-Pauline interpolation.”
Scholars who have come to this finding include such notable names as Bultmann, Bornkamm and Koester. Betz suggests that these passages represent the views of Jewish Christian critics of Paul’s missionary activities.
Hans Dieter Betz, “2 Cor 6:14-7:1: An Anti-Pauline Fragment?”JBL 92, (1973), pp. 88-108.
As you say, there were once more tolerant Christians – though the intolerant ones like Tertullian were there as well – but all that came to an end with the “orthodox” victory. By the way, I assume you’ve read Bart Ehrman’s “Lost Christianities”? You’re obviously well familiar with the era and its developments.
Oh, and thanks for the link!
No, I never read that, but I’ve studied Gnosticism quite a bit on my own (Nag Hammadi library), including in its historical context. I think it’s a wonderful tradition that can, at length, reconcile Paganism and Christianity.
As a historical period, I especially love the 1st to 4th centuries. In that period, right before dogmatic Christianity wrecked everything, I think humanity reached its highest point in terms of spiritual traditions: dozens of Pagan and initiatory cults, Hermetic groups, Jewish mystics, Christian and Gnostic sects, Theurgists, etc… – this was an amazing pluralism that we’ve only been recovering in the last few decades, thanks to immigration, social openness, etc. I feel quite nostalgic for that period, especially considering that the Church was able to destroy all that in just a few centuries. It’s quite sad and ominous I think – we shouldn’t take our freedoms for granted.
Ehrman’s book is a good read. I remember how profoundly sad it made me at the time, thinking of all those traditions snuffed out (like our own). His accompanying volume, Lost Scriptures, which contains the passages he discusses in the other book, is helpful but not necessary.
I also have the Nag Hammadi library and I can see the attraction Gnosticism must have had for people. I don’t particularly mind a Gnostic thinking I’m not one of the special wise ones because they at least weren’t running around killing people who disagreed with them. As you say, I think Gnosticism could be a bridge.
It’s not Christianity per se, but Orthodox Christianity that is the problem. The rest of us can co-exist.
And I agree with you entirely about the first century until the fourth – an age of faith – Pagan faith. When Christians say Paganism was already dead and moribund, all the evidence shows that Paganism had reached its highest flowering.