Church and State – Part 1

JOE MAYER

Dick and I met in college on the football practice field and on the bench. We became close friends and our junior year we roomed together as I joined him in the pre-seminary program. After graduation Dick joined the Maryknolls. After finishing his theology education and ordination Dick was sent to the Maryknoll missions in Central America to work among the indigenous poor. His letters were full of enthusiasm for his work and love of the people. I don't recall exactly, but I think Dick stayed in this work fifteen to twenty years. Eventually he left Latin America, the Maryknolls, and the priesthood. He was not alone.

Dick was a progressive. He pushed for human rights and economic opportunity. He pushed his church to live a Gospel of human earthly value not just a heavenly salvation. He asked his government to recognize human value in all its hues. It was a losing battle on both counts. The U.S. government policies in Latin America continued its exploitation of land and people by enforcing plutocratic dictatorships. The church continued its colonial affiliation with the wealthy. The missionaries in the trenches were continually rebuked by power – economic, social, military, and ecclesiastic.

Dick's experience aroused my curiosity. I began to read beyond the popular mass media, secular and religious. Penny Lernoux's "Cry of the People" (1977) told a story different from the "official" press. Penny, another Latin American missionary, confirmed Dick's experience.

"Hunger for Justice" (1980), "The Politics of Conversion" (1986), and "War Against the People: Low Intensity Conflict and Christian faith" (1989), all by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, a Lutheran presence in Central America, further confirmed this ongoing tragedy.

Latin American theologians developed a "new Liberation Theology," so "new" that it incorporated Jesus' love of the poor. Some hierarchical types, still married to wealth, attempted to sabotage this movement in every way possible.

History exposes the merger of Christianity and state in a love/hate relationship to the present day. Each separately is a source of great power. The combination has been deadly. As we confront a theocracy today in the Middle East we need to evaluate Western history and face up to the human ruination caused by similar theocratic domination – holy war, inquisition, racial and ethnic persecution, exploitation of women, slavery, hierarchical societal structures, wealth and power worship. Church and state need to be rescued for the salvation of each.

Until Constantine in the 4th century, there is no evidence that the followers of the new Christian faith participated in any violent social actions or war. Once marginalized by the state, Christianity has embraced many of the empire's dominating and demanding characteristics. Many Christian history books triumphantly dignify Christendom – the earthly dominance of theocracy.

The United States Constitution materialized from the devastating experience of the above deadly combination. We are heirs to conflicting arguments: First, the constitutional separation of church and state that has served us so well, and second, the manifest destiny myth that leads, past and present, to a self-appointed crusade mentality, a divine providence mentality that allows George Bush and Osama bin Laden to speak the same language, "I'm fulfilling the will of God." History trembles in remembrance! History shudders in remembrance.

Rescuing religion from its worst impulses and liquidating the state from its "savior" ambitions is a dual challenge for religious progressives. Religious fundamentalism and empire-building neo-conservatism are formidable obstacles. They claim they are fighting in God's name.