#constantine's sword

[stardustsideblogg]

You know I once found a nice hardback copy of Constantine's Sword by James Carroll (which is a history of antisemitism perpetuated by Christianity) in a thrift store and I am utterly disappointed in my past self for donating it when I purged my shelves before moving

[portersqbooks]

The Cloiser, a new novel by James Carroll out on 3/6

[ahundredhundredheartbeats]

I'm watching this documentary where Ted fucking Haggard is putting in his pointless two cents on Christian antisemitism in the US Air Force academy, denying that there's any antisemitism and playing the victim saying all the accusations and demands for it to stop are just "code" for banning any religious expression at all

Could not stop myself from flipping off his ridiculous arrogant grin every time I saw him on screen

[innertextonics]

Constantine's Sword update

I finished Constantine's Sword just now and I'm really just reflecting on a lot of what I've read. I hope my perspective never returns to its previous normalcy.

[innertextonics]

Constantine's Sword and unexamined antisemitism

Lately I've been reading James Carroll's book on the history of Christianity and antisemitism, Constantine's Sword, and I have to say it's given me a lot of stuff to mentally chew on. Besides chronicling some truly awful things committed against Jews in the name of Christ, the book has really made me think about Christianity's origins as a Jewish movement and how the antagonisms between it and other religious movements within Judaism in the first century wound up being reflected in the Christian scriptures. And I while I can understand how reflections of these conflicts might have wound up in the Christian scriptures, I think Carroll makes an important point that what made these recorded conflicts truly problematic was that as the Christian movement became increasingly non-Jewish in its makeup these passages began to be interpreted by those outside of the original culture and context as divinely inspired condemnations of Jews as a whole. The echoes of inner-religious strife were heard centuries later as rallying cries against an eternal enemy. And I think a lot of these echoes continue to be misheard today.

As I have begun reflecting upon a lot of what I have been taught regarding the Bible and the relationship between Christianity and Jews I am beginning to see a lot of unexamined prejudice against Jews and Judaism that I have been taught and have uncritically accepted and that really bothers me. I don't mean in the sense that I was taught to hate Jews, but I have been taught to be dismissive of Judaism as a whole and most of the Jewish scriptures. Not caring that Judaism survived only because great Pharisee rabbis survived the brutal Roman wars, I have been taught to uncritically use the word "Pharisee" as a pejorative for the worst religious hypocrites. But in my ignorance I'm basically calling them a Jew, and that uncritical use of problematic terms and attitudes like that has really been gnawing at me. 

I'm certain I'll write more on this topic as I read more of the book, but I thought I'd just share a bit of what's going on in my head so any followers will know there's more than art pics and funny Star Wars stuff happening on this site.

[electricshoebox]

Constantine's Sword

Just finished watching this really interesting documentary on Netflix called Constantine's Sword. It was done by a former priest and partly explores the history of anti-semitism in the Catholic church, and then also looks at Christian mega-churches of today, particularly Ted Haggard's in Colorado, and how history is repeating itself a little bit in terms of intolerance and even forced conversion. I'm pretty sure it was made before all the controversy with Haggard, since he was still the leader of this church at the time of the documentary, and Bush was still president. 

It's definitely worth a watch if any of that subject matter interests you. I've always kept my distance from mega-churches, so I didn't know a lot about his, but according to this documentary, his church was hard at work to "convert" the soldiers at a nearby military academy. Toward the end some even claimed that the academy itself had been putting pressure on the soldiers to convert, and a chaplin employed there put her career in jeopardy because she refused to support this kind of treatment. It's a surprising situation, and an appalling one.

Below the cut is me ranting about part of what the movie addressed.

A point in the movie that really hit my rage button was when a Jewish cadet at the military academy was talking about how pressured he felt when these people would come evangelizing, and his wife, who is a Christian, was talking about how there's this attitude of "if you're not trying to convert people, you're not a 'good Christian'." Then they cut to Ted Haggard again, and he says "I don't think, by and large, people feel like they're being violated at the airforce academy. I do think that it is part of freedom to have to hear other people's point of view when you don't actually want to hear it." And he compares it to liking Coke but having to hear from people who like Pepsi. 

Way to completely trivialize and downplay a really important issue, and to completely downplay people's feelings and lives. "I don't think people are bothered by this" - did you even bother to find out? Yes, part of living in a free democratic society is having the freedom to have opinions and share them. But as a Christian person, if you're really trying to represent your values, you should have respect enough for the other person to listen to what they have to say in return, not to just shove your beliefs down their throat and expect them to kiss your feet for it. I certainly would want nothing to do with Jesus if my image of Him was only people like that. You come across like an arrogant, self-righteous, morally superior asshole and expect that people will want any part of your religion afterward? Especially when you have no respect for their religion or belief system in return, no desire to listen or discuss, just to talk until they agree with you? And then this church leader just compares it to soda preferences, as if it's no big deal? Right, it's trivial when it's you spouting your beliefs, but if someone tries to talk about their beliefs in return? Then they're dismissed as going to hell? 

RAGE. Ugh. Look, I believe in God and in Christ, and I think Christ's message and life were all about mutual respect and love. He spent so much of his time listening to and in discussion with others. Yes, he preached his teachings, but He didn't beat people over the head with them if they decided what he had to say wasn't something they were interested in hearing. And this attitude of "evangelizing" and "converting" has become about numbers, not people, and has become oppressive and it's completely self-involved and self-righteous. I am disgusted at this church leader, who is already in the news for his hypocrisy and all of that, acting like Christians should just be allowed to do whatever they want because they believe they're right, and therefore that gives them license. That's horrible, disgusting, and wrong. If you aren't willing to listen to others, what entitles you to be listened to in return? What puts you on some special pedestal? Open your eyes and open your ears. 

Anyway, this is just one issue of many addressed in the film - there's a lot of thought-provoking and horrifying history, a lot of interesting opinions. That part just got me particularly angry, especially Ted Haggard's condescending attitude, like it was just some trivial thing and oh, you silly person you, now I have to explain why it's okay for me to shove my beliefs in your face.