Where does Jesus say that his church should embrace fascism?
This Orthodox Easter Sunday, the world could witness Russia’s chief religious figure, Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill embrace Russia’s President, the murderous sociopath, Vladimir Putin. It went beyond ritual. The mutual love of a hateful bigot and a fanatical fascist was there to be seen. And it presented a modern example of an ancient church/state power-sharing arrangement.
From AD 323, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, to 1787 and the writing of the US Constitution, it was usual that the official Church and the secular Monarch would divvy up power. The Church would be allowed to fleece the flock with tithing and other cash grabs, while the Monarch would collect his piece of the pie by taxing the citizens. The Church ruled with superstition, backed up by the secular authorities. While the secular authorities were given status by divine right, backed up by the Church. It was all quite profitable. And then the Founders of the newly created United States upset the apple cart by kicking the Church out of the power-sharing compact.
Many in Western Europe thought that was a good idea. The French Revolution of 1789 is most famous for its ruination of the aristocracy and the beheading of the Monarch, but the revolutionaries also confiscated the Catholic Church’s properties — which amounted to 10% of France's total landmass. And further, the new government required priests to swear an oath of subjugating them to the secular state. The rest of Western Europe followed a similar path. In Eastern Europe, the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the USSR removed the Church from its position of power.
Secularism became such a feature of the communist bloc, that in 1956 American political conservatives faced with the “Red Menace” threw out “E Pluribus Unum” as the national motto and replaced it with “In God We Trust”. And since 1954, millions of US school children have mindlessly repeated the Pledge of Allegiance with the addition of “under God”.
But now the Russian dictator and American conservatives have made a common cause. They have reintroduced the Church into a political, power-sharing agreement where the Church gets its reward as long as it backs a dictator in Russia — and the GOP’s wannabe fascists in America.
The Easter embrace of prelate and tyrant gives evidence of their mutual regard. Kirill’s bromance with Putin has been long-standing. He called Putin’s rule “a miracle of God”. And he has been vocal in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Because that is what “Jesus Would Do” says the Bible — nowhere.
In return, Putin has backed the Church’s reign of hate against Russia’s LGBTQ+ community. In 2013, he anticipated DeSantis’ “Don’t say gay” legislation with a law “aimed at protecting children from information promoting the denial of traditional family values”. The law bans the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors”. In effect, this vile act (aka the “gay propaganda law”) leaves gay/trans Russian youth nowhere to turn for help in navigating their sexuality/gender identification.
The Russian Orthodox Church loved it. So vicious has the Church's bigotry been that even conservative American evangelicals have swooned at the fanaticism. And are determined to repeat the like here.
I’m not sure what form Jesus imagined his Church would take after his departure, but it cannot have been this sewer of sadistic self-dealing. And what would he have thought of Kirill’s outfits? The man loves dressing up and thinks nothing of swanning about in an endless selection of colorful dresses with matching crowns. Just how much closet space does he need?
Kirill may anticipate his reward in the next life, but he is not wasting this life by failing to grab his opportunities. Estimates of his wealth are as high as $4 billion. And he need not worry about community property laws as he is unmarried. Although, as he is now 76 and childless, I wonder where the money goes when he shuffles off to judgment. I guarantee no suffering Russian will ever see a dime of it unless a Christian takes his place.
For many religion is a source of comfort during trying times. It allows people to give a seemingly random world order and purpose. At its best, it promotes community, charity, and conviviality. But, like every other human endeavor where there is an ocean of money involved, it attracts the worst of the worst. And for many, it gives divine justification for the all-too-human sins of prejudice and hate. And it gives people license to sin to their black hearts’ content.
Jesus wept.