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The Christian Problem

The Christian Problem

Last updated on: January 31, 2017 at 6:51 am by Henry Karlson

The Christian Problem 2017-01-31T06:51:39-05:00 Henry Karlson

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We tend to excuse our rejection of Christ, our rejection of his law, by blaming those who we reject as being at fault. They make it impossible for us to love them. Victim blaming always does this, and so Solovyov saw, with the mistreatment of the Jews, Christians turned away from Christ, blaming the Jews for their what they, the supposed Christians, were doing:

In this case the blame is shifted from us on to the victims themselves. Living among us, the Jews treat us in a Jewish fashion; clearly, we must treat them as pagans do; they do not want to love us – clearly, we ought to hate them; they cling to their isolationism, do not want to be merged with us, do not recognize their solidarity with us, but, on the contrary, try every way to profit by our weakness – clearly, we must exterminate them. [2]

The problem has not just been the way Christians treat Jews. That is a terrible history, full of twists and turns, with heroes like Reuchlin and Solovyov, and villains, who sought to expel or destroy the Jews in Europe. But such attitude was not found merely with the Jews. Such attitude was often found in the way Christians treated any non-Christian people. From the treatment of Native Americans in the Americas, the Aborigines in Australia, to the abuse and exploitation of Africans in the slave trade, Christians have a long history of claiming Christ but following a non-Christian law creating, in actuality, an anti-Christian ideology over the mindset of the Christians themselves. When questioned, they always excused themselves by the supposed actions of the other – saying that if Christian nations did not remain strong and do as they did, the other would see our weakness as a way to gain control over and dominate us. The law of the jungle, instead of the law of Christ, was, and continues to be invoked as justification for grave evil by Christians.

The problem Solovyov faced in 19th century Russia remains with us today. It is the Christian problem, the problem of how Christians have assumed authority over the earth, but in taking such authority to themselves, they live as non-Christians in their treatment and expectations of others. They argue through ideology, using ideology as cause to reject the love Christ demands Christians to have for all. The problem is Christians repudiate Christ by their actions, and so they reinforce the law of sin in the world instead of transcend it with the law of love. They put their so-called enemies on the dock, constantly making accusations against them, all to justify their own power over their enemies; the desire to constantly build up dossiers on the other, to show all their evils (however twisted and distorted such dossiers end up being) demonstrates they do not look to Christ and his way as a solution the world’s ills, but rather, they listen to Satan and his temptation in the desert, giving in to the power he grants if they only bow down to Satan and follow him in unlove.

This then is the Christian problem which has yet to be overturned, and yet must be if we are to be Christians in the world. When Christians desire to promote themselves first among all, or worse, to promote some political group, like a particular nation or state, as first, is to look to the world with selfish eyes, and preach for their own well-being in a way which they do not give to others. When so many Christians speak about Religious Liberty, they only speak for themselves; if their way of life, if they are free to worship and act as they desire as Christians, so many who one day speak for Religious Liberty quickly forget it, and demand it to be banned for their ideological or religious opponents (such as Muslims). This hypocrisy demonstrates how the Christian problem manifests itself in real world situations, and why it is a problem which must be confronted and denounced.

Why would non-Christians take Christ seriously if Christians do not take him seriously, and not only act contrary to his dictates, but find excuses to undermine and reject his words to them? How are Christians to be taken seriously if they are unwilling to be Christians to others, because the rest of the world is seen to be, in one form or another, their enemy who is to be controlled if not outright destroyed? How are Christians to be taken seriously if they are unwilling to love their enemy, and care about them, merely because their enemy does not return such love back? Christ did not say love only those who will love you back, but to love your enemy, for it is how God works: while we were sinners, God still loved us.

To be sure, loving enemies does not mean we need ignore evil which they do, but it means when we respond to them, we must respond in love, desiring that they turn away from their evil and become our friend. We should act in justice, treating them as we would like to be treated, respecting them and their dignity, and so punish them as we would be punished for grievous wrongdoing. But all justice must be touched with mercy; it should not be out of vengeance, for vengeance is not justice, as vengeance does not restore order but creates more disorder and reifies the divisive structures of sin.

The Christian problem then is the question of how to be a Christian in the world, without trying to respond to the problems of the world by the ways of the world. The Christian problem is how to guide and judge justly through the lens of love. The Christian problem is the problem which has been with Christianity since the conversion of Constantine, but it is also a problem which has grown as the Christian ideal continues to be abandoned by Christians themselves.

How we are to treat Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Shamanists, and other non-Christian religions should come from our faith in Christ and his command to love. Justice must be preached, and sought after, but justice can never be justice if love and its mercy is repudiated.

Vatican Council II, to be sure, has begun the process by which the Christian Question can be raised and discussed in the modern day. It declared Christians must treat others with dignity and respect, and outright bigotry and violence against non-Christians is to be repudiated. In Dignitatis Humanae, we read:

The Vatican council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. Freedom of this kind means that everyone should be immune from coercion by individuals, social groups, and every human power so that, within due limits, no men or women are forced to act against their convictions nor are any persons to be restrained from acting in accordance with their convictions in religious matters in private or public, alone or in association with others. The council further declares that the right to religious freedom is based on the very dignity of the human person as known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself. This right of the human person to religious freedom must be given such recognition in the constitutional order of society as will make it a civil right.[3]

Photograph from the World Day of Prayer for Peace, 2011, in Assisi by Stephan Kölliker (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Religious liberty, for it to be true liberty, will not allow certain groups special privileges over others, but will make sure all are treated fairly, equally, so that their religious sensibilities are respected and given equal protection under the law. When one religious group or another is unfairly treated, religious liberty is being denied, and it is the duty of Christians to speak up for that group, whether or not their beliefs and practices abhor Christian sensibilities. Targeting one religious group and restricting their rights and giving them substandard justice undermines civil society itself, and so it is bad enough from a secular point of view, but from a Christian point of view which looks at the dignity of the human person, such activity is an active violation of the Christian commandment to love and so serves as an active repudiation of the Christian faith.

Likewise, preaching falsehood against other religious traditions, inciting hate against members of other religious traditions, violates the love of Christ, the love which must hold on to the truth, and so also serves as a repudiation of the Christian faith. This is why Vatican Council II in Nostra Aetate had to declare, “Indeed, the church reproves every form of persecution against whomever it may be directed.”[4] The Christian faith is preached in the practice of love. “It is the duty of the church, therefore, in its preaching to proclaim the cross of Christ as the sign of God’s universal love and the source of all grace.”[5] This cross and all it represents is the sign of Christ in us; like our Lord, we must take all that others give to us and respond to them in a way which shows that we love them. When love is violated, Christ is rejected by us. Where prejudice and bigotry allows persecution, Christianity is rejected. “Therefore, the church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against people or any harassment of them on the basis of their race, color, condition in life or religion.”[6]

The solution to the Christian problem is found in the mind of Christ, the mind which reveals to those attuned to Christ the way of love. Love of others must be affirmed. Our actions must be done, not in hate or fear, not in disgust, but in love. Justice is good and true when it is cemented by love, while it is tyranny and legalism when such love is undermined. The Christian problem is that Christians have rejected Christ, leaving the world feeling like Gandhi who said he loved Christ but not Christianity. This problem remains with us today as Christians seek preferential option for themselves as a way to justify their hate and bigotry of others. They have turned Christianity into tribalism instead of the universal bearer of God’s grace for all. Only by seeking the wisdom of God, turning to the mind of Christ, can the Christian problem be solved. Only then will Christians become true Christians, and the world can then begin to be made a better place as they mediate God’s love into the world.

[1] Vladimir Solovyov, “The Jews and the Christian Problem,” in A Solovyov Anthology. Ed. S.L. Frank. Trans. Natalie Duddington (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), 105.

[2] Solovyov, “The Jews and the Christian Problem,” 106.

[3] “Dignitatis Humanae” in Basic Sixteen Documents: Vatican Council II. ed. Austin Flannery, OP (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company,”1996), ¶2 (552-3).

[4] “Nostra Aetate” in in Basic Sixteen Documents: Vatican Council II. ed. Austin Flannery, OP (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company,”1996), ¶4 (573).

[5] “Nostra Aetate,”¶4 (574).

[6] “Nostra Aetate,”¶5 (574).

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