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15th September 2003
Patterns of the PastChristian Complicity in Global Disorder- / - Faith-based governance, policies and programmes The focus in what follows is on Christian complicity in global disorder. This is not to deny complicity of other faiths (notably Judaism and Islam) but that has been frequently analyzed in relation to the crisis in the Middle East. It is the Christian-inspired response to global instability that is of concern here. Faith-based governance, policies and programmesWhat might be termed "faith-based governance" has a long history dating back to intimate involvement of priestly hierarchies in advising the ruler, if the ruler was not a priest or divinity in his (or her) own right. Policies were determined through consultation of oracles such as at Delphi or through the interpretation of entrails of sacrificial animals as in Rome (extispicium). The policies of the Empire of China were guided through consultation of the I Ching. Ronald Reagan, like Calvin Coolidge, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt before him, made use of astrology in evaluating important decisions [more]. So did Adolf Hitler. Faith in such aids to governance is active in non-western countries at the highest level especially with regard to the selection of auspicious occasions. It remains to be discovered whether the well-recognized influence of Nancy Reagan's astrologers on the President of the USA [more] is now matched by the influence of Cherie Blair's unconventional faith-based interests on the Prime Minister of the UK. Early in his mandate, George Bush set in place a variety of faith-based initiatives in response to the wishes of his Christian supporters and associates [more]. The focus was provided by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Religious organizations have been given a powerful input to policy-making -- particularly on sensitive issues like abortion. These initiatives have been supported by "faith-based legislation" as described in the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's Lift Every Voice: Report on Religion In American Public Life (2002). For many evangelical Christian supporters of George Bush it is to be expected that the global American hegemony sought by the new American strategic policy will be seen as the ideal vehicle through which fulfilment of the long-standing missionary aspiration can be brought to completion. This Great Commission to evangelize the world derives from the Biblical injunction: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 28 : 16-20; Acts I: 8; II; Corinthians 5:20) [more | more | more]. Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham (advisor to a succession of presidents) and one of the USA’s most outspoken critics of Islam, indicated that he had relief workers "poised and ready" to roll into Iraq to provide for the population’s post-war physical and spiritual needs (Crusaders sending in missionaries after the Blitzkrieg, 2003; Christianizing the Enemy, 2003) [more].This is seen as part of the process of bringing about the Kingdom of Christ on Earth -- overriding any opposition and ignoring the possibility that any such Kingdom is necessarily of the spirit. One preferred evangelical model is to "invade" the world [more]. The major failure in post-invasion Iraq to win over "hearts and minds" is clearly a challenge for the future of this mindset and the assumptions on which it is based.
In emulation of the US initiative of George Bush, on 3 August 2003 it was revealed by The Observer that "Blair is to allow Christian organisations and other 'faith groups' a central role in policy-making in a decisive break with British tradition that religion and government should not mix" [more]. He has "set up a ministerial working group in the Home Office." Its terms of reference are:
Non-religious groups (including humanists and atheists) have been excluded from any involvement in the group. Should the Conservatives regain power in the UK, it has now become clear that they have associated themselves closely with a Christian faith-based perspective through their Conservative Christian Fellowship (based in the party's headquarters) and the recent appointment of Tim Montgomerie as the political secretary of the Ian Duncan Smith, leader of the opposition to Blair's Labour party. Montgomerie has posted an extensive set of prayers on the Fellowship's website in specific support of the Conservative party. He is known to be close to the American theologian Marvin Olasky who inspired George Bush in positioning his campaign for the American electorate [more]. A faith-based approach to governance, as currently envisaged, ignores:
It is a curious irony that a principal Western criticism of the governance of fundamentalist Islamic states, and of their inhibited development, has been the restrictive and distorting influences of the sharia as a legal interpretation of the prescriptions of the Koran. The question is what legal prescriptions would follow from a literal interpretation of the Bible in the light of the development of faith-based governance inspired by Christian fundamentalism? Was this not the experiment conducted by the early Pilgrim fathers in the USA? Has this evoked widespread calls for its emulation today? Aspects of the theme of government by fundamentalists are now recognized as having been explored by Margaret Atwood in a prescient novel (The Handmaid's Tale, 1985) about a future dystopic Republic of Gilead (formerly the USA) where the regime spins news of war and terrorism to its advantage [more]. Civil rights have been extinguished, books have been banned and culture has been terminated with extreme prejudice. Women are forbidden to hold jobs, property or money. Pollution and disease have decimated fertility rates -- birth control and homosexuality are now crimes punishable by death. (The few remaining fertile women, called "handmaids", are used as brood mares for regime officials and their barren wives). Infallibility of Christian leadershipChristianity has a long history of dealing with the infallibility of its leadership, whether deriving from:
The evolution of "Christianity" as a whole has resulted in constraints on the acceptance of the universal applicability of the infallibility previously attributed to the papacy, both amongst Catholics and especially amongst those forms of Christianity that broke away from Catholicism. Of course those on both sides of a schism are highly articulate regarding the spiritual danger their critics incur. They readily label each other as highly misguided -- or even as agents of Satan. Analogous processes follow the unique perspective acquired from the revelation experienced by the founders of Christian sects. The process of becoming "born-again" may similarly empower the ordinary individual to recognize the depths of spiritual error associated with any who fail to agree with their God-given insight. Such error is to be closely associated with those acting as agents of Satan. There is a long tradition of a special relationship between religion and rulership of a country -- between divinity and royalty -- dating back to the divine status of the pharaohs. For Western civilization, it was Alexander the Great who gave form to the concept that a man can be both king and god. Because of the vast empire that he established, the idea has affected many religions and cultures. Buddhism and Christianity share the belief in a man-god, and in Islamic writings Alexander's conquests are used as a precedent for Mohammed's quest to create God's kingdom on earth. The concept has echoes in African cultures. It was central to the status of the Emperor in China -- and was a key factor in Japan during World War II. In the case of Christianity, spiritual status was accorded to the royalty ruling many European countries. This bond with divinity was also translated into the "divine right" to rule [more]. In 1521, as a reward for attacking Lutheran ideas, Pope Leo X conferred the title of fidei defensor (defender of the faith) on Henry VIII. Although the title relates to the Catholic Church, it is still held by current British monarchs. A distinction can be made between three conditions:
In the case of Tony Blair, Condition (c) would appear to apply. His conviction of his infallibility with regard to Iraq is faith-based. In a basically secular society, however, few citizens of the UK would buy into the religious justification for this conviction although they may be impressed by his belief that this is so. In relation to the controversy regarding Iraq, this concern has been well articulated by author Michael Holroyd :
In the case of George Bush, Condition (a) would appear to apply, at least to some degree -- as exemplified by his 2001 statement to world leaders: "I know what I believe, and I believe what I believe is right". Again, speaking at a USA-EU summit in Ireland on 27 June 2004: "The bitter differences over the war are over... We all agree that a democratic and peaceful Iraq, with its territorial integrity intact, is in all our benefit." However, Bush still appeared unwilling to apologise for past differences, insisting he would do what he regards as necessary, regardless of international opinion. He declared: "We will set a vision. I will lead and we will just let the chips fall where they may". [more] So much for participatory democracy. This condition is accepted due to the predominant importance attached to Christianity in US politics and its importance in the socio-cultural life of the country. In the absence of a UK-style royalty, in which the symbolic bond between divinity and royalty continues to be nourished at coronations and other ceremonies, aspects of this bond are invested by US citizens in their presidency and in the belief that God specially cherishes America, and by extension, its leadership. According to Michael Ortiz Hill (Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Bush's Armageddon Obsession, Revisited, 2003), it was the Reverend Billy Graham who taught Bush to live in anticipation of the Second Coming but it was his friendship with Dr. Tony Evans (a founder of the Promise Keepers movement) that shaped Bush's political understanding of how to deport himself in an apocalyptic era -- "how the world should be seen from a divine viewpoint". Hill cites S.R. Shearer (Antipas Ministries) with regard to such "Messianic leadership":
The challenge of infallibility is closely related to a sense of moral certainty on the part of the ruler and a dislike of nuance. A recent report (Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition, 2003) concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity". According to the report, typical cases include: Hitler, Mussolini, Reagan and Bush -- all of whom "preached a return to an idealized past and condoned inequality."
According to psychologist Oliver James,
James argues further:
The challenge in the case of the USA, as a purportedly democratic country, is that criticism of leadership is readily withheld -- given that the leader holds, to whatever faint degree, the historical bond with divinity. Such restraint permits a degree of infallibility to be inferred with respect to policies affecting the future of the country -- especially if the country can be framed as being in the gravest of danger. Critics can then readily be publicly labelled as traitors (for example, by popular talk show hosts). Politicians are wise to cultivate (with appropriate propaganda, if necessary) their relation to religion if they wish to succeed -- even in the case of Condition (b). Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia may be of this type, as with North Korea's Kim Jong-il. The irony for the Americans, is that the USA was in part created by those fleeing religious intolerance, notably of Catholic origin. Americans pride themselves on their independence and freedom of speech. But Americans have effectively bought back into the attribution of infallibility to their leadership -- where this can be presented as religiously inspired in response to non-partisan concerns and in consonance with the Christian tradition. As a consequence they have bought into faith-based politics and into strategic initiatives informed by the morning prayer meetings of their leadership. Whatever its merits, the problematic historical consequences of faith-based politics of earlier centuries have momentarily been forgotten. The dangers are evident in the historical statement by Tsar Nicholas, Emperor of Russia, on taking command of all military forces, who declared in an Order of the Day (6 September 1915): "With firm trust in divine mercy and unshakable confidence in ultimate victory, we shall fulfil our sacred duty of defending our country to the death, and we will never allow Russian soil to be dishonoured" [more] History may conclude that Russian soil was already dishonoured by the conditions of the serfs who worked it under the Tsar's cronies. His failure to recognize and act on this knowledge resulted in the deaths of tens of millions. Despite his spiritual advisers in the Russian Orthodox Church, his interpretation of divine will would also appear to have been faulty. The leader of the Coalition of the Willing, with the aid of his own spiritual advisers, is of course now free to act according to his own inspired understanding of his "sacred duty". It remains to be seen to what extent this is re-establishing a 21st century variant of the "divine right" to rule. Democratic contradictions in faith-based politicsA fundamental challenge is in process of being set in place, at least in the USA, with respect to the future of democracy. Tony Blair is already faced with increasing opposition to his emulation of the "presidential" style of non-democratic governance supported by cronies. As noted by Graham Allen (Guardian, 16 August 2003):
Once a Christian leader of a God-fearing nation is in place, as with George Bush, it becomes extremely problematic to criticize any of his actions. For as a born-again Christian he can only be acting with God's will and guidance. Critics would not only be traitorous -- in the case of foreign policy -- but more generally would be in defiance of God's will and therefore subject to every condemnation from those of religious persuasion. Given Christianity's own immense difficulties over the centuries in handling any form of dissension -- as currently to be seen with such issues as ordination of women and gay-marriages -- this ideological and "methodological" difficulty is now in process of being projected onto the democratic process itself through the focus on faith-based politics. There is an irony to the fact that it was the Christian monastic orders that were at the origin of most modern democratic processes and their terminology ("assembly", "commission", etc). But their processes may be understood as having operated within a particular "party" or policy framework. The problem for the future of democratic processes -- especially at the global level -- lies in processes between "parties" and policy frameworks, and not within them. In the case of the USA, the Republicans have now effectively positioned themselves as "closer to God". How are Democrats to criticize the Republican policies and presidency without positioning themselves as critical of policies inspired by God? The Republicans have effectively occupied the spiritual highground. Is voting Republican to be framed as "voting for God" -- with the implication that voting for the Democrats is tantamount to voting for his opponent? Michael Kinsley (God Bless You..., 2001) explored the ubiquitous use of "God Bless You and God Bless America" by politicians in the USA -- increasingly obliged to use the phrase in any farewell greeting. He even suggests that it is starting to appear suspicious if a politician does not use that phrase. Tony Blair's minders had to protest strongly against his proposed use of the phrase "God Bless You" at the end of his televised address to the nation at the start of the war in Iraq. Consternation was expressed when Blair, asked who he would answer to for the deaths of British soldiers, replied: "My Maker" [more]. This is indicative of a classic arrogation of sovereign authority by a prime minister. In fact "Dieu et Mon Droit" (God and My Law) is the motto of the British Sovereign, dating from Henry V (1413-1422) and appearing on the Royal Coat of Arms -- whose function is to identify the person who is the Head of State. Is it the case in the USA that the Democrats must now seek to become more spiritually inspired than the Republicans -- a competition for "spiritual access"? How can Democrats seek to correct for "errors" in Republican policy when all such "errors" come with a God-given guarantee of rectitude beyond reproach? Or is it the case, as with some of the most prominent tele-evangelists in the USA (or some prominent representatives of the Republican party), that the nature of their "sins" must be detected -- namely the areas in which, as vulnerable human beings, they have strayed from fulfilling God's will? Given the sense of righteousness that pervades faith-based politics, how is "sin" then to be identified and proven? The remarkable use of satire to this end by the Door Magazine merits attention. Does this imply a need for a new faith-based process of "outing" -- analogous to that practiced in early American spiritual communities, and functionally similar to well-explored procedures for informing on Communist party members that stray from the ideological line in totalitarian societies? A step in this direction is the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) program billed by George Bush under the Citizen Corps program – designed to create a civilian secret police informant program out of the nation’s truck drivers, loggers, postal workers, ship captains, cable TV repairmen and others [more]. At the time of writing the world has been exposed to the anguished dynamics within the Anglican Communion regarding the election of homosexual bishops (in the UK and in the USA). The democratic process of that Communion in the USA (the General Convention of the Episcopal Church) was interrupted by a last minute attempt by the evangelical faction to smear the gay candidate with indecent and pornographic associations (subsequently discredited). This would appear to anticipate the nature of faith-based democracy when a faction that knows it is right feels empowered to use any tactics -- presumably including assassination (as in the case of pro-life actiion against abortionists) in order to forestall due process [more | more]. With regard to the furore concerning homosexuality, an editorial in the Financial Times asks whether Christians can indeed distinguish between "deviance" and "difference" (Financial Times, 9 August 2003), making the point that:
Such understanding places new demands on discernment. Failure in this respect reinforces the traditional political dynamics between opposing parties -- to be reframed in faith-based terms as an archetypal battle between "Good" and "Evil". The art of politics in the USA may thus become the art of detecting the vulnerability of the opposing party to "vice" -- of which the Enron and other corporate scandals were interesting examples, especially given the intimate involvement of key members of the Bush administration. Party politics in europe has been associated with major political funding scandals over the past decade [more]. Christianity's association with politics, through parties of Christian Democrats, has not significantly distanced such parties from such corruption. Typically the scandals have involved party financing and money laundering -- often at the highest level (as in the case of the involvement of Helmut Kohl, chancellor of Germany) [more | more | more]. A major political corruption scandal involving the Christian Democrats has disrupted Italian politics since 1992 [more | more]. Christian Democrats have also been directly involved in scandals in Belgium. The involvement of Christian Democrats in the dictatorships of Latin America is a different matter. The contradictions of faith-based democracy become all the more evident in the Christian-inspired effort to promote democracy in Muslim countries. It is assumed by Christians, however, that part of the problem of those countries is the role of the faith-based leadership there -- except, for Christians (as for other monotheistic religions), it is the wrong faith. For some prominent evangelical spokesmen "Islam is Evil" and "Muhammad was a terrorist" [more | more]. The idea of a faith-based democracy in Islamic countries, which it must be if it is to conform to the Islamic religion and culture, is anathema to Western political thought. It has been argued by Ed Deak that : "The demise of all past societies and empires has always been caused by misused faith and always through the manipulations of the 3 traditional dictatorial sectors: the merchants, the religious clergy and the the military. The merchants created the demand, the clergy the divine authorization and the military did the dirty work." [more] Resolution of policy dilemmas in faith-based politicsRichard Sennett (They mean well: the American flight from politics into faith. Times Literary Supplement, 7 June 2002) concludes:
But George Bush has been remarkably successful in giving new form and public credibility to faith-based politics. Given unshakable religious conviction, it becomes very straightforward to resolve complex strategic dilemmas from which strategic analysts have vainly struggled to derive coherence over the years through the best efforts of their disciplines. Given the conviction that relevant insight will be provided directly from God through prayer, decisions can easily be reached -- even on life-and-death matters of final appeal prior to signature of a warrant of execution or on the launching of pre-emptive strikes with high risk of loss of civilian lives. Decisions made under such circumstances cannot be a subject of regret or lead to any crisis of conscience. A decision made in this way, with God's assistance, is a matter of God's will -- whatever the consequences. It is of course the case that there is a long tradition of leaders appealing for divine guidance when faced with complex decisions. The earliest religious settlements of the USA sought divine guidance articulated through their Elders -- a process which is now known to have had its own problems and abuses. The contrast in recent times is that policy scientists and strategists have endeavoured to develop new disciplines to balance complex sets of factors regarding circumstances that may call for counter-intuitive judgement. It would appear that the contribution of these disciplines is now being set aside -- except perhaps where it can be used to confirm (especially for wider audiences of unbelievers) the leadership decisions informed by prayer. There is however a challenge where decisions by a Christian-inspired leadership are expected to convince those who are not of Christian persuasion and who may have unreasonable doubt regarding the quality and relevance of any divine support from a Christian God -- especially where that support appears to be less than equitable in favouring Christians at the expense of those of other faiths. The question then is the part to be played by policy sciences in reconciling faith-based strategies with those favoured by people of other faiths. How are think-tanks funded by Christian governments to handle the perspectives of the unbelievers who have not yet been converted to a Christian perspective and who must necessarily be understood as vulnerable to profoundly dangerous religious error? Such difficulties are compounded when the "unbelievers" in Christian eyes hold to faiths that entitle them, in their own eyes, to a privileged relationship to (an apparently different) God that frames the Christians as "unbelievers". This classical situation in conflicts inspired by religion unfortunately cannot now be effectively addressed by faith-based think-tanks that necessarily have a prior conviction as to the correct conclusion to be drawn from any investigation. Faith-based evidenceAs in the case of policy dilemmas, the privileged relationship with God, facilitates the handling and interpretation of evidence. As a leader of a country "under God", with the full knowledge of what is right and what is God's will, there should be no need for the leader to justify what he/she knows to be right. However, as a courtesy, efforts can indeed be deployed to satisfy those of insufficient faith (the "Doubting Thomases" of the world) through the best use of science to confirm this judgement. The process may be considerably facilitated by pre-selecting which matters are worthy of such inquiry and excluding those which may confuse investigators and lead to a contrary, and therefore erroneous, conclusion -- one that would necessarily be opposed to God's will. The delay in recognition of Galileo's evidence, and the rationalizations for it, exemplifies the process -- as does the creationist approach to biological evolution. From such a perspective, the recognition of Evil becomes straightforward. It should not be forgotten that the judicial procedures of the Inquisition have been valued as a pioneering historical effort to give form to the judicial process of inquiry. It is to be expected that a Christian leadership would demonstrate such leadership in naming Evil once evidence has been obtained. The challenge becomes evident in the case of genetically modified foodstuffs in support of which the Vatican is seeking the Pope's moral authority. The clinching argument being that, irrespective of any other consequences (notably to other species), the Vatican is convinced of their overriding benefit to humanity. [More] The Christian leader of a country "under God" cannot be meaningfully accused of lying to the public. Any such accusation would necessarily reflect a dangerous misunderstanding of what was said, why it was said, or of the benediction of God in approving what was said. This is a major issue for both George Bush and Tony Blair with respect to the widely documented mishandling of "evidence" relating to weapons of mass destruction justifying the attack on Iraq. This is especially problematic when, as Christians, they ask others to trust them in their judgement and conviction -- as a complementary feature of faith-based governance in which the electorate is expected to have heightened "faith" in the leadership. A specific example of reframing of evidence under faith-based leadership is the case of the denial by the Pentagon that napalm was used in Iraq. Although "napalm" was indeed used according to marines stationed there, this "napalm" was based on an improved distillate from the napalm named in international treaties against its use. As an upgraded product, the Pentagon then felt entitled to deny that it was using the earlier version of the product even though a more powerful version was indeed used [more]. A second example is the recently announced research on a gamma-ray bomb that could either be developed (because it is not defined by non-proliferation and nuclear testing treaties) or could put in place the conditions to end a ban on nuclear testing [more]. These definitional game-playing procedures are used by manufacturers of designer drugs to evade legally the provisions of legislation prohibiting earlier specified variants. They are also reminiscent of a previous American president's challenge, under oath, faced with the definition of sexual relations. Retired American intelligence officers, formed a lobby group (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity) which accused the US administration of manipulating intelligence evidence about Iraq to fit the political agenda (a concern that has also been highlighted in the UK). The focus of the protest was US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld's, call for a subjective judgment, "a connecting of the dots" according to the principle: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". This is a process conducive to "group think". The concern with appropriately commemorating through architecture the remaining evidence of Gound Zero and those who died there -- a major concern to New Yorkers, notably for the benefit of freedom-lovers around the world -- can usefully be contrasted with the treatment of evidence by the military during peacekeeping operations in post-war Iraq. Peter Beaumont (Farah tried to plead with the US troops but she was killed anyway, Observer, 7 September 2003) reports on a raid on an apartment by troops:
These Christian principles of faith-based evidence also cover the cases where evidence may be inadequate to convince the Doubting Thomases. As leader, given one's privileged awareness of God's will, evidence that is insufficiently robust to satisfy doubters may usefully be enhanced in the interest of advancing God's cause. The major inquiry in August 2003 into the "sexing-up" (versus "hardening", "enhancing", or "egging-up") of the case for the invasion of Iraq, presented to the UK Parliament by Tony Blair is an example. This "enhancement" may also be extended to fabricating (as with the uranium from Niger), or planting, of appropriate evidence whose lack would otherwise endanger the national security of God's favoured country or one's ability as leader to defend that security credibly. The difficulty is that a context is being created in which even if "evidence" is uncovered it will be very difficult to prove that it was not fabricated -- or that the time required to locate it was not used to ensure the apparent authenticity of the "evidence" and to "motivate" those brought forward to declare it to be genuine. The unclarified dimensions of this Christian-inspired approach to evidence are explored by the former UK environment minister (May 1997- June 2003) Michael Meacher (This war on terrorism is bogus, Guardian, 6 September 2003), following Gore Vidal (Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Bush-Cheney Junta, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002) and Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed (The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, Tree of Life Publications, 2002), Meacher argues, citing many public domain sources:
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