8.20.2005

History Lessons the Christian Right Doesn't Want You to Know

In this brief post, I will present 3 important examples of the impact of Christianity in the United States that the contemporary Christian right does not want you to remember. I have selected these examples out of many possible choices because they represent important chapters in American history in which secular Americans played a role. In addition, they can be validated from newspaper articles, books, and sermons (yes, sermons) published at the time each event was happening. Thus, they each help to highlight that much of the revisionist history presented by the modern Christian right is ludicrous.

1. The majority of American Christians opposed the abolition of slavery, defended it as the will of their god, and justified it with their bible.

The more conservative they were in their Christian beliefs, the stronger was their opposition to abolition. What does that tell us? Do you think it might reveal something about Christianity, or at least conservative Christianity? I'd say so.

2. The majority of American Christians opposed suffrage.

Again, they used their bibles to argue that women should not have the right to vote. And again, the more conservative they were in their religious beliefs, the more vehement their opposition. A pattern is emerging here.

8.07.2005

The History Channel on Hell and the Devil

English: Detail of work Heaven and Hell includ...
Detail of work Heaven and Hell including Devil/Dragon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I'm watching the History Channel again because they are showing a special called Hell: The Devil's Domain, which I couldn't resist. It turned out to be very interesting. So many thoughts...

According to the scholars (and I use the term somewhat loosely here), the Christian bible actually doesn't say much about hell. The clearest notion appears to be that hell is a state of separation from the invisible superman in the sky.

The show makes it quite clear that the modern images of the devil and hell with which we are all familiar were invented well after the time of the bible as a tool for the church to recruit followers. They talk about the early church finding symbolic references to the devil in the bible, even where he had not really been mentioned. Although hell and the devil were not mentioned all that frequently in the bible, their images came to dominate Christian art during the middle ages. The church even used these images as a way to demonize their opponents (e.g., Jews, Muslims, etc.). Thus, we see the intolerance for which Christians are so well known reflected in their art.