Religion and Politics, Part III

During the time of Yeshua, the pagan Roman Empire controlled much of the known world and ruled over most of the world’s Jews, including those in Israel, known as the land of Judah at that time. The politics and government of the land were complicated, shared between the Roman governor and the Jewish Sanhedrin. There was significant political unrest, culminating in the Zealot-led revolt forty years after Yeshua. In fact, one of Yeshua’s twelve apostles was a Zealot, Judah the Zealot. Yet, Yeshua never addressed political issues. He didn’t condemn the Roman military occupation. He encouraged and participated in the payment of taxes. He instructed his followers to not resist his arrest. He even suggested his followers go beyond the humiliating Roman measures, such as being forced to carry Roman soldiers’ equipment for a mile, by carrying them two miles. This was in order to exemplify a different way of living.

In the Book of Acts, Yeshua’s disciples only resisted the governing authorities when they barred the preaching of the gospel. The Apostle Paul did take advantage of his Roman citizenship in order to be freed from illegal imprisonment, and he used the Roman legal system to eventually appear before Caesar. But this was for the purpose of furthering the presentation of the gospel message.

Similarly, the Apostolic writers have very little to say about politics and government. When they do comment, they focus on submitting to authority, praying for government rulers and living a godly life. Following the destruction of the Second Temple and with it the sharply reduced authority and influence of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the effective government over the Jews as well as everyone else was the Roman government.  Early church leaders discouraged Christian involvement in government due to the requirements to pledge loyalty to the Roman gods. However, as Christianity grew, increasing pressure was applied by Roman society on Christians to participate in the economic and social life of the empire, and to join the government and the military. The argument was that Christians profited from the Roman state, including its defense, even while not participating in it. Around 250 A.D. the Church Father Origen responded that Christians provided alternate service to the empire by improving the morality of society and praying for the government. (Interestingly, this argument is mirrored by ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders in Israel today as a means to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from secular work and serving in the military).

These views changed with the formal Christianization of the Roman Empire under Constantine in 313 A.D. Religion and politics essentially merged and continued that way until the eighteenth century. The most influential theological work on the topic was Augustine’s City of God, 426 A.D. In it he posits there are two cities, the earthly city and the city of God. The two are intertwined and often in conflict. The Christian’s focus is to be the city of God. However, since the Christian lives in the earthly city, he must seek to influence it. Augustine saw the Christianization of the Roman Empire as a positive, as long as the Empire sought to advance Christianity.

Among the many problems with the merger of the church and the state, possibly the most serious was how it viewed and treated non-Christians. This certainly was true in the treatment of Jews. Jewish and Christian tension was evident even by the late first century. When Christianity became the state religion in the fourth century, state-sanctioned violence against Jews became increasingly common. It worsened over time, particularly in the Middle Ages, but continued up to the modern era.

Sadly, whether examining the Roman empire, the Byzantine empire, the Holy Roman empire, the Russian empire or the rise of nation-states with institutionalized churches, the merger of church and state led to church-sanctioned wars, corruption in both church and state, huge social and economic differences between the clergy and the laity, limitations on individual rights, and resistance to science and modernization. The same was and is true throughout the history of Islamic empires and nations.

These facts are what led to the enactment of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which, in part, reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Next time:  the US founding fathers on religion and state.