Christianity
Nov. 12th, 2006 01:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynThis is a ramble, brought to you by an assortment of random communities which sparked my overtired brain and left me feeling the need to try and say something profound at 1 am.
I think I'm growing tired of Christianity being described as 'oppressive', 'patriarchal', 'the white man's religion', 'a male dominated religion', and a dozen other hackneyed phrases which all try and convey this impression of Christianity as the US Republican Party with added alters and crucifixes.
Christianity, as I understand it, was originally one of a number of mystery religions which became popular in the late Roman Empire, especially amongst the poor and vulnerable. Most religions at the time essentially offered one deal - you worship [insert name of deity here], and in return you'd get good stuff. If you didn't get the good stuff, your chosen deity probably didn't like, and it would mostly suck to be you. Christianity (amongst some others) offered a more intangible reward, that of life/reward after death. It offered the poor, the desperate and the weak something that they could continue to hope for, and a belief that something cared, even if the physical world which they lived in seemed to demonstrate that there was no divine presence watching out for them.
Christianity wasn't a 'religion of oppression'. It was a religion of the oppressed, of the poor, of the downtrodden.
Has that changed? Insomuch as it was adopted by the elite and has therefore become entwined with that elite, it has. Yet the entire bible, with its endless harping on about the need to protect the weak and the vulnerable, about how the poor shall be rewarded - that's not changed.
Is it a religion which oppresses women? Well, if you believe that everyone prior to Christ was worshipping a loving and naked Earth Mother, then maybe. If, on the other hand, you believe that many women were living in a classical society in which one's husband or father had the power of life and death over the women in their family, had no political rights, no right to wealth or control of their own life, and were sold into marriage at relatively young ages, then maybe you'll see Christianity as no better and no worse than many of the moral codes of its day. It did, at least, emphasise that women too have a soul which is of equal significance to men, and that they too were entitled to certain things in the eyes of G-d.
Admittedly, it's track record on feminism since hasn't been too great.
Is Christianity intrinsically a 'white man's religion'? For chrissakes! The goddamn faith came into being in the middle east. It is still worshipped in Egypt, and in the middle east by people who can trace the lineage of their faith back to the first Christians. In terms of numbers today, there are more Christians in Africa, and in South America than there are in Europe or America. It has never been a 'white man's religion'. It is a religion which was adopted with a great deal of enthusiasm by the European elites of the last 1000 years, but to call it a 'white man's religious' is to entirely disregard its history, where it comes from, where it originated from, and what it is now.
Bah. And humbug.
This incoherant rant is brought to you by an assortment of pagan, anti-racist, and assorted identity politics websites, and Sally's ongoing fondness for any faith that invested so heavily in illuminated manuscripts and stained glass windows.
I think I'm growing tired of Christianity being described as 'oppressive', 'patriarchal', 'the white man's religion', 'a male dominated religion', and a dozen other hackneyed phrases which all try and convey this impression of Christianity as the US Republican Party with added alters and crucifixes.
Christianity, as I understand it, was originally one of a number of mystery religions which became popular in the late Roman Empire, especially amongst the poor and vulnerable. Most religions at the time essentially offered one deal - you worship [insert name of deity here], and in return you'd get good stuff. If you didn't get the good stuff, your chosen deity probably didn't like, and it would mostly suck to be you. Christianity (amongst some others) offered a more intangible reward, that of life/reward after death. It offered the poor, the desperate and the weak something that they could continue to hope for, and a belief that something cared, even if the physical world which they lived in seemed to demonstrate that there was no divine presence watching out for them.
Christianity wasn't a 'religion of oppression'. It was a religion of the oppressed, of the poor, of the downtrodden.
Has that changed? Insomuch as it was adopted by the elite and has therefore become entwined with that elite, it has. Yet the entire bible, with its endless harping on about the need to protect the weak and the vulnerable, about how the poor shall be rewarded - that's not changed.
Is it a religion which oppresses women? Well, if you believe that everyone prior to Christ was worshipping a loving and naked Earth Mother, then maybe. If, on the other hand, you believe that many women were living in a classical society in which one's husband or father had the power of life and death over the women in their family, had no political rights, no right to wealth or control of their own life, and were sold into marriage at relatively young ages, then maybe you'll see Christianity as no better and no worse than many of the moral codes of its day. It did, at least, emphasise that women too have a soul which is of equal significance to men, and that they too were entitled to certain things in the eyes of G-d.
Admittedly, it's track record on feminism since hasn't been too great.
Is Christianity intrinsically a 'white man's religion'? For chrissakes! The goddamn faith came into being in the middle east. It is still worshipped in Egypt, and in the middle east by people who can trace the lineage of their faith back to the first Christians. In terms of numbers today, there are more Christians in Africa, and in South America than there are in Europe or America. It has never been a 'white man's religion'. It is a religion which was adopted with a great deal of enthusiasm by the European elites of the last 1000 years, but to call it a 'white man's religious' is to entirely disregard its history, where it comes from, where it originated from, and what it is now.
Bah. And humbug.
This incoherant rant is brought to you by an assortment of pagan, anti-racist, and assorted identity politics websites, and Sally's ongoing fondness for any faith that invested so heavily in illuminated manuscripts and stained glass windows.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-13 12:55 pm (UTC)I think what I've been trying to say is that while various Christian churches, including the Catholic, the Orthodox, and the Church of England have done some bad stuff, and while there are many obnoxious Christians, it bugs me when Christianity - in terms of the very basic ideas behind it (which I try and go back to the very beginning to get, and try and place in the context of its time) - is described as such when my reading of the basics of it just don't say that.
Basically, I think, I don't like people continually painting Christianity as if it were a religion designed to be The Man, when it wasn't meant that way at first at all.
I don't think I'd normally have written this, if it weren't for 'symbolism of the mystery cults' sitting beside me while some random American ranted online about how the basic message of Christianity inevitably lead to colonialism. Which I think it shite.
Sadly, I was half asleep when I rambled and was probably quite unclear. And have kinda been debating and tossing thoughts around in between other thoughts ever since. I totally accept I'm not at my debating best here, and my use of teminology is probably very muddled.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-13 03:56 pm (UTC)I guess one issue is that there's really not one single "Christianity" to talk about. Do you mean modern Christianity, and if so what flavour? Do you mean ancient Christianity, and if so do you mean AD50 messianic Christianity which was basically Judaism with added Messiah, Pauline Christianity, the Christianity of Constantine, Gnosticism, Christianity post-the codification of the Bible?
Some of them I'd agree with some of what you say, some of them I wouldn't, and so on and so on...
(Also - "basic message of Christianity"? That's a dumb thing for your random American to say right there. If you got fifty of the top academics on comparative religion together today, they'd be hard-pressed to say what the hell that message actually was.)