By Mark Owen - © 2010
Chapter 24 - The counterfeit life
If you ask the special functionThe Church offers the Christ-god to the world as 'the way, the truth and life' (John 14.6) - but, as we have clearly seen, the Christ-god is merely a construct, a figure grafted upon the simple life of a Jewish preaching-man. Upon this ever so flimsy foundation has been erected a massive edifice, the Church in its manifold expressions.
Of our never-ceasing motion,
We reply, without compunction,
That we haven't any notion!
(Sir William Gilbert: Iolanthe, Act 2)
And the way of life the Church - and, for that matter, all religion - holds out to the human race is a counterfeit of true life, a substitute, at times a very comforting and even fulfilling substitute, but a substitute none the less. And a price is always demanded of the disciple. Time, prayer and the tithe are at the lower end of the sacrificial scale. Often far more is wrung out of the disciple - leaving home and family, being buried away in a monastery or nunnery, risking life and limb in some far-off mission field, or the ultimate - a martyr's crown.
On its side of the compact the Church promises a new life, a moral life, an honest life, a happy life, and all the benefits of belief in a higher power. But how real are the promises?
'By their fruits ye shall know them,' Jesus was supposed to have said (Matthew 7: 16). I am aware that the same chapter of Matthew expands the statement, telling us that 'every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.' The defenders of the faith are quick to point out that fallen priests, the sexual deviates, the crooks and fraudsters, the wife beaters and the child abusers are the evil fruit and that the true Christians are the good fruit. But where does one draw the line, I wonder? To bear the name of Catholic an American has to have been baptized and confirmed. Yet figures for different parts of the country show the prison population as being about 50 percent Catholics whereas the proportion of Catholics in the population as a whole is about 15 percent. Clearly a disproportionate number of Catholics fill prison cells. And again, from prison statistics - Christians of all striped and hues far and away outnumber non-believers in proportion to their numbers in the total population.
Of course there are large numbers of good decent citizens who bear the name of Christian but there are so many Christians who offend that one must pose the question: if the Gospel message is so powerful and life-transforming why does it so often fail - over and over? One could fill several volumes demonstrating the failure of the promises. Hundreds, even thousands of stories can be told of criminal malfeasance, sexual abuse, and all manner of perfidy committed not only my Christian laity but by priests, pastors, nuns, bishops and (historically) even by Popes. One such story immediately comes to mind. A report published in the United Kingdom in 1997, based on a two-year study, uncovered 'alarming' evidence of domestic abuse within the Church, in particular abuse of the wives of clergy by their husbands. The report's findings were aired on British television, the program reporting that many women had left their husbands as a result of such abuse and others remained 'trapped' in unhappy relationships. Commented Lesley MacDonald, co-ordinator of the report: 'What this study shows is that abuse does not respect class or religious boundaries.' And these husbands stood in their pulpits Sunday upon Sunday pontificating on the virtues of the Christian way of life.
But Anglicans are not the only ones. I have a database recording hundreds of criminal cases involving not only Anglican and the inevitable Catholic offenders, but ministers and officials of Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostalist, Methodist and just about every denomination under the sun.
BAPTIST MINISTER DECAPITATED WIFE - runs one newspaper headline. That was in Kentucky. He buried the head and set fire to the corpse to make sure. PASTOR MOLESTED EIGHT WOMEN - another Baptist in trouble. His sordid story came to light when a 16-year-old reported the molestation. She had been sleeping at the pastor's house on Sundays and cleaned his house for money. He would sometimes molest her when his wife left the house on errands. MINISTER SHOWS PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS TO TEENAGE BOYS. The minister this time was a Methodist, the boys aged 13 and 17 and the minister didn't stop with the magazines; the boys were molested as well. CHILD PORN CRACKDOWN CATCHES CLERIC. This cleric was Presbyterian, working in New Jersey. YOUTH MINISTER ACCUSED. A Methodist youth minister in California was charged with committing lewd acts on a 12-year-old boy. PREACHER GETS 30 YEARS. For sexual abuse of a 5-year-old girl (yes, 5 years of age), including sodomy, the preacher being a Pentecostalist pastor in Oklahoma. The sordid stories go on and on. At last count my database recorded just on 500 of them.
One can understand some of the very human lapses in those who profess Christian faith but a word 'hypocrisy' in large letters is so often displayed like some blood-red banner over the actions of such people. Take an amazing manifestation of hypocrisy when the churches in Britain condemned the National Lottery, demanding an end to scratchcards, limiting the major prize to £1 million and other measures to curb the 'evil' of lottery gambling. A joint statement by the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland said: 'Our clear perception is many vulnerable and desperate people are being induced to spend money on the lottery that they cannot afford.' Having delivered this condemnation, the religious leaders then admitted they had been or were about to take money from the lottery! Already £1 million had gone into their coffers and another £19 million in grants had been applied for and were only awaiting approval. However, Anglican Bishop David Shepherd had a ready answer to this amazing piece of hypocrisy. The Anglican Church, he said, only wanted to use the funds to maintain its buildings, never to finance pastoral care. Was the bishop chuckling at his own joke when he justified the church's action in this way? Or was he deadly serious? As they say, 'None so blind . . .'
Add to this the hypocrisy of churches in a number of countries accepting without demur the tax-free status for their considerable incomes and running their worship centres in properties that pay no council rates. Indeed such appalling abuses of the public purse go back a long way. Two centuries ago the Church of England was financially supported from several sources, including a levy on businesses and agricultural tithes levied on farmers. Some form of tithe was imposed as far back as the 9th century. Members of other denominations strongly objected to the exactions flowing into the coffers of the established Church. But other countries had their own forms of compulsory taxes directed to the support of churches. And the way in which religious bodies today in the USA drain every ounce of profit from their status is scandalous. It has been claimed that the reason Scientology turned itself into a 'religion' was to benefit from this largesse.
Thus, religion and business are inextricably linked in the modern world, especially in the USA. In 1925 Bruce Barton, an advertising executive, wrote a book, The Man Nobody Knows. Barton neatly shifted the emphasis of the Gospels when he wrote: 'Jesus . . . picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world.' Leaving aside Mr Barton's obvious error of fact - none of the Twelve built the world church, but rather the circle of persons around St Paul - the emphasis placed upon the association between business and religion in this and countless other books (e.g. the quintessential 'success' book, Think and Grow Rich) is entirely appropriate.
Many televangelists and preachers expound what has been described as the 'prosperity gospel.' From their pulpits they exhort the flock to work and prosper, telling the faithful that God 'wants them to be rich.' I have nothing against the idea of getting rich; I would dearly like to have a few more dollars here and there. In this respect the appeal of the prosperity gospel message is understandable. And it certainly produces some worthwhile benefits for the churches that promote it. Tithes and thankofferings flow into the coffers of these organization, enabling construction and maintenance of their giant houses of worship (helped along by sponging on the community as I have pointed out).
As, through the magic of television, I view the rituals of the faith, some carried on in the gigantic glass palaces of fundamentalist preachers, others in the colourful but almost comical ceremonies of Rome or Athens I marvel at how far this body of believers known as the Church has come from the days when it stepped away from the simple band of believers gathered in Jerusalem. Jesus surely would not recognize these people as his own. And Jesus surely would not have approved of the manifold cruelties, deprivations, torture, murder and abuse, in short, the misery of the religion falsely erected upon his name.
