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ABCSOFANARCHISM -> The RIGHT AND LEFT (7/16/2007 7:19:35 AM)
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The Religious Tolerance website shows 77% of Americans classify themselves as Christian Making them the most influential religious group in the country. Christianity is normally looked at as being divided into three groups the main stream, the right wing and the left wing.
And by simply turning on the television it becomes clear the voice of Christianity, that the nation hears most, is the Right Wing. Over the years their influence can be observed all over the political and social landscape in America; influencing policies on the AIDS, homosexuality, music, abortion and countless other issues. This is a shame when this group of Christians has lost sight of the original teachings of Jesus Christ but instead has chosen an ideology that spreads intolerance, bigotry and judgment instead of love and compassion for your fellow man. To the left of the mainstream is the Christian Anarchist; a much smaller group most people have never heard of. The teachings of the Christian Anarchist are closer to what Jesus intended than those of the Christian right wing organizations, as they preach a religion based off of love and not judgment or condemnation.
Now, the use of the word anarchist to describe part of the Christian faith may seem odd, perplexing, and quite possible an oxymoron, as not many would associate the anarchist with his face wrapped in a bandanna hurling Molotov Cocktails or rocks at police with a religious sect and that is not the ideology behind the use of the term Christian Anarchist. The idea behind the combination of these two words is that the supreme leader of Christians should be God and not man made institutions, which do not follow the teachings of Christ in the least and seem to do more harm for mankind than good. The Christian Anarchist is only an anarchist in the sense that they pledge all loyalties to God not the state believing the state is a non-Christian institution which we should have no part in condoning. They do not favor every Christian becoming an anarchist nor do they think all anarchists should be Christians. They do not hold to the belief like most traditional anarchist that a utopian society where no governments exist is truly possible and that anyone should be attempting to do away with the government, but simply that the teachings of Christ are far from the teachings of the state. The Christian Anarchist does not believe in using the state to pass laws on morality. However, they do teach a form of Christianity that is based on loving all people regardless of the place they find themselves, which they draw from the scriptures. They believe that the world is full of sinners and that we are all sinners and at one time we were all non-believers in the faith. They believe we are to turn the other cheek, love our enemies and our neighbors regardless of who they might be. The teachings of the bible show us how to live like Christ, thus the term Christian. The Christian Anarchist disagrees entirely with the right wings attempt to use the state as the voice of God. They believe Christians through love not hate and compassion not bigotry, can be way more effective in spreading the gospel to the world.
The right wing Christian movement in America has continuously spread a doctrine which falls some distance from the original teachings of Christ damaging the faith of non-believers and believers alike. They spread a religion of intolerance towards people outside the faith who choose to live a life not inline with their beliefs. This is not what Christ taught in the scripture. You will find teachings of just the opposite. Matthew, chapter 7, verse 1 says “Do not judge, or you will be judged.”, Luke, chapter 6, verse 37 says “do not judge and you will not be judged” and “do not condemn and you will not be condemned” , James, chapter 4, verse 12 ask the question “ who are we to judge our neighbors?”, Luke goes on to say that we should not condemn and we should forgive. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ teaches us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek. Yet none of these things seem to be what the Right Wing branch of Christianity is preaching.
The Right Wing has chosen to make enemies of those whose lives fall outside of their teachings rather then believe the scripture which states we are suppose to love them. When the late Jerry Falwell, the most famous leader of the Ring Wing Christian movement, makes statements indicating that God would punish America with a tragedy like 9/11 because of homosexuality, the women’s liberation movement, and other sins we may have committed and then condemn TV shows such as the Teletubbies because he decided it corrupted America’s Youth it should been seen clearly the lacking of understanding what Christ ideas of Christianity were. Falwell’s influence can all over America from the starting of the modern Christian fundamentalist movement in the late 70’s to fighting Americans whom he saw as the cause of the withdrawing of Gods protection from the United States. His influence helped spread a message of intolerance from the pulpits of Conservative Right Wing Christian preachers across the country helping fuel an ongoing struggle between Christians and non-Christians.
Starting in the 1980’s the Christian Right tried to convince people that AIDS was a religious issue, where God was showing us how corrupt we are as a society. The study, done by Johnson, shows that Christian, right wing fundamentalism was one of the leading reasons people showed intolerance towards AIDS victims. This intolerance feeds over into a very negative view of homosexuals and a lack of compassion for people suffering from the AIDS virus.
Although, I would agree we are a corrupt and a non-Christian society I would find it hard to believe that God wants Christians to refrain from compassion and do everything possible to try and stop the spread of a disease that has become one of the leading causes of death around the globe. Especially since Jesus spent much of his time healing people who were suffering from some form of illness or handicap. Christ never condemned people; his teachings were about love and compassion and he fought vigorously against the people in the Church whom he saw as being judgmental and pious and not acting out of love. The idea that Jesus would teach a message of love through intolerance and force is one that completely contradicts everything we read in the New Testament, from Christ’s dealings with the tax collectors and the prostitutes, to the Sermon on the Mount, and even the words spoken to the thief being executed along side Jesus.
The Christian Rights attempt to control morality through laws and politics, by putting the gay marriage and the issue of abortion at the forefront of American politics which is something the Bible would not condone, as Christianity is something that is personal and is a change of peoples’ heart not the changing of laws governing people. Once again the Bible clearly says we are not to judge those outside the church and no pastor can find versus indicating Christianity is suppose to be a religion based on moral laws the right wing is able to get the state to pass.
The teachings of Jesus do not include this ideology. The Jesus of the Bible teaches we are to love everyone as we love ourselves and never speaks of changing laws in order to make people behave a certain way. Never once in the ministry of Christ or the years following before Christendom do we see any Christians trying to pass laws in order to get people, outside of the church to behave in a certain way. Not one single incidence
The encounters Jesus had with people whom he would have seen as sinners or “non-Christians”, (a term not yet used to describe anyone in Jesus’ day), shows he was not the least bit judgmental or condemning. This example can be clearly seen when Jesus comes upon the Pharisees about to stone a lady for the sin of adultery and he says “if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”. This act clearly shows that the right wing group at the time of Christ was wrong in their condemnation of the sinner and by his example we can see our obligation is to offer hope and a different way of life.
The teachings of Christ and his apostles never say Christians should try and force the world to live by Christian standards if anything they teach just the opposite; In 1ST Corinthians Paul says “what business is of mine to judge those outside the church?” clearly indicating that this is not the role of Christians. Yet, the Right Wing Christian sect seems determined to judge “non-believers” and “throw stones”. You only have to turn on the television and wait and you will see the anti-abortion right wing groups trying to overturn ROE vs. WADE decision, the continuous ongoing fight against gay unions or the battle over what should be morally acceptable to the American people. You can see right wing leader such as Pat Robertson, who once claimed that Ariel Sharon’s stroke was punishment from God for giving away Israeli land and countless others spreading intolerance through bigoted speech.
Now, true no Christian group should condone behavior which is clearly non-Christian but they also should not spread hate by condemning members of a society which do not fall within the teachings of Christ. The letters of the New Testament written by Luke, Paul, James, and John etc. are letters written to fellow Christians telling them how to live and separate themselves from the main stream non-Christian world they lived in and are clear about reconfirming Christ’s teaching that the greatest commandments are to love God and our neighbor. As Christians we are taught to consider the bible as the infallible word of God and when these teachings stray so far from the actual intended words we as Christians should take notice of a false teaching in our midst.
The Christian Anarchist movement which stems from beliefs that the Sermon on the Mount is the way in which Christians should conduct themselves in this less-than-perfect world and that we, as Christians, are suppose to be the example of the way God intended us to live and the primary example of this is Christ. The Christian Anarchist would never dream of using a corrupt system, such as the state, to dictate and force Christianity on people. I would challenge anyone to find where Christ ever taught his followers to scream, protest and ridicule anyone for any reason; keep in mind all the followers of Christ were once the same sinners of the world, which the right wing seems to have no tolerance for, before being baptized into the faith. Simply look at Mary Magdalene, the one time prostitute, who became a follower of Christ; now try and imagine if Christ had taken the stance of the Right Wing evangelist in America and condemned her.
In the book of Matthew Jesus talks about the that we should not worry about the sins of others when we are ourselves are sinners and that only after we have corrected all of our sins should we then go trying to fix the sins of others and far to often we see leaders of the religious right abandon this theology.
The Christian Anarchist voice of love and non-judgment is clearly the closer of the two ideologies to what Christ had intended when some 2,000 years ago he began preaching in what is today modern Israel and Palestine. The Right Wing teachings lack the basic fundamentals of Christ teachings, being that of love and compassion for all mankind regardless of who they are, what decisions they make, and what lifestyle they choose to live. This modern day voice, of what could be called Pharisees, is clearly only right by name.
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