Recently a dear friend asked me in an email about my spiritual beliefs, if I believed in God and Jesus Christ. In my reply, I said that I believe in God, Jesus is the Messiah and Mary gave birth to Jesus. Also, I believe in revelation, that God sent his message through the Holy Spirit/Archangel Gabriel to prophets. My friend then asked how I’m able to reconcile my radical political beliefs with my religious beliefs. From my perspective, religion and politics are not mutually exclusive.
In the United States, in our present time, I would be considered a radical, but in most parts of the world I would be considered an ordinary socialist. I believe in an activist government because there are problems the private sector cannot solve by itself.
Admittedly, I’m to the left of most liberals. Capitalism as a doctrine cannot govern society because the goal of modern capitalism is the accumulation of wealth. Conservative Republicans and Tea Party activists argue for lower taxes on millionaires and billionaires because lower taxes will lead to job growth, except that we have had low taxes for the top one percent for the last ten years and it has not resulted in job growth. Instead it’s led to hoarding cash. The private sector is sitting on two trillion dollars. The only thing lower taxes will do is increase wealth.
I believe capitalism equals exploitation. Society is at the mercy of profiteering and greed. We pay premiums into a private for profit health insurance industry that will use any excuse to deny medical coverage because paying a six-figure hospital bill will negatively impact profits.
We are at the mercy of pharmaceutical companies because the costs of life saving medications could bankrupt 95% of the people living in the United States.
Homelessness is a major problem in New York City for more than two decades. Why are people homeless? Because they cannot afford to pay rent. The market dictates the cost of renting an apartment and high rents exclude the middle class and the poor.
Public education is in danger of becoming extinct. A free education is perceived as a poor education and families are forced to pay tuition to private schools because the government does not invest resources into public schools. Want to see how important public schools are to politicians, just walk into a public school library and pull out a book at random. Chances are the book is older than you are.
Middle class families are faced with the challenge of feeding, educating and providing shelter for their children. They are one illness away from bankruptcy.
These are problems Americans choose to endure. In Europe, healthcare and education are affordable, but these political systems are socialized and socialism is considered evil in the United States.
As a political scientist, I perceive religious movements as political movements, religious figures as political activists and it’s through this perception that I can reconcile politics with religion.
Abraham is acknowledged in Judaism, Christianity and Islam as the first monotheist. We take for granted the revolutionary impact in the concept of one Creator.
Polytheistic societies are predisposed to being unequal. Multiple gods implies some members of society are stronger than others, or more privileged than others and in some extreme cases kings proclaim themselves to be deities, for example Pharaoh in Egypt and Caesar in Rome. The social structures of these unequal societies are static with an absence of social mobility. If you were born into the aristocracy, you will remain there. A child of a slave will remain a slave.[i]
Abraham lived in a polytheistic society. By proclaiming one God as the creator of the universe, he is also making the following statement: We are all equal in the eyes of the one true God. The King and the slave were equal in stature. Not only did Abraham challenge the notion of multiple gods, he affirmed his right to choose his own religious beliefs, challenged the tribe’s state religion, and introduced the concept of social mobility.[ii] The child of a peasant or a slave could aspire. Abraham was a threat to the structure of the society built around the concept polytheism.
Abraham was a political revolutionary because he was able to merge the theological concept of one God with the political aspirations of countless oppressed peoples throughout history: We are all equal. The slave master is not better than the slave. The hedge fund manager is not better than the sweatshop worker.
President Bush was mocked for naming Jesus as his favorite political philosopher during a Republican presidential debate. I thought it was unfair because I perceive Jesus to be a political figure, but Present Bush was unable to explain why he thought Jesus was a political philosopher. I think I can.
First, “Rome reserved crucifixion for two categories of people: those who challenged imperial rule (violently or nonviolently) and chronically defiant slaves… The two groups who were crucified had something in common: both rejected Roman imperial domination… [Crucifixion] was state torture and terrorism.”[iii]
From this passage, we can deduce Jesus was a political prisoner who was crucified to deter the masses from revolting against Roman imperialism.
Second, in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians he writes, “We proclaim Christ crucified.” (1 Corinthians 1:23) To the people suffering under the oppression of Roman imperialism, this is a code meaning the Roman imperialists executed Jesus, but justice prevailed because God resurrected Jesus. Christ crucified became a message of hope.[iv]
If Jesus was executed as a political prisoner, then what was the nature of the political threat against Roman imperialism?
Romans lived under polytheistic doctrine. In fact, Caesar Augustus (31 BCE to 14 CE) was proclaimed, “Divine, Son of God, God, and God from God… Lord, Liberator, Redeemer and Savior of the World.”[v]
The Romans had a peculiar notion of peace. Peace on Earth could only be achieved through violence and victory over their opponents, or to paraphrase Mao, peace by the tip of a spear.
Jesus was born into a monotheistic faith (Judaism), but Jews were subjects of the Roman Empire. Jesus’ concept of peace was through nonviolence and justice. Here we have the first conflict with the Roman Empire who believed that violent conquest over their enemies and violence to maintain order will lead to peace. Jesus preached God is the ultimate authority; God commands us to live peacefully among ourselves and will dispense justice to those who disobey God’s commandments.[vi]
Jesus and the Roman Empire did not only disagree about methods of achieving peace. Jesus preached the oneness of God, the sole Creator. Just as with Abraham, Jesus presented an alternate religious doctrine that was contrary to the Roman theology, but the Romans considered Judaism to be a religion of a conquered people. It was not a threat.
But the concept of one God means we are all equal. Caesar Augustus was created by the same God that created Jewish peasants who were under the control of Roman imperialism.
Jesus’ concept of equality is best encapsulated in the Parable of the Great Feast. “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’
21“The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”
There are two messages within this parable. The first is obvious to Christians. Many will be invited to the Kingdom of Heaven, but few will be admitted. The second is subtle, but more subversive.
We take for granted the concept of sharing a meal with other people from different social strata, but during Jesus’ time nobleman ate with nobleman, peasants with peasants, slaves with salves, etc. In the parable, the man was willing to share his great feast with “the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame” because they are all equal.[vii] This is a message the Romans could not accept. Jesus is crucified because he’s preaching subversive messages and in the Roman Empire the best way to maintain peace is through violent public executions with the goal of discouraging more subversion.
Religion and politics can cohabitate, but unfortunately religion is easily corrupted by charlatans and politics in the United States is disposed towards corruption. We, as a nation, are dangerously close to becoming an oligarchy, a 21st century version of the United Fruit Company. Money equals speech and corporations have the same rights of individuals. Politicians have access to universal health care, but we are denied the same right. We claim to be a Christian nation, but we forget the basic rules of Christianity. We are all equal.
Revelation is much more than commandments to abide by, they’re ethics to live by and I believe every citizen should have access to affordable healthcare, a quality education, a job that provides wages to support a family, and government should protect us from bankruptcy.
If I'm a radical, it's because I try to follow in the footsteps of other radicals like Abraham and Jesus.
[i] Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, “What’s Right With Islam Is What’s Right With America,” HarperCollins, 2005, page 11.
[ii] Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, “What’s Right With Islam Is What’s Right With America,” HarperCollins, 2005, page 11.
[iii] Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, “The First Paul,” HarperCollins, 2009, page 131.
[iv] Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, “The First Paul,” HarperCollins, 2009, page 132.
[v] Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, “The First Paul,” HarperCollins, 2009, page 93.
[vi] Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, “The First Paul,” HarperCollins, 2009, page 121.
[vii] John Dominic Crossan, “Jesus A Revoluntionary Biography, HarperCollins, 1995, page 74.
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