As we look down the annals of history, we see how war and peace come and go like waves at the beach. Some times in gentle ripples, other times in violent destructive movements. Since the destructive wave of World War Two, we have seen a wave of peace washing the beaches of the Earth. Granted, there have been skirmishes at times, but they have mostly been taken care of before they became too destructive.
Many of the waves depend on political views of certain peoples or nations. Depending on how politically absolutist these views are, the more destructive the waves become.
But the waves are not only empowered by politics. History tells us, when religion empowers the waves, the stronger the waves become – and in case of war, the more destructive. The reason is, that religion is believed to be based on absolute truths and absolute dictates on how to carry them out. Politics, however, is based on absolute, self-evident truths, but how to carry them out is relative!
A prime example of how destructive politics and religion are when wedded to each other is found in what happened in the year 312. Emperor (Cesar) Constantine was engaged in a political conquest in order to expand his Roman Empire. He was having troubles succeeding. He needed religion to help him and found that the Roman Gods may no longer be his best allies.
There was, however, a group of religious people, the Christians, who were becoming more and more popular in the realm. They supposedly worshiped a God of Peace. How would it be possible for the Cesar to convert their God to support his warring political conquests?
Since visions were the order of the day, Constantine had a vision. On a clear day he saw a Cross appear in the sky along with the saying: In Hoc Signo Vinces – In This sign You Shall Conquer! Egotistically convinced that this vision would bring his political views to fruition, he persuaded the Christians to abandon their God of Peace and convert to a God of War.
The Christians religiously gathered behind Constantine and expanded the Roman reign as well as Christianity using war as a means. They profaned the name of Jesus by reverting to the warlike biblical god, Yahweh. They renounced the humanist god promoted by Jesus.
Ever since that time, the Christians and their religion have been divided between their so-called gods, the God of Peace and the God of War. Historically, however, the most inhuman wars have been waged in the name of the Christian God of War!
It should be noted that peace historically has also been a sign of Christian humanism when its promotion has been centered, not so much on divine dictates, but rather on humanist aspirations.
While we may recite a myriad of historical examples of war and peace in the name of Christian religion, we should take a closer look at what is going on today. Officially, we in the USA are to separate politics from religion ever since our Founders realized how destructive a wedding of the two had proven to be historically. But today we experience politicians calling upon evangelical Christians to support their warlike politics, as well as Evangelicals calling upon politicians to support their religious conquests.
When a politician is acclaimed to be a Second Coming, a Messiah, an End of the World Prophet, and when that same politician, a self-proclaimed Cesar, is accepting this acclamation as signs from a god, history is repeating what Constantine did in the year 312, and we are again turning religion into a political conquest of Yahweh warlike biblical proportions.
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