Three good books
I've been reading three books lately that I'm pretty excited about. They're helping me refocus my attention on something which is at the heart of my favorite subjects, belief and disbelief. That focus is howprecisely, belief systems grow, prosper, or fall away.
I'm reading a book entitled The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan-the Lives and Struggles of Christians Through the Ages-And the Impending Crisis. The book was reprinted in 1998 but the original work was conceived in the late 1800s by E.G. White. So far I've learned of the origins of Christianity as a separate, opposing belief to that of Catholicism. I didn't know until reading the book how many modern, fundamentalists sects view The Church, or why the conflict between the two sides has been around for so long. The author explains that the Catholic Church is a tool-or the domain-of Satan. He describes its origin when Constantine and other Romans adopted Christianity in order to pacify the masses and give limitless authority to the Roman empire. White describes how pagan symbols and rituals were melded with Christian teaching by the rulers of the time. Such bastardizations of the true teachings of Christ are evidence of Satan's role in Catholicism, the author maintains; as stands the blatant disregard popes have had for the commandments of God, like the ban on the use of physical idols and the God-like position the popes have taken in the Church. The book also describes the crimes of the church against nonbelievers and heretics over the ages.
But what is more interesting is how those who rebelled against the power and authority of the Church finally, after centuries of martyrdom, established their own churches. It is the story of modern Christianity-the Christianity that is so abundant in the United States and much of Europe. Its interesting to think that at one time a dominant force had power over men's minds, and that a liberal shift away from a rigid closed system was made towards a more open, free-thinking religious system.
If I can understand how this happened then I can understand how a similar but more complete liberal shift may someday occur. Religious belief, like the pope of old, still retains false authority, and still actively suppresses truth, freedom, and progress. Undoubtedly, modern fundamentalist Christianity has more in common with the old Catholic Church than it does with a truly free society.
A History of Evangelism in the United States by W.L. Muncy, Jr was written in 1945. So far I've been impressed with the fact that Christianity has not always been so popular in the United States. There have been definite periods of religious revival as well as long periods of religious decline. High numbers of conversions can, in large part, be attributed to the work of a small number of talented, charismatic ministers. This demonstrates the power that one man can possess and the power of the ideas which he dispenses. Or, if some of the words spoken are not deserving of the term "idea" do to their lack of meaning, we can use Richard Dawkin's more sparse, basic term, "meme". Perhaps even more evident upon reading of the success of popular evangelists is how easily transferable memes are from impressionable mind to impressionable mind, particularly when those memes are tightly bound to powerful emotions.
Probably the most entertaining book of the three is Freedom's Ferment, Phases of American Social History from the Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Civil War, written in 1944 by Alice Felt Tyler. By detailing the rise and fall of specific religious, spiritual, and political social organizations, this book demonstrates that almost anyone can convince others of falsehoods or flawed notions. It has happened over and over and over again throughout not just American history, but world history. I cannot understand how this fact does not make any believer profoundly uncomfortable.
I'm reading a book entitled The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan-the Lives and Struggles of Christians Through the Ages-And the Impending Crisis. The book was reprinted in 1998 but the original work was conceived in the late 1800s by E.G. White. So far I've learned of the origins of Christianity as a separate, opposing belief to that of Catholicism. I didn't know until reading the book how many modern, fundamentalists sects view The Church, or why the conflict between the two sides has been around for so long. The author explains that the Catholic Church is a tool-or the domain-of Satan. He describes its origin when Constantine and other Romans adopted Christianity in order to pacify the masses and give limitless authority to the Roman empire. White describes how pagan symbols and rituals were melded with Christian teaching by the rulers of the time. Such bastardizations of the true teachings of Christ are evidence of Satan's role in Catholicism, the author maintains; as stands the blatant disregard popes have had for the commandments of God, like the ban on the use of physical idols and the God-like position the popes have taken in the Church. The book also describes the crimes of the church against nonbelievers and heretics over the ages.
But what is more interesting is how those who rebelled against the power and authority of the Church finally, after centuries of martyrdom, established their own churches. It is the story of modern Christianity-the Christianity that is so abundant in the United States and much of Europe. Its interesting to think that at one time a dominant force had power over men's minds, and that a liberal shift away from a rigid closed system was made towards a more open, free-thinking religious system.
If I can understand how this happened then I can understand how a similar but more complete liberal shift may someday occur. Religious belief, like the pope of old, still retains false authority, and still actively suppresses truth, freedom, and progress. Undoubtedly, modern fundamentalist Christianity has more in common with the old Catholic Church than it does with a truly free society.
A History of Evangelism in the United States by W.L. Muncy, Jr was written in 1945. So far I've been impressed with the fact that Christianity has not always been so popular in the United States. There have been definite periods of religious revival as well as long periods of religious decline. High numbers of conversions can, in large part, be attributed to the work of a small number of talented, charismatic ministers. This demonstrates the power that one man can possess and the power of the ideas which he dispenses. Or, if some of the words spoken are not deserving of the term "idea" do to their lack of meaning, we can use Richard Dawkin's more sparse, basic term, "meme". Perhaps even more evident upon reading of the success of popular evangelists is how easily transferable memes are from impressionable mind to impressionable mind, particularly when those memes are tightly bound to powerful emotions.
Probably the most entertaining book of the three is Freedom's Ferment, Phases of American Social History from the Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Civil War, written in 1944 by Alice Felt Tyler. By detailing the rise and fall of specific religious, spiritual, and political social organizations, this book demonstrates that almost anyone can convince others of falsehoods or flawed notions. It has happened over and over and over again throughout not just American history, but world history. I cannot understand how this fact does not make any believer profoundly uncomfortable.
posted by Josh at
2:35 PM
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