I was watching an episode of a show on the weekend and one of the characters, an autistic computer hacker savant, was sitting in a Bible study meeting and when someone asked him if he wanted to share, he took the opportunity to attack religion. Not just Christianity, mind you, but all religion – all ‘organised-religion’.
It was such a predictable moment that it took me out of the show.
For one, it appeared as if the writers had contrived the episode to create the opportunity for this grandstanding moment. Secondly, you could see it coming a mile away. Thirdly, it was a cliché attack on religion in general, and Christianity in particular – as was as if the writers had taken all their ideas from a first year philosophy course where the lecturer was a fan of 2008’s version of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. It was old hat, in many ways.
Despite this, something the character said prompted me to meditate on how historically ignorant you would have to be to make the argument he was presenting. He brought up that old line that all religions, including Christianity, were created to control the population and make them docile.
You have heard the argument before. Old religion is the opiate of the masses…
This line of attack is so tired that it probably does not have much effect on any serious thinking person. However, there is a kind of lazy thinker who still finds it to be an attractive line of thought, hence its usage in this show. Let’s take a step back and consider this argument for a moment. Come reason with me, and let’s test the soundness of this position. You’ll see how far short it falls.
What is the most significant religious moment in the whole Old Testament? If you have not read the Bible you might not know the answer to this, but it is simple. Outside of creation itself, the most significant moment is the Exodus. All of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, leads toward the Exodus. The rest of the Old Testament, in large measure, harkens back to it. It is the central salvation event in the Old Testament which frames how God’s people should see their Lord, each other, and this world.
What happened during the Exodus? Moses, at the instigation of He Who Is Who He Is, the Lord Almighty, led a rebellion and an insurrection against the largest empire in the known world at that time. It was such a cataclysmic event that Egypt never fully recovered. Egypt diminished as a result of the economic and social devastation caused by that Exodus. The central narrative of the Old Testament is an account of people choosing God over comfort, stability, and loyalty to the state, and being willing to suffer in the wilderness instead. There were times when many amongst the Hebrews regretted their decision and longed for the garlic and leeks of Egypt, but still, they chose to break free of their oppressors at the instigation of their Lord.
The central account of the first part of the most influential book in history was a kind of revolution that set people free from oppression.
This event was to frame how this people saw themselves. This creates a unique kind of people. This creates a people who have a complicated and dynamic relationship with their leaders.
There is much in the Old Testament which encourages and even commands submission to authority figures. But this submission to Earthly leaders is always one link in a chain that leads to the highest authority, God himself, and those who know they can defy Pharaoh at the command of God, also know that they can reserve the right to defy any other tyrant or leader who comes between them and God.
How can such a religion be accused of being created by tyrants to pacify populations?
Those who are familiar with Sunday school classes, even if not the whole Bible, will probably remember the account of Daniel and the Lions’ Den, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the blazing furnace. These two stories recount the godly defiance of unjust orders by four men who are considered heroes of the Christian faith. These men were part of the Jewish population in exile in Babylon at the instigation of the Lord himself, and they were under commands to work and pray for the welfare of the pagan cities amongst which they were sojourners. Yet they also understood that being good citizens of heaven was a higher priority than being good citizens of any earthly kingdom, and so when these two things came into conflict they chose the higher priority. This is what makes them heroes. They chose to risk terrible deaths, Daniel at the jaws of hungry lions, and the other three, the prospect of being burned alive, rather than risk defying their God.
They understood that the chain of authority is not a linear line. Yes, Kings stand at a higher point than the general populous in the hierarchy of authority ordained by God, but the authority of God overrules all other authorities at any point at which it comes into conflict with the authority of men. Therefore, everyone has a responsibility to follow God’s authority first. The kind of religion created by the Exodus creates the very kinds of heroes that we see in examples like Daniel and his three contemporaries. Men who obey God over other men. And they are not the only ones.
The most significant characters outside of the kings in the Old Testament are the prophets, who starting with Moses and ending with John the Baptist, often found themselves in conflict with the State. Tradition tells us that Isaiah, who was a high-ranking priest in Judah, was sawn in half. Jeremiah’s conflict with the authorities he is prophesying against is famous and recounted in some detail in the book named after himself. Many other prophets also found themselves in a similar situation, because they challenged the state structures that were defying the authority of God. Jesus himself describes what a prophet can expect, ‘Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’ (Matt. 5:11-12). The whole concept of being one of these men was being willing to defy unjust orders, or general injustice when necessary. This creates a particular kind of faith, a faith where its adherents are expected to be willing to suffer for doing what is right, even when it is unpopular, especially when it is.
This brings us squarely into the New Testament. Christians serve a Lord and Saviour who was murdered by the state, both Jewish and Roman, because he refused to play along with the traditions of the Jewish leaders. Take stock of that for a minute. Atheists, in all their grand intelligence, have the gall to argue that a religion where people serve a risen saviour who was killed for defying the state, was actually created to control the masses. Could you get a dumber premise? This premise is so illogical, to even assert it you would have to work really hard to either not think deeply about it, or to have worked equally hard to make sure you have never engaged with Christianity on a serious intellectual level.
I once considered writing a piece entitled Righteous Rebels, but I decided not to do so as the Bible is clear that the sin of rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. The motivation for Christians to defy tyranny is not based on a heart of rebellion, at least it is not meant to be. It is deeply grounded in a love for God and a love for our fellow man. We know we are called to prioritise our love for God and his commands above all else, and we are to oppose that which does wrong to our fellow human beings. This can bring us into conflict with the State even when we would prefer that it did not, because often the state is directed by men who defy the commands of our Lord.
I can tell you that most Christians, along with most unbelievers, would prefer to live a quiet life, minding their own business. This is our default setting. Indeed, we are told to prefer this in Scripture, ‘…and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you…’ (1 Thess. 4:11). You will even find Christians who define their faith around this sentiment, they want to withdraw from the world, work the land quietly, stay away from people, and stay as far away from any trouble as humanly possible. But remember, this passage was written by a man who was often coming into conflict with people both inside his churches and outside of them, from both Jews and Gentiles. Sometimes entire cities were thrown into a tumult, to such a point that once he was confused by a Roman soldier of being a violent Egyptian revolutionary even though he raised a hand to no one. We should prefer peace and quiet, and even work towards that, but there is what we would prefer and then there is what we sometimes have to oppose because God would not have us go along with evil.
When evil rises this can bring quiet and peaceful Christians into conflict with the world.
The tyrants of this world have often been hammers that the devil has sought to wield to destroy the Church, but he often comes into conflict with the anvil of the perseverance of the saints of the Lord who refuse to budge.
Now, I should note before I finish, that yes, there have been times when the State has overcome the authority in the Church and used the structure of the Church as a hammer against godly men and women. But whenever this situation arises, God lifts up ordinary men and women who will even stand up to that. Every believer knows they have a direct line from their conscience to God that no priest can override, and therefore, many believers have been forced even to confront ecclesiastical authorities across history as well. So, even those times which sceptics might use as proof of their position, times when Christianity was co-opted by corrupt forces, disprove their overall thesis. Christianity is designed from the inside out to be a self-critiquing religion where every human authority is shown its limits.
If you wanted to create a religion to pacify the masses then Christianity is the opposite of what you would come up with. Christianity is the anti-tyranny faith. It is the bane of oppressors throughout history. It is the thorn in the side of many humans who seek to claim absolute power. Jesus Christ is the greatest slayer of tyrants, precisely because he overcame evil with his death and resurrection, and inspires in his believers a hope in a better world. When believed and correctly applied Christianity makes great citizens, who always reserve the right, when needed, to remind their authorities who the greatest authority is; the Lord Jesus Christ. Tyrants hate that.
You can read the full version of this article on Matthew’s Substack.
