John Harris, who is one of the leading lights of the Lawful Rebellion movement (mentioned in a previous blog) has been doing his share of rabble-rousing as we approach a General Election (which he calls the election - or rather, appointment - of a general). Once again I find that he has been airing his extensive and formidable ignorance concerning British history and society by expressing some of the most scandalous statements without resorting to any means of proof to authenticate them. While it must be agreed that we are no more than slaves on this island, whose purpose is to turn the treadmill for those privileged enough to be born into families that rake in the proceeds of our toil and sweat, I start to bristle when Mr Harris turns his fire on the Christian Church, which he blandly accuses of being a part of the status quo that has helped (and continues to help) suppress the masses and maintain order for the benefit of the privileged few.
He credits the Church with a great deal more influence than it actually has. For example, the Archbishop of Canterbury has already publicly stated in recent months that he believes that the politicians in Government regard Christianity as some kind of social disease rather than a force for good. Never has the Church had less influence than it has today; we only have to look at the secular agendas set by politicians in the last 25 years. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, its influence is likely to recede further in the light of recent disclosures of cover-ups for gross sexual offences against children by priests. Even Ratzinger can't get out of that one, as he's also implicated.
What are the facts? Well, the Christian Church certainly has played a role in the maintaining of the status quo. This is beyond dispute. However, there have always been tensions within the Church between Establishment-maintainers and those who wanted to reform the Church according to its original biblical foundations. Some were burned at the stake because they posed a threat to the status quo; Savonarola was one such victim; William Tindale was killed for translating Scripture into English. By the time Luther came into the scene, the exploitation and corruption in the medieval Church was at an all-time peak; it was palpably on the take with the cynical sale of indulgences to help fund the new basilica building project. But Luther's arrival at a biblical understanding of the Gospel and his posting of the 95 Theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg was (unbeknown to him) to prove to be the catalyst to pull together already existing strands of dissent and discontent from many quarters of Europe. Consequently the Protestant Reformation was born. In due time the established protestant churches became identified with the state, and once again there were internal dissents and secessions, resulting in new churches. And so it goes.
And now our Mr Harris is accusing the Church of bolstering the position of the socially dominant in our society. Which one, Mr Harris? The Church of England? Oh, yes, the C of E is the 'established' church. Personally, I'd be very happy to see it disestablished - the sooner the better. But I can't see Mr Brown or Mr Cameron having regular briefings from the Archbishop at No. 10 Downing Street. Nor from the Cardinal or the leader of the Methodists. For the sake of maintaining the illusion of 'diversity', though, an imam might tag along. Mr Harris - one of the first things you need to do is to make sure you're sure of the ground you're standing on. Otherwise I might be tempted to believe that you're just taking the piss.
