The Divine Right Of Men

     [Christianity is] the most persecuted religion in the world today.” -- Glenn Reynolds

     There are days it all seems just too terribly clear.

     In the late M. Stanton Evans’ remarkable, critically important book The Theme Is Freedom, he develops a brilliant case for the proposition that political freedom depends upon the acknowledgement of an authority higher than any temporal authority: i.e., God. He further argues that of all the belief systems that have ever been followed, Christianity is the only one that emphasizes individual freedom as the rightful condition of men, to be protected from the encroachments of temporal powers. The United States of America, a near to uniformly Christian country for most of its history, is the modern society in which this coupling of religious belief to liberty has been most clearly demonstrated.

     Given that premise, does it not make sense that they who seek to eradicate human freedom should target Christianity first and foremost? Does it not suggest that anyone you hear ridiculing Christians or denigrating Christianity should be viewed with a degree of suspicion?

     That’s for openers, Gentle Reader. Whether you’re Christian or not, I advise you to give it some thought.

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     If there should ever be founded a Hall of Fame for Sensible Men, I’d nominate Gilbert Keith Chesterton as its patron saint:

     The curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden.

     Chesterton was famous even in his own lifetime for his hard sense and good nature. The quote above, echoed in spirit by Henry Louis Mencken:

     Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.

     …perfectly captures Christianity’s defense of human freedom: What it forbids are things we grasp intuitively to be evil. I have often confounded a militant atheist by asking him “Which of the Commandments do you find objectionable?” And answer comes there none. And this is scarcely odd, because…well, you can work it out for yourselves.

     (A quick digression: Christianity must not be confused with the doctrines propounded by nominally Christian churches or their human clerics. Christianity is entirely expressed by its Founder, Jesus of Nazareth, in the four Gospels that record His life, words, deeds, Passion and Resurrection. All else is an elaboration on those teachings by fallible men. Keep that in mind.)

     It is an irony to pin all the meters against their stops that they who denigrate Christianity cannot argue against it on any rational grounds. They denounce it as “superstition,” “fear of death,” and other irrelevancies. They refuse to treat with its prescriptions…because those prescriptions directly oppose what they seek: power for themselves and their fellow-travelers.

     God Himself has only ten rules for us. He asks nothing more. How dare any temporal authority suggest, explicitly or implicitly, that His rules don’t bind us? And how dare any temporal authority demand more than does He?

     Yet they all do.

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     Allow me to revive one of my favorite Tom Kratman quotes:

     [I]t has been said more than once that you should choose enemies wisely, because you are going to become just, or at least, much like them. The corollary to this is that your enemies are also going to become very like you....

     If I could speak now to our enemies, I would say: Do you kill innocent civilians for shock value? So will we learn to do, in time. Do you torture and murder prisoners? So will we. Are you composed of religious fanatics? Well, since humanistic secularism seems ill-suited to deal with you, don't be surprised if we turn to our churches and temples for the strength to defeat and destroy you. Do you randomly kill our loved ones to send us a message? Don't be surprised, then, when we begin to target your families, specifically, to send the message that our loved ones are not stationery.

     The enemies of Christianity, one and all, are totalitarian in ambition. That is: they seek the power to decide what is compulsory and what is forbidden, without any boundaries to the scope of their authority. Christians know that this is wrong. We decry it. We protest against it. In reply, our enemies ridicule us, drive us out of the public square, criminalize living by our beliefs, and ultimately exterminate us.

     They are not wise. Tom Kratman has delineated the inevitable response from the world’s Christians: the rebirth of the Church Militant.

     It’s coming. I sense it massing: quietly for the moment, but the moment will arrive when it will make a mighty noise. It will defend the ultimate Authority and the divine right He has granted to us, His highest earthly creatures: the right to be left alone, also known as freedom.

     Be part of it.

     May God bless and keep you all!