Does America Need A Reformation?

[Soph0571]

501 years ago, Martin Luther rocked (and ultimately changed) the Christian world when he pinned his 95 articles of faith to the church door, challenging the established church and its position of power at the very heart of Europe. Let’s face it, the established churches did not exactly shower themselves in glory during those years. The cardinals and the bishops sat at the very heart of the Tudor Court and they clung onto that power with everything they had. Time has moved on of course and the power of the church has diminished considerably. Today, in the UK, we are a diverse community where all the world’s great faiths are represented, 42% of the population say they have no faith and over 50% do not identify as Christian. Within that backdrop we still have 26 Bishops sitting in the House of Lords (our secondary, revising, chamber).

Today, literally today, we see a new era of the religious right taking control in America. In the White House a gabble of evangelists, fundamentalists, young earth creationists, dominionists, end of the world wannabees who want to bring about the end times so they can witness the rapture, are all sitting at the heart of power much in the same way the Church did 500 years ago across the pond. One might ask does America need a reformation of its own? They make our 26 Bishops snoozing on the dusty benches of the House of Lords seem really rather tame.

Of course we all live in liberal democracies (for now at least) and within that framework of governance people are free to believe what they hell they want and people are always going to have a set of religious, or non-religious beliefs that are there to impel them to make moral choices, get involved, lobby and get into the public square and try and change their world around them to meet their own moral and ethical frameworks. This is a good. This is what creates communities and societies. The problem comes when people take religion into government and start legislating based on it. Bringing religion together with power is always a recipe for disaster. Looking at the religious zealots now comfortably ensconced in Trumps White House and we maybe need to consider gathering together a disaster relief team in the form a new reformation. Trumps minions personal faith is their business, as long as they keep it personal to them. That would not be a problem. The concern has to be that they are using law to impose their religious thesis on everyone else. We all know that is their plan of action and life in a theocracy is not pretty.

The juxtaposition between the application of faith and politics in the UK and US is rather interesting. The UK does not have a legal construct of separation of church and state, indeed we have a state religion, however in practice policy development is in no way influenced by faith, thanks in great part to the Reformation. Of course, it is the direct opposite in the states, no state church, but as sure as night follows day during Trumps regime, religion will pervade every aspect of policy decision making. A scary thought indeed for anyone who does not think like them.

I’ll say it again. Reformation anyone?

[DetlefK]

1. The Reformation actually lead to an increase in religious extremism. And war.

The Reformation was the answer to the institutional corruption within the Catholic Church.
(Some scholars claim, it was also about the willingness of the Catholic Church to adopt pre-christian roman and greek philosophy into their teachings.)

When the Reformation came, it replaced a corrupt church with religious fanatics hellbent on destroying people who don't believe in the Bible in the right way.

Europe was split with England, France and half of Germany on one side, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the other half of Germany on the other side.

In 1619 a local political problem in Bohemia (nowadays Czech Republic) lead to a geopolitical clash, when both a protestant and a catholic noble claimed right to the title of King of Bohemia. And just like later WWI, this served the various rulers as a convenient pretext for going to war against each other. The result was the 30-Year-War.

[CanonRay]

2. We need a Truth and Reconciliation

we are overwhelmed with lies and deceit.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. The Reformation dealt with corruption and "bad" theology in a single entity, the Catholic Church,

which in those days was the only church. A modern "reformation" would have to be political because the evangelical churches are pursuing political, not theological goals. At the core of Luther's protest was the church's practice of selling indulgences, contributions that would buy a ticket to Heaven, which Luther considered both corrupt (it was; Pope Leo X was collecting the money to rebuild St. Peter's in Rome) and heretical. He believed that one could attain salvation only through faith, not through works (i.e., indulgences). But eventually the Reformation resulted in many Protestant churches with no central hierarchy or even a consistent doctrine, so it would be difficult to aim any sort of reformation at any of them. On which church door are you going to nail your 95 theses?

In the last 40 years or so in the U.S., the evangelical churches have involved themselves in secular politics, with their primary focus anti-abortion and anti-LGBT legislation. But the only "theology" involved is a based on a vague but nevertheless intense belief that abortion and homosexuality are sinful, even though neither is mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Since we have a Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, the government has to leave these churches alone and let them preach their craziness. What is both necessary and possible is not a "reformation" of these churches but a steadfast resistance to their imposition of their beliefs, through legislation, on our secular society.

[Voltaire2]

4. No. Americans need to wake the fuck up.

More religion is not helpful.

[marylandblue]

5. A small 'r' reformation

Not the massive political and cultural upheaval of the 16th century. But sweeping out the corruption and getting more in tune with modern values would be good.

Unfortunately, such changes often do cause upheavals and can get violent. So while the outcome might be an improvement, it could be a rough ride getting there.

[Pope George Ringo II]

6. I would suggest that the Reformation/Counter-Reformation dynamic is not the best model here.

I'd point to a more American phenomenon, the "Great Awakening." Every so often, the United States just loses its damn mind and gets a fit of religious fervor. Eventually, people return to normal for a while, and then it happens again, usually a little less forcefully. I'm not really sure there's an antidote for it except time. And I worry that a nation struggling to adapt to a changing place in the world is more vulnerable to this sort of nonsense, so things might get worse before they get better.

[guillaumeb]

7. A reformation in our thinking?

A reformation in what is taught as history?

[Iggo]

8. I'll roll with Enlightenment.

[uriel1972]

9. No NO NO NO NO...

Did I say NO! already... it needs an Enlightenment or at least a Renaissance.

[The Genealogist]

10. I'd be happy if the damned christofascists would just mind their own damned business

They won't, of course. They'll not be happy until everyone is forced to choose between joining them or being executed for their "sins."