Any society is compound by groups tha fight each other to conque power and shaping reality according their economical and social interests, often hidden under the curtain of eschatological beliefs. When power is conquered, historycally “phase two” was to legitimate it and it happened generally in three ways: In the name of the Lord; In the name of the Nation (often declined in an antidemocratic sense, as happened to all “bloood based nations in the sense of folks” as theorized for the first time in well known “Reden an die deutsche Nation” by Johann Fichte); or, in a more subtle way, a “Natural law”, a needs independent by subjective factors, a sort of compensation to restore social and ethic equilibrium in the World.
This last attempt is probably the newer and is strongly related with catholic jusnaturalist doctrine elaborated in XIX century when, to fight modernist groups leaded by cardinal as Newman (prevopusly an anglican theologist) and Ferrari, the majority of church developed the theory of a Law coming from nature and superior to any human law declared by parliament. According to them, this jusnaturalistic law had value for everyone, no matter thei religion or culture and the value was because all people belonged to nature, and this nature was the law that said what in nature was good and wrong. Obviously the interpeter of it were catholic priest that decided it, as shown in the well known “XXIV” tomistic thesys approved in 1904 by by the reigning pope at that time, Pius X.
In substance with these thesys they try to legitimate supremacy of thei world vision with soft power (not with a world but with a rational evidence of the need to follow iit to choose the right). This soft power was incarnated by the christ thelogical theory of Christ as king of all history. This supremacy (and the soft power to affirmate it) had a spiritual factor and a supremacy subject: catholics as follower of True God and guadians of the true faith. No mathe who those catholics really were in thei everyday life. No matter as if humans they were best of worse of other persons who should to be subected to their weltanshhaung. They were on the right side and had the right to lead .
Nowadays, after the foolish time of fascim,nazi doctrine and also after the communist tempt to create the “new man” free from “any religion and from capital slavery” (a dream that became a nightmare for those who lived it), a new suprematism is arising in US (in fundamentalistic reniwed churches) and is developing even more in African southern cointries, gripped by a terrible social crisis due to sovrapopulation, lack of freedom and a mix between western companies greed and local power greed often based on tribal ruling. In this situation to prevent social revolution the conservative power used the weapon of eschatology and of religious awakening to find new enemy to use as scapegoat to show frustrated masses why their countries are so poor and inequal.
These churches use the Bible as a sword and give to their followers a sense of moral impunity (and unfortunatly also legal, sometimes). They influence at first young men scared by the perspective to loose the power tradition gave them in society and think that imposing with the force or the fear and the law their way of view they can conquer society; or better, any society in wich they live or go to live, as modern conquer protected by a fearful Lord (that of ancient testament in a myopic vision).
So happened with Uganda LRA (Lord Resistance Army), a paramilitary group that after detroying villages kidnapped children to fight for a awuful “promise Land” with the only law of Lord (and his prophet, the goup leader...). So in Kenya there were a lot of children burnt because “possessed by devil” (simply had mental deseases) or girls because are witches (that here is consider a very glamour thing), in Zimbabwe there were a lot of mass rapes to horryfy oppositors (at first whites) and create a better race and in South Africa mass killings (and rapes too) of homosexuals in “The name of the Lord”.
And this is the point. How people can justify these acts, at first to themselves? Reading their books and watching interviews to followers, the impression is that they use a supremacy theory not far from that explained before about catholics in XIX century. The center is the “syllogism of retaliation”. Retaliation law was a thologiacal figure during middle ages that meant: “if you do something wrong in this life, you'll pay it in related way after dead; forever”.
In the case of many fundamentalist supremacy thinkers, considering that their churches are millenarists and so paradise is in this world (even if after the Judgment...), retailation law works for now and is merged with bible verse “the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children” (Gen. The episode of Can and Cannan cursed).Using these point they use such this syllogism: “considering that whites colonized Africa, and enslavered back africans, the white living now and in future have a neverending fault; No matter if live in nation that never went here (as the great majority, from central europe to northern to russia to all former USSR repubblics). They are fault for the fact that they are white and everything is happening of bad in our continent and everywhere is for their greedy and Their bad influence on our governor and people. So they had to carry all consequences of our anger in our country and in their too (with a predatory migration theorized by someone), because they destroyed Africa and so is a good Retaliation. In Lord name”
These theory had - in a more or less visible way- a great spreading in millenaristic conservative circles and also with people in illiterate rural areas and are the temp of conservative and church based government to avoid their failure and corruption and to prevent movements as those in “middle east spring”, in Greece, Spain and now also in Italy against conservatisms, market dictatorship and social stability. To mantain power despiting starvation and poorness increasing, they're trying to support their weltanshaung creating at one side enemies, and at the other helping sovrapopulation to increase misery and helping “holy wars” against sinners.
Using also the net they're trying to “export “ their vision in hosting countries (at first in Europe), with the results that in these countries fears of this predatory and fearful vision is increasing in a zenophobic feeling specular to that of these conservative people in southern Africa (and of their “spin doctors” in US conservative churches). Fortunatly their temps faild miserably because the great majority of migrant (at first those with family) want to integrate and to merge and not follow traditions rules, but the rules of the country in wich they live and are more interested to have health care as a right for all as water and instruction that to decide who have the right to have it for Lord laws or reteiled one...
So even if these groups can scares, they are a risk for those who live with them, not for other and the fear ourside their borderline is unjustify, but probably our asylum right should be modify to give priority to people threatened by them, as homosexuals, women that dont follow traditional rules, whites in south africa, atheist, religious minority.
No comments:
Post a Comment