In bed with evil?

December 10, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

I’ve been thinking over and over about the issue of torture, for obvious reason that the approval of what amounts to torture by the White House won’t go away. A few weeks back I had reason to consult ancient history on the figure of St. Martin of Tour (for whom Martin Luther was named at his baptism). Catholic On Line: Saints and Angels has this about St. Martin and his relationship to civil power and torture:

Martin of Tour (315-402)

. . . . However it was this compassion and mercy that led to what he considered his greatest mistake. Bishops from Spain including a bishop named Ithacius had gone to the emperor soliciting his help in destroying a new heresy taught by a man named Priscillian. Martin agreed completely that Priscillian was teaching heresy (among other things, he rejected marriage, and said that the world was created by the devil) and that he should be excommunicated. But he was horrified that Ithacius had appealed to a secular authority for help and even more upset that Ithacius was demanding the execution of Priscillian and his followers. Martin hurried to intervene with emperor Maximus, as did Ambrose of Milan. Martin stated his case that this was a church matter and that secular authority had no power to intervene and that excommunication of the heretics was punishment enough. He left believing he had won the argument and saved the heretics but after he left Ithacius began his manipulation again and Priscillian and the other prisoners were tortured and executed. This was the first time a death sentence had been given for heresy— a horrible precedent.

The word “torture” almost slips by, along with “death sentence.” What were they thinking in the late 4^th Century? Probably the Emperor Maximus wasn’t terribly concerned about either torture or capital punishment. If religious heresy could foment great public passion and thereby de-stabilize the society, the means would justify the ends: put down the dissenters, the rebels, the heretics, swiftly and decisively. Make an example of them. (Capital punishment as a deterrent.)

Am I safe to assume that “Who Would Jesus Torture?” was not a question the Roman Emperor pondered.

But what were they thinking—Bishop Ithacius and his ilk—who thought that going to a civil authority to trounce a religious opponent is anything close to what Jesus would approve? It may not be fair for a historian to ask a rhetorical question of a Bishop 1600 years later: “Are you nuts?” But it is fair for a blogger to ask: At what point did the growing power and influence of the Christian Church first fail to notice that it was no longer following Jesus of Nazareth and had gotten into bed with evil?

Is there a lesson in this for our own times? Well, duh!!

But it is not enough to decry the adulterous relationship of one particular political party with religious conservatives in America. The separation of church and state is a huge and important issue for our own times as much as ever. But the various parties in both religion and politics come and go with every generation. Even if unchecked fundamentalism is voted out of office in the next national election, we cannot dust off our hands and sit down in complacency. The bigger issue is always before us if we are followers of Jesus. Are we really following Jesus, or simply manipulating him to conform our cultural, political and capitalist affinities?

The film “Amazing Grace” has just recently passed like a pious wave through our cinema houses. It tells the story of 18^th Century William Wilberforce who fought hard to end the practice of slavery in the British Empire and certainly had a big hand in bringing slavery down in all of civilized society.

I am interested in the film, and the figure of Wilberforce (1759–1833)—a member of Parliament, a politician, who while in his 20s had a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian. Was he the last politician (or the last evangelical Christian) to do something noble because it was the right thing to do rather than because it was politically expedient or advantageous?

Slavery is evil. Astonishingly, it still goes on in the 21^st century, mostly in the form of involuntary sexual servitude. But it is only an example, one folly among hundreds into which Christians have allowed themselves to wander from the path of Jesus.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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