Spirituality In Politics

  • Home
  • Intro
  • Articles Index
    • Introductory
      • 1. Metaphysics in a Spiritual Society
      • 2. The Spirit of Guidance
      • 3. Divination
      • 4. Raynor C. Johnson: The Imprisoned Splendour
    • Articles 2: Headline Policies for a Spiritual Society
      • Education
        • The Importance of Fairy Tales
        • The Importance of Fairy Tales, Part 2 – Fairy Tales and Feminists
        • Fairy Tales and Feminism – the Story of Psyche
        • Fairy Tales and Feminism — the Story of Psyche, Interpretation
        • Save Our Fairy Tales — Concluding Remarks
    • ARTICLES 3: MORE DETAILED IDEAS
      • Politics from a Taoist Perspective – Arguing for the Centre
      • Politics from the Centre — Is that the only way forward?
      • Changing the World – Spirituality or Socialism?
      • The Superorganism – a Challenge to Materialist Science
      • Is the Earth a Superorganism?
      • Humanity as Part of the Superorganism
    • Articles 4 The Role of the Citizen
      • The Role of the Citizen in a Spiritual Society
      • Reflections on Eastern and Western Spirituality
    • The Superorganism Question and the European Union
    • A Vision for a Spiritual United Kingdom Outside the European Union
    • Consciousness
      • Is the Self an Illusion – Series Introduction
        • Is the Self an Illusion? – Neuroscience, Gurdjieff and Buddhism
        • Is the Self an Illusion? – The Opposing Viewpoint
        • Is the Self an Illusion? — Yes and No
        • Is the Self an Illusion? — Summary and Conclusions
      • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Introduction
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Freudian Slips
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Dreams
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self – Synchronicity
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Automatic Writing
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self – Divination
    • Why Christianity Must Change or Die – Introduction
      • Christianity Must Change or Die — Gnosticism and Carl Jung
      • Significant Moments in Church History – Introduction
        • Number 1, The Council of Nicaea, 325AD
        • Number 2 – The Anathema Against Origen, 553 A.D.
          • Reincarnation and Christianity
    • Was Jesus Divine? – Introduction
      • Was Jesus Divine, the Son of God? – 1. The Adoptionist Problem
      • 2. The Jewish Messiah
      • 3. The Eschatological Prophet
      • 4. Shakespeare’s Heretical Play
      • 5. The Resurrection of Jesus – part 1
      • Was Jesus Divine, the Son of God? - Summary and Conclusions so far
      • 6. Was Jesus Married?
      • 7. Was Jesus Married? — part 2
      • 8. Was Jesus Married? — part 3
  • Blog Introduction
    • Blog Index
    • Religion and Spirituality
    • Politics
    • Science
    • Mythology
    • Miscellaneous
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Significant Moments in Church History – Introduction

    The Roman Catholic Church was the sole custodian of western Christianity for over a thousand years until the time of the Protestant Reformation. It was therefore responsible for much, if not all, of Christianity as we know it, and it enforced a strict monopoly. We are entitled to ask in retrospect, how well did it do?
    All readers will presumably be aware of the horrific brutality of the Inquisition. Previously, there was the massacre of the Cathars, and the Knights Templar. All this was done in the name of a teacher who preached a gospel of love, and absolute forgiveness of one’s enemies; none of the leaders in charge seemed to notice the contradiction.
    All that is well known, and needs no further comment. However, it is interesting to note in passing that during his long reign Pope John Paul II made many apologies for the past behaviour of the Catholic Church. It would be interesting to know if he would equally condemn the material that I shall be referring to in the forthcoming articles. In them I would like to identify some other moments in Church history which are perhaps less well known, but which were nevertheless highly significant, and should now be reflected upon.

    What I am hoping to establish is that:

  • the creation of modern Christianity was a political, not a religious act.

  • the Christianity that was created was not necessarily in accordance with the beliefs of earlier Christians.

  • the Church was on a mission, or at least appeared to be, to remove spirituality from its teachings and replace them with exoteric religion, at least for the majority of its followers.

The consequences of this are that:

  • what we would now call free speech, and open debate, were labelled heresy and therefore condemned. What was at stake was not religious truth, rather the maintenance of authority and power.

  • people can now reject Christianity on the grounds that they are “spiritual but not religious”.

  • Christians can now, mistakenly, believe that their religion is superior to others, and that it is not part of the Perennial Philosophy, the claim that in essence all religions are the same.

    The first significant moment will be a consideration of the Council of Nicaea.

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