The Piety of Violence

Dear George,

Last night the Angel of the Lord came to me during a hallucinatory episode and explained the symbiotic marriage between Christianity and violence.

In speaking of Christianity, we must distinguish between Christians and followers of the Way. Christians hide behind the ramparts of dogma; followers live their faith. Followers are dangerous for in their efforts to transcend the Christian culture of death they, like all madmen, seek clarity of vision. And as we know, violence curdles in the bright light of truth.

Wisely, history has marginalized these followers, allowing just a few of them—St. Francis and Martin Luther King—to gain prominence, thus giving the impression that the church is peopled with followers.

Were any attention paid to the followers, they could ruin everything. Here is an example of their negativity from one of their theologians:

The American churches more often than not have been among the most menial, manipulated and degraded vessels of the power of death.[1]

Fortunately, few people have read him.

As a servant of death, the church’s main function is to profane the Way by reducing it to a rigid dogma that leads people away from God. The Spirit is fossilized and rendered harmless while falsehood is recast as truth. Alexander Solzhenitsyn understood this when he wrote:

Let us not forget that violence does not exist by itself and cannot do so; it is necessarily interwoven with lies. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle.

Christianity brings purity to violence. Slaughter is always easier when done in the name of God because lies taste better when flavored with scripture.

You’ve got a lock on it, George.

Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones

[1] William Stringfellow