The Suppression of Christianity under Totalitarian Regimes

We see it again and again. The Communists, the Nazis, even in unbridled Capitalist countries, as a move towards more complete control is made, the corruption and removal of the Christian religion from the minds and souls of the people is almost always made. Or at least a vigorous attempt is waged. One has to ask himself why, since most of the leaders of these nations are godless anyway, do they even care what the masses of people think of believe? Especially when they possess the force necessary to impose their will on the people with or without their consent?

But it never seems to be enough for Totalitarian states to physically control their subjects. In each and every instance they spend vast amounts of time and resources on propaganda and a slanted version of 'education' or 're-education.' Totalitarian states want the bodies, mind and hearts of their subjects under firm and complete control. And history has shown us, over and over, in places like Russia and Vietnam that after thorough and systematic brainwashing - these peoples are able to profess and undying love for the very regimes that make their lives miserable, are quite capable of articulating the few high points their political ideologies do possess, and are even willing to die, in droves, to advance the cause of some of the most horrendous regimes the world has ever produced.

But why does the removal of Christianity always become necessary? Why can't these states co-exist with true religion? What does Christianity have to do with control, or more specifically, placing that control beyond the reach of dictators?

Animals are controlled via wants and desires, fears and aversions, rewards and punishments. It's what makes animals so easily trainable. But even less docile, wild beasts are manageable and predictable because we are able to see the moving principles, the motives, behind their actions. And if we can control these principles, it logically follows, that we can exert an amount of control over the subsequent actions.

We all know the history of Pavlov's dogs. How the Soviet scientist showed that conditioned reflexes extend even beyond our conscious awareness of them. How before he fed his experimental dogs their daily meals he would ring a bell. And that, over time, the mere ringing of the bell, even unaccompanied by good, produced physiological responses in the dogs, drooling and the like as their bodies unconsciously, or subconsciously, connected the bell with food.

Can we not see how regimes, even here in America, attempt to train and 'condition' us to take certain courses of action? A political candidate promises rewards for support, threatens horrors if the other side succeeds. Almost every policy in which the public is solicited on, perceived rewards are proclaimed and dire consequences are predicted.

For a people that makes decisions solely on the basis of what's pleasurable or painful, control is easily maintained by a power that controls the means of those rewards or punishments. Since they know, and understand, the motives behind our actions, we are predictable, malleable, and manipulatable.

But Christians are different. Christ said the world wouldn't 'know' us, because they never 'knew' him. It has been remarked, over and over, how the beatitudness taught by Christ completely flipped the world's values upside-down. Poverty. Denial. Sacrifice. Selflessness. Of what benefit is a treat to jump through a hoop to control a dog that disdains treats? What detterent is the stick to the dog that rejoices in tribulations?

Christianity, by upturning the very motives and desires in the hearts of believers, deprives the very 'powers that be' of the power of the temporal objects they do control. It completely strips their ability to move and coerce us with tools for doing so become inadequate and obsolete. We see this with 'terrorists' and 'religious fanatics' or non-aligned states. How can you bargain with an enemy that can't be bribed or bullied, enticed or deprived? How can you bargain with an enemy that strives for such intangible treasures as Truth, Justice, and Righteousness that cannot be controlled or contained by any one man or group of men? How can you defeat an enemy who will stop at absolutely nothing in the pursuit of such spiritual treasures? You can't.

Hence the need to deny such treasures exist. The absolute imperative to replace God as our sole Hope and Desire, the motive behind our every thought, word, and deed, with tangible, controllable objects. They need us to be motivated and moved by sex, money and prestige. They need our every action to be directed towards the attainment of such things that they do control. They need us to fear the punishments in which they capable of inflicting. It's all about conditioning. It's all about control.

But Christ set us free. Free from their control. And the only way we can relinquish this gift of freedom is by accepting the illusory pleasures and punishments they attempt to convince us into adopting as our own. Without Christianity we lived in a void that must be filled. Without God our lives become pointless and meaningless unless they give us a purpose and reason for being. Without God, our souls are vacuums waiting to be filled by the enemy.

This is why totalitarian states will not and cannot except the existence of true religion.

Chris Hall