Christian Hegemony: The Power of Language
by: Be Scofield on February 24th, 2010 | 6 Comments »
“You’re either with us or against us.” – from Matthew 12:30
“Language is the perfect instrument of empire.”- Antonia De Nebrija
I recommend checking out the latest booklet from Paul Kivel called “The Language of Dominant Christianity” (available as a downloadable PDF for only $3.50 or as a book for $4.95.) It is a short (85 page) A-Z dictionary of common vocabulary words in the English language that reveal how Christianity has influenced our thinking. In addition to defining a comprehensive list of words (64 pages) Kivel provides a section on “word groups” and points out how certain terms are found within our criminal/legal system, notions of morality, racial understandings, educational ideals and political ideology. And in the first part Kivel provides the context of why it is important to analyze and examine the Christian roots of our language.
This booklet is one part of Kivel’s latest project to name Christian dominance as one of the many systems of oppression. Kivel is a well respected violence prevention educator who wrote “Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Social Justice” among many other books on oppression. If you haven’t heard of him or want to know more about Paul’s work including his videos and interviews you can visit his website.
And in the spirit of my post last week where I pointed out how atheists are studying to be religious leaders at Starr King I want to emphasize that there are Christians who are equally concerned about Christian hegemony and are dedicating time and resources to ending it.
Paul Kivel describes Christian hegemony:
From www.christianhegemony.org
I define Christian hegemony as the everyday, pervasive, and systematic set of Christian values and beliefs, individuals and institutions that dominate all aspects of our society through the social, political, economic, and cultural power they wield. Nothing is unaffected by Christian hegemony (whether we are Christian or not) including our personal beliefs and values, our relationships to other people and to the natural environment, and our economic, political, education, health care, criminal/legal, housing, and other social systems.
Christian hegemony as a system of domination is complex, shifting, and operates through the agency of individuals, families, church communities, denominations, parachurch organizations, civil institutions, and through decisions made by members of the ruling class and power elite.
Christian hegemony benefits all Christians, all those raised Christian, and those passing as Christian. However the concentration of power, wealth, and privilege under Christian hegemony accumulates to the ruling class and the predominantly white male Christian power elite that serve its interests. All people who are not Christian, as well as most people who are, experience social, political, and economic exploitation, violence, cultural appropriation, marginalization, alienation and constant vulnerability from the dominance of Christian power and values in our society.
Christian hegemony operates on several levels. At one level is the internalization of dominant western Christian beliefs and values by individuals in our society. Another level is the power that individual preachers, ministers and priests have on people’s lives. Particular churches and some Christian denominations wield very significant political and economic power in our country. There is a vast network of parachurch organizations, general tax-supported non-profits such as hospitals, broadcasting networks, publishing houses, lobbying groups, and organizations like Focus on the Family, Prison Fellowship, The Family, World Mission, and thousands of others which wield influence in particular spheres of U.S. society and throughout the world. Another level of Christian dominance is within the power elite, the network of 7-10,000 predominantly white Christian men who control the largest and most powerful social, political, economic, and cultural institutions in the country. And finally there is the level which provides the foundation for all the others-the long and deep legacy of Christian ideas, values, practices, policies, icons, and texts that have been produced within dominant western Christianity over the centuries. That legacy continues to shape our language, culture, beliefs, and values and to frame public and foreign policy decisions.
Christian dominance has become so invisible that its manifestations appear to be secular, i.e. not religious. In this context, the phrase “secular Christian dominance” might be most appropriate, Christian hegemony under the guise of secularism. Of course, there are many forms of Christian fundamentalism which are anything but secular. Often fundamentalists want to create some kind of theocratic state. But the more mainstream, everyday way that dominant Christian values and institutions influence our lives and communities is less evident, although no less significant and certainly not limited to fundamentalists.
Jesus refused all forms of dominative power. Early Christianity followed this servanthood model for 300 years until Constantine; when it was legitimitized by the Roman Empire and began operating by the pagan ethics of the state. The Church, Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox needs to return to it’s early roots and reject privilege, perogative, and all forms of dominative power and language. Christianity’s power is in love, servitude and the willingness to suffer for both friends and enemies.
A very enlightening article. I agree with Kivel’s observations regarding the cultural alienation among those raised with this idea of Christian dominance.
I spent the early part of my adult life undoing the subtle brainwashing of a Christian childhood. My faith left me feeling alienated from my fellow man and unable to successfully navigate within a complex social environment. I’m not whining or blaming. I left the church and took full responsibility for my life and am the better for it. My only concern is that the teachings of Jesus, based on compassion and love for our fellow man, have been and will continue to be obscured by a power elite who have no interest in personal liberation or equality. If we are to usher in a new age of humanity all of us must overcome our fundamental darkness. Reshaping our cultural context of “crime and punishment” is a good first step.
I too spent the first part of my adult life fleeing from and undoing the coarse and vulgar culture of Xtian fundamentalism. I didn’t even know it was that until I hit thirty. I just knew it was wrong and that as a creative person, an artist and a cultural creative, the first 18 years of my imprisonment and bondage in that world had done considerable and substantial harm to me as a human being and an artist. Once I knew the “devil’s” name as Xtian fundamentalism, I could begin actually trying to heal the damage and replace it with a healthier mode of life. Even though I’m an atheist now I am eternally grateful to my first Rabbi and synagogue community who gave me a safe place to turn and with whom I was able to finally form a healthy bond with a religion that made actual sense to me.
As for the language of dominance, this was something I knew all along. I have stark memories as a child of only 5 years of age recognizing that the god talk and the way my parents and their community talked about others was jarringly abhorrent to me. Their perverse paradox of triumphantalist-victim inherent in Xtian fundamentalism was another sickening notion I recognized from the time I was six and went to public school–I just never saw the demons I was taught were lurking under every carpet in the place. Others have written on this subject. Academically, Kay Smith of Asuza [sic] Pacific University has written several erudite papers on the language of dominance in Xtian fundamentalism and how commonplace and ubiquitous this is in U.S. American culture. The only place I have felt free and rid of Xtian fundies and their disproportionate influence on culture was when I lived in Europe and in Canada. I often feel regret for not having illegally immigrating elsewhere (since legally doing so has always been impossible for a lower class American to accomplish). Anyway, kinda OT, but…
A true Christian follows the word of God and not man . The writer is not qualified to read the hearts of man. One can take any words out of context ; if anyone who reads the Bible and does not capture the message of total love is not able to comprehend what he reads ;
any who purport to be Christian are not including past President Bush. The verse that comes to mind and where most Christians fall is “Ye cannot serve God mammon(money). That is my opinion. Thank you
Keep in mind that the edition of the bible you are reading was put together to support Emperor Constantine’s idea of a religion that would give him power. Many texts were left out so that followers would be dependent on the church – as in dependency like children. Also keep in mind that translations were often incorrect or did not reflect the message that Jesus was trying to impart. He was a radical in many ways.
I don’t often reply to posts but I’ll on this case. WoW