Maybe you’re right, but I don’t think I’m making the false dichotomy you’re sketching out. I’m just not interested in condemning the Romans of 1700 years ago or in tracing to them the christofascism of contemporary American right wingers.
Of course, there are more recent things that we can look at to understand modern American christofascism. However, I would argue that twisting around Jesus’ words to justify bad things has a very long history, and that you can point to the time of Constantine and the ways in which Christianity came to support Roman imperialism as a starting point. It may not be a direct line, but it’s part of the same tradition. By the same token, you could point to how Christianity was used to support colonialism much later. At some point, people should stop being surprised when this happens because it’s been happening for 1700 years.
I’m just not interested in condemning the Romans of 1700 years ago
But you praised Constantine for preserving the empire. If you’re going to apply that moral framework then I get to apply my own too.
Maybe you’re right, but I don’t think I’m making the false dichotomy you’re sketching out. I’m just not interested in condemning the Romans of 1700 years ago or in tracing to them the christofascism of contemporary American right wingers.
Of course, there are more recent things that we can look at to understand modern American christofascism. However, I would argue that twisting around Jesus’ words to justify bad things has a very long history, and that you can point to the time of Constantine and the ways in which Christianity came to support Roman imperialism as a starting point. It may not be a direct line, but it’s part of the same tradition. By the same token, you could point to how Christianity was used to support colonialism much later. At some point, people should stop being surprised when this happens because it’s been happening for 1700 years.
But you praised Constantine for preserving the empire. If you’re going to apply that moral framework then I get to apply my own too.