Nuclear war, culture war?

Forget the Reformation for a moment.

October is also the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Lenin (who tellingly seems to have coined the phrase ‘political correctness’) founded the first modern totalitarian state. Currently, the greatest military threat for a generation hangs over the Western world from just such a regime, North Korea, led by its dictator Kim Jong Un. Despite the ratcheting up of sanctions, this Communist state is relentlessly pursuing the capability to launch missiles with nuclear warheads able to reach America or its bases in the Pacific. In early September, Nikki Hayley, the US spokesperson at the United Nations, spoke of this totalitarian country as ‘begging for war’. (We need to be praying for governments – 1 Timothy 2.1,2.)

Three ingredients

One of the essential elements of totalitarianism is to have an enemy – someone to hate. And the US fulfills this role, not only for North Korea, but also for extremist Islamic states like ISIL and Iran, where it is known as ‘the great Satan.’

Totalitarianism requires three things. First, it needs a ‘promised land’ vision of an idealised future to which the whole thrust of the movement is directed. Second, there must be a semi-deified leader or leaders, whether it be the Fuhrer, Mao, Bin Laden, Kim Jong Un or whoever. But third, to provide the angry momentum justifying extremist tactics, there has to be a constant invocation of an enemy. All extremist movements conform to this same psychological pattern.

And such extremists seem to emerge especially when a society experiences threat, radical change or disintegration. There will be a desire within that society for instant ‘solutions’ which invariably involves blaming other groups of people – the ‘enemy’.

Both Christians and non-Christians need to be aware of this. Certainly Christians tend to be victims of a lot of ‘hate speech’ online when it comes, for example, to trying to defend biblical sexuality and gender roles. Those who signed the Nashville Statement recently got some of this (see p.13). Remember the ‘Two Minutes Hate’ in Orwell’s 1984? But, if we are not careful, it is easy for conservative Christians to fall into the same erroneous way of thinking by laying all the troubles of society at the door of certain groups. This is the mistake of much right-wing ‘Christianity’.

Two correctives

In 1995 Andrew Delblanco published The Death of Satan, in which he argued that with the dismissal of the devil from secular life we scrabble around at a loss to explain evil. Often we end up blaming others while we should instead take more responsibility ourselves. But the Christian, while seeking to act responsibly, should also realise that ‘our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’. (Ephesians 6.12. Once again we are driven to prayer.)

For the totalitarian to admit that any of the diabolical obstacles standing between them and the ‘promised land’ actually lie in themselves is impossible. It is so much easier and more comfortable to project them on to other people. All that is wrong is the fault of ‘the enemy.’ ‘If only we could remove them!’

But here again secularism has led us astray. It is the genius of all the great world religions (in their highest forms) that they tell us that advance can only be achieved by each individual being willing to recognise their own sin and darker side and repent. Reformation Christians in particular should know this (1 John 1.8).