JULY 4, 2022 – (Cont.) “The religious zealotry that infused the 13 British colonies and the country that later formed was the reaction to religious power structures back in Europe. You start with the grip that Catholicism had on Europe after the fall of Rome, then examine guys like Zwingli, Calvin, and Luther, and plunge into the Reformation, which turned politics and ecclesiastic institutions upside . . .”
“Whoa!” the alien interrupted. “Slow down. Remember—religion is a whole new concept to me, and when you throw the word ‘zeal’ or ‘zealotry’ into it, my filaments threaten to short-circuit. Then you start throwing around ‘Catholicism’ and ‘Reformation,’ and those three guys you mentioned, and I’m thinking you need to explain a lot more that you didn’t cover when you were instructing me on religion.
“Or not,” I said, “if you intend ever to leave my porch.”
“It’s that complicated, huh?”
“More so,” I said. “But I’ll spare you the necessity of understanding fully what I myself can’t wholly comprehend. Let me address it simply by saying that the story of America is the story of Europe; that the tale of Europe includes the broad, deep influence of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, based in the Vatican, which is a city within the city of Rome. The Catholic Church became tremendously powerful throughout Europe, and as happens with many human institutions, when the church got too powerful, too acquisitive, too corrupt, it spurred resistance, criticism, and most important, questioning. What came out of this reaction were a number of churchy people who began to question the legitimacy of Catholicism—not Christianity; Catholicism.
“The upshot was a growing challenge of authority of ‘Rome,’ as the Catholic Church was often referenced, by clergy and theologians formerly loyal to the monopoly. Together these iconoclasts comprised Protestantism, and the process they followed to become independent of Rome was called the Reformation.”
“Once the leaders of Protestantism figured out how to revolt against Rome, however, every Tom, Dick and Harry with his unique flavor of disestablishmentarianism decided he could rouse the rabble and protest against the protesters. Cross yourself this way, cross yourself that way, don’t allow singing, don’t allow dancing, don this silly hat, wear this crazy cap—all in an effort to slice and split your belief system from all the others. Often these cults and kooks were either ostracized or self-isolated back in Europe. But across the Atlantic Ocean lay a wide open land where religious cultists could have it their way. Meet the Pilgrims and the Puritans to name the first, most prominent.”
“Yikes!”
“And they’re still very much alive and well among us to this day.”
“I detect sarcasm, even anger and certainly disapproval in your voice,” said the alien. I was impressed—and a little unnerved—by the alien’s perspicacity and candor.
“I’m not going to hide my emotions,” I said, “but I should calm myself and note that it’s a dangerous gambit for a student of history—as I consider myself—to pass judgment of the past through the prism of the present.”
“How do you avoid short-circuiting?” asked the alien.
“A lot of humans don’t avoid it. So far, I’ve been lucky. But back to the matter at hand—and to summarize . . . the foundation on which this powerful part of the world is based is an amalgam of a drive for wealth, the reliance on slavery, and religious zeal couched as religious freedom.” (Cont.)
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© 2022 by Eric Nilsson
