29 September 2020

Ethical Dissonance: Western Evangelicalism and BJP India

https://www.mnnonline.org/news/dear-mr-pompeo-please-hold-india-accountable-for-its-oppression/

Confusion reigns as the compromised Western Church has no moral standing. Allying itself with political power, the Evangelical movement and its allies call upon the likes of Pompeo to use the power of the American Empire to curtail the anti-Christian policies of Modi's BJP.


Pompeo is being set up as a person with moral authority and responsibility. Christians praise him because he talks about having his Bible on his desk and seeking God in his daily decisions. But as head of the CIA he boasted regarding the organisation's calling and capacity to lie, cheat, and steal. In addition his role as both CIA director and Secretary of State is one of power projection. He threatens nations that don't conform to US policy. He threatens to overthrow their governments or to use 'all options' which by implication includes the threat of nuclear weapons. He is man of violence, the mouthpiece of a violent system that wields its power in a brutal fashion. Pompeo certainly has blood on his hands when it comes to places like Venezuela and the Middle East. He also serves a capricious and unprincipled master who has no moral standing apart from might makes right.

The idea that the Church would put its confidence in such princes and functional apostates is telling and reveals the sad and degenerate state of Western Evangelicalism and Christianity in general.

Modi is for his part a butcher, his movement is essentially a form of Hindu fascism. The RSS militias torment Christians, Muslims, and others who refuse to conform to Hindutva ideology. He is in theological terms a veritable Beast.

And yet he has little to fear from Washington. The United States asserts its 'values' only when it's convenient to do so. The truth is Washington needs Modi right now. He is extremely popular with the Wall Street class and the US has established not only a trade relationship with New Delhi but a military one. In Washington's eye the spectre of China looms large and it's critical to have India on its side. Additionally it was a diplomatic coup to pull India into the American column. For decades India had leaned toward Moscow and yet under George W. Bush a shift was initiated and while the US turned away from Pakistan, it embraced New Delhi.

The simple truth is this. Washington is heavily invested in India and while American Christians are right to decry Modi's government and treatment of Christians, in many cases they are directly invested in the same Wall Street system that backs him. Through mutual and index funds many of these same voices of Western Christian anger at the BJP are at the same time profiting from the trade and military relationship between the US and India. There's no small degree of irony here and hypocrisy isn't too strong a word.

If the Church wants to have any moral standing it must first divest and divorce itself from the system that allies with Modi and supports him. Otherwise their cries of protest are little more than peals of moral and cognitive dissonance. It amounts to, "Stop killing our brethren but thanks for the dividend payout."

Sacralism and in this case Christian Sacralism which views the state and culture as an extension of the Church generates internal contradictions often in the form of a dual ethic. On the one hand the Church wants a moral order and for nations to conform to this. But the ethic they employ in the quest for this pipe dream is one in opposition to basic New Testament moral values. They want people to act in a profoundly un-Christian way to bring about a Christian order. They want to generate wealth and power in order to do good but in doing so they compromise virtually every Christian principle along the way.

Modi at best will offer some empty platitudes regarding his concern for human rights and a willingness to investigate the claims, but he won't do anything. And of course Pompeo knows this and ultimately doesn't care. If he did, if he had a shred of integrity he would denounce the whole system and the nature of US power – and would become a pariah in the process. But he won't bear such a cross because he sold out to the system and abandoned New Testament Christianity long ago. His Christ wears an American flag for a robe. The real Christ – men like Pompeo actually hate and despise.

And so we're left with an absurdity – the Church calling on a morally and theologically compromised man to right their wrongs. They call on a thief, liar, usurer and murderer to advance the causes of the Kingdom of Christ. It makes about as much sense as calling on Elton John to speak out against the moral failings of homosexuality. Sacralism taints all of theology, corrupts ethics and eventually destroys even the ability to reason.

See also:

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2015/08/modi-and-indian-society-christian.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2018/09/social-upheaval-in-modis-india.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2016/09/western-media-india-strikes-and-new.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2019/09/indian-christians-betrayed.html

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/02/christians-under-modis-bjp.html

 

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