And the herald proclaimed aloud,
“You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the
sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music,
you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has
set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast in
to a burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3:4-6).
The
phrase auto de fe is a technical term
used in the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. The words mean ‘an act of
faith,’ and describe a public display of those guilty of holding opinions or
practices condemned by the Catholic hierarchies of those nations during the late Middle Ages. It was designed to make a public spectacle of
both guilty and penitent ‘heretics.’ After
an elaborate ritual held in the public square the guilty would be led away to
torture or death by burning; but all the accused, including the repentant and
even the acquitted had already been humiliated by the ceremony. This method of
public humiliation and the condemnation and punishment of ideological,
political, and religious heretics has been a means of crushing religious and
political dissent for ages.
So,
while the term is specifically connected with the Inquisition, the concept is
not. The public profession of faith and the
punishment of the recalcitrant has long been a primary tool of potentates and
political systems to ensure cult-like loyalty to its leaders or policies and to
root out dissent. We see it in the
scripture quoted above. The officials of
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Empire are forced into a public expression of
idolatry, recognizing Nebuchadnezzar as a deity. Centuries later, this was the most common
source of conflict between the early church and the Roman Empire and the
occasion of many of the early martyrdoms.
In
the time of Bishop Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258 A.D.), the emperor Decius
required the people to offer sacrifice to the genius of the emperor. Many Christians found ways to avoid complying
with the demand – either by fleeing or purchasing fraudulent certificates of
compliance. Others simply capitulated
and offered sacrifice. The entire point
of the exercise was to assure public compliance with official policy and to
punish any expression of dissent. Its
purpose was to root out undesirables.
Public
displays of loyalty are required in many contexts. Both political and social pressures are
applied to assure compliance with political orthodoxy. In a museum in Lexington, VA, not far from my
home, there is a photo of a young woman in Czechoslovakia forced to salute the
conquering Third Reich in violation of her conscience. This kind of auto de fe creates a crisis of faith and personality for those
entangled in its tentacles. It breeds
hypocrisy, resentment, and bitter hidden resistance. Systems rooted in totalitarianism employ this
form of pressure, and when they gain power the policy is universal,
uncompromising, and ruthless.
I
have heard about this practice in personal discussion with seminary students
from post-communist countries over the years.
A number of them were subject to repeated public humiliation in their schools
for their Christian beliefs and their families’ religious observance during the
communist era. They were able to
maintain their convictions and overcome bitterness of spirit, even as children,
remembering the words of I Peter 4:19: Therefore let those who suffer according
to God's will entrust their souls
to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Under
the guise of tolerance, gay rights and gay marriage activists, after gaining a
few political victories are moving inexorably toward a strategy of public
humiliation and total elimination of dissent – a kind of secular auto de fe. Emboldened by recent Supreme Court decisions
and a post-mid-term presidential epiphany on gay marriage, the effort to
establish a new orthodoxy advances. Like
most political orthodoxies, it has never been about tolerance, but about
tyranny.
The
new public orthodoxy is donning the garb of official dogma. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the
majority in the Supreme Court case United
States vs. Windsor surmised that legislators and advocates of Section 3 of
the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage for federal purposes as
being a heterosexual institution, were motivated by “a bare desire to harm, to
disparage or injure, to humiliate.” In
fact, he concluded, such persons are essentially motivated by animus, or ill
will. It’s only a short step from such a
declaration by the highest court in the land, to declaring advocates of traditional
marriage enemies of the people. In fact,
that process has begun.
Justice
Scalia, in his dissent, stated the crux of the problem: “To hurl such accusations so casually demeans this
institution. In the majority's judgment, any resistance to its holding is
beyond the pale of reasoned disagreement.”
There is, indeed, a new elitist orthodoxy which will brook no dissent. Expect a steady stream of autos de fe –
and public humiliation of dissidents --required by the new orthodoxy. One can only hope that its hypocrisy will be
recognized and that it only holds sway temporarily. That remains to be seen.
Already,
troubling events are following in the wake of this decision.
In
a September 19 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Gay
Marriage Collides With Religious Liberty, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway cites
several recent developments. A florist in
Richlands, WA who refuses on conscience grounds to service a same-sex wedding
is sued by the state’s Attorney General and (surprise!) the ACLU.
For those Americans, tolerance isn't
turning
out to be a two-way street. A couple that
owns a bakery in Gresham, Ore., closed its
shop earlier this month after the state
launched an investigation into their
religious objections to catering same-sex
union celebrations.
The
New Mexico Supreme Court ruled
in August that Elane Photography
violated the state's Human Rights Act
by declining to photograph a lesbian
commitment ceremony because doing
so would present a religious conflict.
A judge upholding a $6,637 fine
against the small business owned
by a Christian couple said being
"compelled by law to compromise
the very religious beliefs that inspire
their lives" was "the price of citizenship."
The
list goes on and you can fill in your own story.
In
California and New Jersey, it is illegal for the helping professions to offer
reparative therapy to those caught up in homosexual lifestyles or same-sex
attraction, even to those who desire to find alternatives to a gay identity. On every level, those in every profession
find themselves muzzled by the new taboos of an oppressive orthodoxy. It is, in fact, impossible for those in the professions
to maintain their place without doing public homage to the new orthodoxy. They must submit or be entirely excluded. The reach of the new orthodoxy is pervasive.
Also it causes all, both small and great, both
rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the
forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is the
name of the beast or the number of its name (Revelation 13:
16-17).
The
auto de fe is never about
tolerance. It is always about tyranny.
