Religions and political power

If there are two words that alone materialize, the relations between the political power and the religions is the secret and the influence. If in the secret, the mystical notion that the religions bring to politics is not negligible because the mystery seems to fascinate, and to subjugate the masses; in the influence of churches towards governments, the ideology is realized in the facts. The abstract meeting the concrete. In general, the influence is one way, namely from religion, to politics. Religion tries to influence politics by its dogmas or principles, thus managing to tangibly manipulate society. In numerous examples, religion has been used to mark the ground of political power, also Christian missionaries in Africa and in third world countries have played the role of facilitator of conscience manipulation of the so-called indigenous populations to the order of Western domination .

However, It has sometimes happened, that politics influences religion, like during early Christianity. The use of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine in 312, along with the Council of Nicaea which was going to wash the gospels to make them conform to a certain legitimacy of a certain order to establish, is one of the greatest uses of religion for political ends. Even if Constantine will not be directly inspired by the ideology of ancient Egypt, which made the Pharaoh a half God, he will make Christianity a state religion. With the help of religious populism, he followed the wave of the infatuation and the growing number of followers of Christ in the empire, to have popular support and thus legitimize his power. Since the brutal retaliation of his predecessors and the martyrs they created, rather strengthened the fervor of the adepts, it was necessary to counter the phenomenon by adopting it. When one cannot counter an ideology by another, it always better to adopt it and try to pervert it from within. Moreover, the recognition of the faith of the followers of Christ was in fact filling a void, which aimed at codifying religious life, and to control society, given the ambient disorder created by the myriads of beliefs conveyed by paganism. The belief as reformulated by the Roman emperor would help reinvigorate the political power of the empire. When 70 years later, in 381, the Christian faith becomes a state religion, the merger between church and state will be consummated. The Church thus became the guarantor of the truth, ensuring the cohesion and morality of society. There were no citizens, let alone Monarchs, who could exist outside this state-religious framework. The wearing of the papal tiara by the pope symbolized the prevalence of the papacy over kings and emperors. When the Catholic Church will be infiltrated to serve other agendas, this triple crown will be abandoned by Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council, November 13, 1964, and auctioned in New York. Paul VI, whom many Catholics believe to be the anti-pope, was a major player in the ecumenical networks and therefore the new world order, which advocates the standardization of religion to one block. In addition to the Christian cross Paul VI proudly wore the pectoral of the ephod, a garment used by Freemasons and Jewish high priests.

The distinction between religious power and political power remains difficult to make, even in secularism (separation between the church and the state), since, the formative principles of Western society that modern democracy adopts remain inked in spite of everything in Christian ideology, whose principles such as the sharing or empathy will be echoed by political formations claiming socialism. Moreover, in popular thought, the West remains a Christian entity in opposition to the East which is a Muslim entity in majority. The war on terror that began in the late 90s just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, proves it, in an edifying way, with the rivalry that will oppose two major religious blocks. Christianity and Islam. Greatly influencing world politics.

In the history of relations between political power and religion in the West, the split between political power and religion is the result of the logic of control of political power by different forces. If in the old regime the papacy was the nerve center of political and religious power in Europe, the French Revolution of 1789, and the American Revolution of 1776, consecrated the destruction of the influence of the clergy, and of the kingship which was then its emanation, on the management of the affairs of the city. A management that will be taken over by elites from learned institutions and economic fabric (Oligarchy). The exercise of political power, in spite of everything, will find new influencers in the arcana of esoteric beliefs such as the Freemasonry or the Rosy cross, which will be responsible for building French or American societies, using hermetic pathways. However, as in previous cases, the main trends in the development of political power will be based on the cardinal principles, of secrecy and influence.

However, despite the great influence of the Freemasons, the Christian framework, will remain relevant and the United States, which with ambitions to dominate the Western world at the turn of the 19th century will endow neo-reformist religious currents such as Mormonism, which will make the United States a kind of promised land, and the Americans an elected people. despite the troubled history of murderous colonization against Native Americans and slavery. Also, it is intentionally that Mormon theology does not adhere to the dogmas of the councils of Nicaea, Chalcedon and Constantinople. It interprets the Trinity differently from the versions of Christianity that preceded it, admitting for example that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three separate gods (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 370, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 576-577), or that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers (Gospel Principles, pp. 17-18, Mormon Doctrine, 192). Despite this, it identifies with Christianity, and says it is the last church to bring back to the truth. Apostasy, the loss of the benchmarks of all other religious currents being consumed, according to Mormons it was necessary that Joseph Smith its founder who was candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1844, brings the people of God to the banks of the truthful religion. Many Americans think that America is blessed by God. Some even think that America plays a special role, in the world. For the Mormons, the United States is literally a God-designated nation, the place where it decided to anchor its church. 90% of Mormons firmly believe that the US Constitution is a divinely inspired document and a doctrinal element. In the Doctrine and Covenants, the sacred book of Mormons, God would have provided that the Constitution of the land would be established, "by the hands of wise men." Even if Joseph Smith was assassinated at age 38, his ideas would be part of what would politically inspire the notion of the new American century, which will make politicians believe, their messianic mission of leadership in the affairs of the world.

Many Mormons and their doctrine will infiltrate the decision centers of the United States and work toward the realization of the United States agenda of great magnitude as opposed to the axis of evil often represented by others as the Muslim Middle East. Also, behind the agendas of spreading democracy, there is no less an agenda of religious civilization that could only be opposed to another religious current like Islam, and suddenly the confrontation between the West and the Middle East could only take on a notion, of shock of culture and beliefs.

Apart from Mormonism, the United States remains a predominantly Christian land, where the swearing of the highest authority of the country is done on a Bible. A position of president of the United States of America that christian lobbies are very influent to concede to anyone who is in league with them. Strong links unite Christian entities, both Catholic and Protestant, and the country of Uncle Sam. Also, the Vatican played a crucial role in the 1980s to fight communism in Eastern Europe, becoming an ally of the United States, at the turning point of the cold war. If the diplomatic relations between the United States and the Vatican were established only in January 1984. This is because from their birth, the United States has claimed a model that advocated the remoteness of the United States, from the old regime of Europe, considered corrupt, in the connivance which reigned between the Church and the State. The majority of Christians in the United States being reformist, it was normal that like Martin Luther, they continue in the ideology of secession with the Roman catholic church. The normalization of relations with the Catholic Church became more than logical with the election of a Polish Pope John Paul II in 1978. Also, the collaborations that had started since the Second World War between the ancestor of the CIA, the OSS , and the Vatican, will be officialized.

After, the second world war a network of exfiltration called "Ratline" was set up by the Franciscan priest Krunoslav Draganovic who was a member of the Ustashi movement, to protect Nazi or fascists war criminals. OSS agent Emerson Bigelow reported on October 21, 1946, about a 200 million Swiss gold shipment from the National Bank of Croatia to finance these channels. Source: US News and World Report, A Vow of Silence p. 36, March 30, 1998. The exfiltration of the Nazis in Latin America, facilitated by the Vatican's laissez-passer paperwork, aimed to protect useful elements of the Nazi regime. which later had to be used to subdue Latin American regimes that tended to pour into communism. On August 29, 1947, Pius XII published in the Osservatore Romano a letter addressed to him by President Truman in which the latter called for a union of moral forces in the world and considered "that a lasting peace can only be established on Christian principles. So, for much of the thirteen years of his post-war pontificate, Pius XII will follow an uncompromising anti-Communist line and "placing the moral weight of Catholic teaching against the USSR and its allies, while drawing closer to West. The ties between the Vatican and the United States were so close in the 1980s, that James Baker, the Secretary of State under the Reagan administration, attended Mass almost every Sunday at the Vatican. However, it is important to note that while the Vatican under Pope John Paul II appeared to fight communism, many Catholic priests in Latin America and the rest of the world greatly influenced socialist movements. If the encyclical Rerum Novarum of Leon XIII, published in May 1891 seems to openly criticize socialism it finds utopian, while stigmatizing hatred between the less affluent and the rich, 40 years later, on May 15th, 1931, in the encyclical Quadressimo Anno, Pope Pius XI, openly criticizes capitalism and its misdeeds on morals, even if it distinguishes communism from more moderate socialism, which rejects the use of violence and brings some mitigations, to the struggle of classes.

Sandinism and Christianity in Nicaragua have always made way together. Also, the fall of the regime of Anastasio Somoza on July 17, 1979, is understood by the Sandinists, as the victory of good over evil, of justice over injustice, a kind of resurrection, from the darkness of the country, which is in direct line with the Christian doctrine.

The ideals that advocate greater social justice, the sharing of wealth, and so on, are similar to Christian doctrines, and the question of a possible rapprochement between socialism and Christianity, or even the accession of Christians to different socialist parties becomes logical to continue the work of God, even if, on the contrary, Catholic circles are often conservative. The opus Dei movement created by the Spaniard Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá de Balager, will become capital in the influence of the Catholic Church in political affairs because the members of the opus dei, which implies the work of God, are committed Christians who in their public and private functions strive to apply the principles of the church, under the maxim God is everywhere. Apart from the Opus Dei, another sect directly related to the Catholic Church is no less influential in politics. The Maltese Order, which has sovereignty without territoriality and therefore is a diplomatic fiction. It currently maintains state-to-state relations with thirty-four powers and is recognized by the United Nations. The Grand Master of the Order, even a layman and married, has the dignity of a cardinal. Among its knights are influential political figures such as American hawks like, William Casey (former CIA director), Alexander Haig (former secretary of state), Glenn Souham (former Ronald Reagan military advisor), or Nelson Mandela and the Queen of England.

Islam is no less relevant in the influence of politics. Since, its inception it has always been based on the bicephalic notion of belief and state. Muhammad was an army general, a governor, and a prophet. Entities such as caliphate and sultanate have a binary character, both religious and political. From the seventh century, the word "Islam" is used in Arabic to designate a religion, as well as a political ideology, yet perfectly distinct.

The more rigorous Islamist ideology seeks to reform both the mode of society and the style of government, which is inspired more by the autocratic and dictatorial notion legitimized by a liberticidal interpretation of the Koran. Modern, political Islam was born in the context of colonization. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Muslim reformists such as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897) and Muhammad 'Abduh (1849-1905) drew on the sacred texts to cope with the superiority of the technicism of the West, and counter its universalist ambition. Through an effort to reinterpret the Islamic heritage, these thinkers strove to revive and mobilize the Muslim community. They initiated a revival of Islamic culture, literature, law, economic practices and social and societal practices, with the aim of finding an alternative to the state and the lifestyle of Westerners (see Theo Blanc: Political Islam) Political Islam is a generic name for all ideological currents, which aim at the establishment of a state based on the principles of Islam, be it at the scale of a country, or the entire Muslim community (umma). In general, it is a synonym for Islamism, which insists more on the political characterization of these movements than on their strictly religious aspect. Muslim proselytism in this sense is more or less related to the creation of states under Muslim domination, to oppose Christian states of the West. The Islamic Republic of Iran of Imam Khomeini, which emerged after the fall of the Shah monarchy of Iran in 1979, is strictly intertwined in the Islamic faith of the Shia movement. While its great Sunni opponent in Saudi Arabia is a monarchy that finds its legitimacy in the Wahhabi clergy who even has a police force to enforce the laws emanating from its liberticidal ideology.

Olivier Roy, believes that Islamist ideologies strive to constitute the Muslim community in political entities, exceeding or ignoring political and ethnic divisions. But the contemporary history of Islamist political movements shows that they develop in the context of nations states that they contribute to anchor in the collective psychology and geostrategy of the Middle East. While failing to create new state entities, Islamists are content to simply influence existing entities, including by using democratic modes of accession to power, as was the case in Algeria in 1990 with the Islamic front of salvation. More recently, the attempt to create an Islamic State by the Salafist movement of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi between the summer of 2014 and the winter of 2017 resulted from the destabilization of Iraq and Syria by Western troops. The destruction of these states would have allowed Daesh to create a new entity, but the Islamic State turned out to be a Trojan horse used by Westerners in their Middle East, Zionist and mineral resources, control agendas.

One of the major tools of political Islam is the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), a pan-Islamist organization founded in 1928 by Hassan el-Banna, with the aim of an Islamic renaissance, the fight against Western influence, secularism and the establishment of an Islamic state based on the principles of Sharia law. The Muslim Brotherhood, which is inspired much by the modes of operation of Western Freemasonry because Hassan El Banna would have been Freemason, has always been quoted in the political turmoil ravaging the Middle East. Some of its members would have been nefarious in the assassination of politicians like the Egyptian president Anwar El Sadate, in 1981. “Allah is our objective. The prophet Muhammad is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way”. Remains their motto. Against, the movement of Muslim brothers, many observers fear his acquaintance with the Western intelligence services, which makes this brotherhood an almost unavoidable actor in the Middle East. Nothing new, since the shady relations between western intelligence services and nefarious middle eastern organizations, date back to the templar era, during the middle age, templars and the society of Assassins of the imam Hassan-i Sabbah, used to fight side by side during Christians crusades.

In West Africa and Senegal in particular, brotherhoods such as the Mourides, one of the most prominent in the country, are very influential in electoral campaigns, the Djiguel (oral order) of the Marabout (mystic healer), is often decisive in the choice of candidates, because, in general, followers obey his word .

In Eurasia, Islam has always been the catalyst for the organization of traditional society. In Chechnya, Islamists played a key role in the seizure of power in Grozny by the Dudaev group. Very quickly national independence struggle, and religious fight were mingled. The break-up of the regional spiritual directions led to the creation of each republic, own leadership, which resulted in the disappearance of any distinction between "official" Islam and "parallel Islam" or brotherly. However, the spiritual leadership is skeptical of the revival of Islam under Dudaev's rule, whose Islamic faith was often questioned for its participation in the Afghan war under the banner of the Soviet Union. The question of the status of Islam in the politics of the republic was debated in May 1993, in full conflict with Moscow. Doudaev finally died in 1996 shot by RC missiles while using a satellite phone. Since 2003 after a referendum Chechnya is part of the Russian federation.

In China, the Muslim minority, generally composed of the Uighurs, is muzzled. The Chinese government believes that Islam beyond faith in Allah, is above all a tool of mass manipulation that is dangerous for the order established by the Beijing Communist regime.

Outside Islam and Catholic Christianity. The reformist church, based in the United States tends to use a proselytism that takes it to the confines of the African continent which remains a very fertile ground for religious movements. Ambient poverty probably helps some to believe that only the miracle, could save them from the precariousness of their human condition. The huge sums of money collected by the faithful help enrich the pastors, who, thanks to their high standard of living, often evolve in the spheres of political power they often try to influence. In a continent that stammers in democracy, the number of followers of these gurus of the faith, and the blind confidence that their devotees vow to them, is often envied by politicians, who by securing the support of these pastors are certain to draw voters into the ranks of these churches, when they themselves do not believe in the miracles of these good news tellers, to help their political career. Religion becoming a kind of talisman. The rogue pastors do not hesitate to corrupt the administrative authorities so that they can tolerate the expansionist aims of these movements, which, instead of enriching, impoverish the masses by degrading them. The reformist churches in Africa have become a phenomenal factor of underdevelopment and brainwashing of the masses, a state of mind of the populations that can only facilitate a neo-colonization, that may happen sooner than later, if nothing is done.

American puritanism has allowed forms of radical Christianity to flourish, such as Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Universal Alliance for World Christianity (Moon), and the Apostolic and New Apostolic Churches, which since, with Sunni Islam defended by Saudi Arabia seek to conquer the world and Africa not always for the glory of God but for political interests, that in the long run would guarantee their survival, through the influence exercised on the socio-political fabric of nations . Moreover, the rapprochement of American Christians reformist with Israel is only a geopolitical strategy that has nothing to do with the false religious fraternity that exists between Judaism and Christianity. The Hebrew religion denies the status of a prophet or messiah to Jesus Christ, whom it calls an impostor, who deserved his feat (Crucifixion) in the Talmud. However, if Jesus Christ, the foundation of Christianity is denied in the Talmud, as opposed to Islam that recognizes in Issa (Jesus Christ), the quality of prophet, Islam should be closer to Christianity, however a cultural ravine and false preconceptions, create doubt in the minds of the followers of these two religious currents that since then clash deadly in underdeveloped parts of the world such as the Gulf of Guinea. In any case, one thing is certain, as long as religions will exist, they will always be part of human life and necessarily they will always be manipulated for purposes of power. Political power likes to be shrouded with sectarianism and influence peddling, secret and influence remaining its passwords.

Hubert Marlin

Journalist