sacrilicious

I can be pretty hard on religion here sometimes, and I appreciate the fact that my more religious readers have been tolerant of that. In a way, I’d like to think I have a balanced view because I’ve been on both sides of theism in my life. I do think it’s true that religion gets a bit of a bad rap from the perspective that there are a lot of religious organizations who are doing a lot of helping in the world – in particular, the ones who help without actively proselytizing seem very admirable. And there are a lot of people who go to church with the goal of becoming better, more prosocial people and who in many ways succeed in that goal. But, the more I began to think of religion as a means of social control, the more suspicious I started to become. Indeed, the American religious right can righteously be called out on this front. Right now, they’re arguing that the senate rules on filibusters are a religious issue. Things that make me go, hmmmmmm. And, of course, religion wields a big hammer in terms of its ability to control people. Imagine if people believed that if they didn’t do what you told them, their soul would perish in a lake of fire. For one thing, I’d have The Simple Life cancelled, but that’s beside the point.

Strangely enough, I’ve learned that I really like old churches. This is one of those things I could never have learned through introspection, but only became clear in watching my behaviour on vacation. I think I like looking at what people do with sacred space. They also tend to just be beautiful buildings, since that was something people could agree on pooling their resources for.

I really cemented this idea that I like old churches when we were in Tasmania, and came across a pretty old stone church with beautiful stained glass. One of the decisions they’d made about accounting for the sanctimony of the sanctuary was to put up the 10 commandments. It was while looking at these that for the first time I considered the role of the 10 commandments in social control, and in particular, in keeping lower classes content with their position. Bear with me as I share my thought process (or don’t, you know, whatever).

1. You shall have no other gods before me.

Pretty obvious, this one, you’re obligated to stick with this belief system, or it’s the lake of fire for you.

2. No worshipping graven images.

See above, or it’s the lake of fire.

3. No taking the Lord’s name in vain.

When I was in Catholic high school, they told us this meant that you couldn’t swear. Bunch of fucking liars, it doesn’t say that at all. Fuckwits. Anyway, this is still pretty much the same as the first two, and really shows a bit of insecurity that I thought would have been staved of by the omnipotence thing. They seem to think it’s pretty important to make it clear that you shouldn’t play for another team, then have to go to the lengths of saying that you have to take this team very seriously. Or it’s the lake of fire.

4. Don’t work on the sabbath.

Now, this is interesting because on its face it seems to be giving working people a bit of a break. Hurray, a day off! But of course, it implicitly suggests that you should be working six days. Maybe, historically, this was a big deal to be told to take a day off, I dunno. My goal here is to put a social control spin on it, even if it means playing devil’s advocate. Literally, I suppose. So relax on Sunday, or it’s the lake of fire!

5. Honour your mother and father.

This really seems like a big ask some days, doesn’t it. And a direct form of social control – obey your elders, or it’s the lake of fire for you.

6. You shall not murder.

Obvious social control, but also a rule in pretty much every culture you come across that hasn’t wiped itself out at the annual Murder-Fest celebrations. Of course, there are some people who argue that violence is justified as a means of overcoming repressive regimes. Fine and dandy, if you don’t mind the lake of fire.

7. No adultery.

I’m not sure if I can think of a classist element to this. Regardless, it’s comforting to know that Jerry Fallwell is heading to the lake of fire.

8. No stealing.

Okay, blatantly classist. Who has stuff to steal except people who have stuff? Nobody. Hands off the rich people’s goods, unless you like lakes of fire.

9. No lying.

Again, this is a common theme across many cultures. It’s also good for commerce, and sets up a nice advantage in a prisoner’s dilemma sense if the commoners play by the rules (while the elites don’t, sound familiar?). Because the lake of fire would suck.

10. No coveting your neighbour’s stuff.

Again, it kind of sounds prosocial, but you can totally see how this would serve as social control of the poor. Every now and then you might feel like it’s not fair that others have yachts on which they talk about taking away your Medicare. But you know what will make that go away? The lake of fire.

Anyway, I don’t really know how seriously I’m willing to stand by this analysis. But to the extent that here’s a grain of truth in it, it’s interesting that so many powerful people in the States are getting worked up about putting the 10 commandments everywhere.