Goodbye Christendom--and good riddance!: a pastor's reflection on church and state.

Christendom" is a term often used to talk about the Christian world generally. Lately, however, the word is being used by many scholars and analysts to refer to something more specific. Nowadays, "Christendom" more often means the socio-political arrangement in which the church is allied with the state.

Historically, whenever a country became Christian, it was frequently the case that this alliance between church and state took hold. Under Christendom, it was the job of the state to protect the church and to facilitate the church's mission; it was the job of the church to pray for and to bless, justify, rationalize, support and advance the goals and objectives of the state.

Even though in America the government never officially endorsed a particular church, we were still a part of Christendom because of the cozy relationship that always has existed between the state and the mainline Protestant churches.

When I was a child, this relationship was more pronounced than it is today. I recall reading the Bible, saying the Lord's Prayer and singing Protestant hymns in public school when I was in the second grade.

Christendom has been weakening in America for the last few decades. Many in the churches grieve the loss of this intimate relationship between church and state. They look for someone to blame, or they seek ways of re-installing Christian language, symbols and stories into American public life. They never lost their conviction that America is a "Christian nation," where churches and the state support each other.

But one reason why the edifice of Christendom started cracking in America is that some Christians actually started reading the Bible. There is nothing in the New Testament that says the church is supposed to be an arm of the state. They noticed, as well, that when the church and state are allied or united, it is the mission of the church that suffers. Under Christendom, the church has found itself forced to serve the desires of the state, no matter how venal, wrong or contrary to the teachings of Jesus.

Christendom always has been mostly a one-way relationship. The church ends up twisting its own Scriptures and theological tradition to justify and encourage enthusiastic participation in the state's wars, social policies, morality and economic system.

Over the centuries, the church has had to defend and even participate in slavery, torture, genocide, pogroms, forced relocation, expropriation of land, unfair labor practices, the death penalty, witch burning, the subjugation of women, child abuse, theft and various war crimes, culminating in the successive horrors of the first half of the 20th century: World War I, the Great Depression, and the Nazi Holocaust and World War II.

Active Christians and churches, dutifully supporting the policies of different states, were in the forefront of perpetrating every one of the profound evils that dominated that period in history.

I say this to our everlasting shame.

By the time World War II was over, many Christians noticed that the state-even in America--was involving itself in some activities that were increasingly difficult for the church to defend, justify or bless, without in effect denying its own identity and Lord.

Supporting the culture meant supporting racial segregation, the nuclear arms race, the violent overthrow of democratic and popular governments, widespread environmental pollution, uncritical support of business and commercial interests--even when they were doing clear and intentional damage to public and personal health, widening gaps between rich and poor and a lifestyle that was increasingly vacuous, materialistic and money-oriented.

Some churches and Christians supported these activities. Some still support them and similar things that go on today. But others, who were led by the Spirit to pay close attention to God's word, realized that the church can have nothing to do with war and injustice, oppression and exploitation, torture, pollution and violence, no matter who does them. We realize this because of the life, sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus categorically rejects secular power when it is offered to him by Satan. He refuses to use violence or coercion in achieving his goals. He certainly never advocates war. He chooses to die for the sins of the world rather than to kill others for their sins.

The demise of Christendom is therefore a very good thing for the church, because it frees the church from having to defend or absolve the state in its dirty work.

The heart of this question is: Is Christianity just a sanctimonious religious justification for what people, society and the state want? Is it just something we use to make our personal and social agendas feel more spiritual, palatable and right? Or is Christianity a matter of obedience to the living God who comes in Jesus Christ explicitly to overthrow our social, political and economic orders, replacing them with the Kingdom of God?

Christendom was a wall-to-wall catastrophe for the church. I do not want to see us go back to any arrangement where it is the job of the church to serve the state, society or anyone other than Jesus Christ.

The Rev. Paul F. Rack serves as the interim pastor of the Fanwood Presbyterian Church in Fanwood, N.J. He is also Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Elizabeth.