In the next couple of posts I’m exploring the issues of power and idealistic or revolutionary movements, again in light of my experience in the International Churches of Christ (ICOC). I suppose I’m looking at how the power influences people who have it and people who don’t, and how at the beginning they came together.
We’re all familiar with the term ‘power corrupts’ but it’s scary how power and control in a religious group can creep up. A church or religious organisation is first and foremost a place for believers to come together to interact, encourage and edify each other. Persevering in one’s faith is a difficult thing -at times the most challenging commitment to keep, and a church should be about spurring you on. It should provide services of teaching, guidance and activities, and you should provide contributions of time, money and talent. Within this interaction is fellowship and fulfilling relationships.
But the problem is when a religious organisation becomes a monster so much more complicated and intrusive than what it should be. It takes on the Orwellian symptoms of control by a few over the many. It imitates tendencies of autocratic regimes and dictatorships in the use of information, propaganda, character assassination and the fundamental twisting of truth and justice.
The question is, how does this happen in a democratic society? And why does such an authoritarian religious group grow in popularity? How does it gain so much control over people’s lives in a society that values freedom and democracy? Not that democratic systems are squeaky clean. We all know corruption exists, but there’s freedom of the press and ways to balance power. And we still have to pay our taxes and support the government. But you don’t want to be in the position of supporting two corrupt institutions: the government and your religious order. Paying taxes to one is enough, you only want to support a religious group because it’s your free will to do so.
As is well known on the blog, the International Churches of Christ was the religious order I joined around 17 years ago while on campus. Thinking back, the reason I joined was for ideals and camaraderie. I was impacted by the way they taught the bible, called for change in peoples lives, and their attitude to righteousness which stood in contrast to society in general.
From my experience, and the little corner of the ICOC I was a part of, back then we were motivated by certain ideals. It was a religious revival, but like many religious revivals it has some good things and some bad things. Many of us were inspired by something that stood out from the rest of the Christian community, while some of the Christian community felt threatened.
But surely this is how movements start, of any ideology whether it’s religion, socialism, environmentalism or any other political ideal -even a business concept. Things start out fresh. There’s a sense of hope and reform, a kind of revolution, and of course the old guard is threatened. There’s usually a leader or few with innovative ideas and ideals who manage to spark a social following, a wave or snowball that grows with a life of its own.
The problem is, if the fundamentals are not quite right, then down the line things can go very pair-shaped. That’s why you have to be careful with certain ideals, because they can become twisted and misused down the track.
But just as there will always be a human tendency for revivals and revolutions, there’s always the accompanying tendencies for yesterday’s revolutionary to become today’s dictator. And it makes sense.
Imagine you’re young, full of energy, zeal, ideas and ideals. And you decide to start a revolution with your ideas (or perhaps a religious revolution with your revelation etc…) You rope a few of your best friends in as side-kicks, and you start a society. As a little group you become dreamers, and you motivate people with impassioned speeches, and this sparks interest and reactions. The excitement draws people in, and the more that join, the more exciting it becomes with the snowball effect.
Of course, you, being the one that started it, are becoming more and more important. You started out just leading a few friends, no big deal. Now you have a membership of thousands. Next year it’s tens of thousands, because those followers are motivated and well-networked to inspire new recruits to join.
So what happens when you’re the number one personality of a tribe of a hundred thousand. Now, if it’s a religion, the belief system strikes not to doing business, or a commitment to a political party or social club, but to a spiritual cause and the belief in eternal life, giving cause for a far deeper commitment. There in lies the temptation, with access to adoration from your group and the kind of influence, power and financial resources that might become available to you. No wonder they say power corrupts.
Somewhere down the line, the dreams and ideals that motivated so many seem to take a back seat to maintaining control of the resources at your disposal. You still talk about the dreams and ideals, but the reality could be that the position, power and influence you have becomes too important to you. You’re in a high position, with a long way to fall. You’ll probably have a range of enemies and critics, both internally and externally. They would range from the old threatened establishment that you led a revolution against to competing upstarts within your movement who you may fear to have an eye on your position.
This is the danger of heading religious revival movement, because once it becomes large and established, you want more. Riding that wave in the early days must have been a real high as well. There’s always the temptation to want to return to that glory, because in those days things were simple, there were less critics and less complications.
