Ever since the decline of the Roman Empire in 3 CE, the Church began gaining more power. The first Christian Roman Emperor (Constantine) combined government of the state with the Church’s affairs. This led to Christianity being implemented as mandatory rule in certain aspects of life (i.e. the rituals involving state delegations, private and public worship, etc.). Around 476 CE, kingdoms began to emerge in Europe. The Monarchs who governed the kingdoms had dealings with the Church which by now had amassed quite considerable wealth and power. As many of these rulers were really puppets placed in position by the Church (they were usually from large wealthy families who were considered to be the Church’s benefactors), their principles/criteria for ruling were also dictated by the Church. However, if we examine the Christianity of the day (or even that of today), we find that it lacks certain systems by which to govern. Where in Islam we may find comprehensive descriptions of the ruling system, the education system, the foreign policy, the economic and the ritual systems, in Christianity we may only find vague and scant references to how these principles should become a way of government. Therefore, the Roman Church had to look elsewhere for its policies, and turned to many of the traditions of the old pagan Roman government.
Although the papacy ruled directly over only the small regions around Rome, and from time to time over England, Sicily and Jerusalem, it had more political power than any other government in Europe. It was the Church (and therefore the Pope) which was responsible for levying taxes, introducing judicial rulings, and the Pope was believed to be infallible and in direct contact with God. So, the Church used its supremacy over the masses in a barbarous and brutal manner: many women were tortured and killed when the Church declared them to be witches; scientists who disagreed with the teachings of the Church were imprisoned, exiled or executed; the Church appropriated much land and power which was never used for the benefit of society but rather distributed amongst the privileged or else hoarded. Innocent people were exploited with promises of intercession when they died. A great source of income was the sale of the ‘Keys to Heaven’ to a person on his deathbed wanting to be absolved of all his sins; or to wealthy families with many sins on their neck would be convinced that if they commission artists to portray religious propaganda art, they would be forgiven.
People at the time did not want to speak out against such atrocities for fear of recrimination – such was the fear they had of their ruling body. This form of governing continued till the beginning of the 14th century when huge signs of discontent became apparent. This frustration came about due to the anger of the European thinkers, humiliation of the Crusaders at the hands of the great Muslim State, and because the Church was seen as a total disaster when it came to solving the problems of the people (due to Christianity’s lack of systems).
The 1500’s brought about much theological debate and controversy in Europe. Each state also saw the Church as a useful tool to gain control of others, make deals, etc. 1618 resulted in much violence and bloodshed over much of Europe. It was the time of the 30 years war after which most kingdoms were left in ruins. A third of Europe’s population died either in battle, plague or malnutrition. France and Spain continued fighting till 1659.
Then, along came the Reformers to call an end to the violence. They were Martin Luther and John Calvin – Reformers of the Church – and they declared politics as something of an embarrassment, and that one of the main duties of the Christian man was to obey the constituted authority no matter how wicked it may be. The question of man-made rule or divine rule remained unanswered.
As mentioned earlier, the state turned to Ancient history (i.e. Roman Empire) to fill in the gaps in advocating new laws, but the basis of the teachings of the Roman Empire came from ancient Greek philosophy. This is what the Humanists began to make references to in the late 1500’s, to find solutions to their problems. This led to a split into 2 groups:
1. Those who studied Greek philosophy and called for ‘Naturalism’, and believed in human beings natural reason in solving all problems.
2. Those in favor of the Church who advocated ‘Realism’ and the divinity of the teachings of the Church.
In Italy, these two groups were the Gulfs and the Ghibellines, and they were in constant battle against each other for leadership. The result brought about a victory in secular thought. This new society whose basis was the idea of either abolition of religion altogether (the basis of communism), or the separation of religion from life’s affairs (basis of capitalism). This left the society in obscurity when it came to the meaning and significance of life and the universe, and led to a boom in the philosopher population throughout Europe. Examples of the confusion which this led to may be seen in the teachings of Rene Descartes who said: ‘The reality is different for different people, depending upon the individual’s consciousness, thus leaving belief in God on the individual’s consciousness’; and Immanuel Kant who said: ‘The human mind is responsible for the existence of things as we perceive them’.
Soon the reign of the Medieval Church came to an end. Europe’s secular institutions began to emerge in the form of a new ideological base (Capitalism). Nations began to think that their citizens were superior to others by race or innate genius and thus began to see themselves as guardians of their national freedom. This led to the idea that geography or climate selected these frontiers, and within men was a natural will to be ‘free’ – to govern themselves and to dominate others. Thus, they would feel superior and more perfect than those of other races. Just as the Germans praised their peoples’ ability to rule others (their monarchy), in England John Fortescue claimed that English free law and constitution was superior to an existing law.
These new thoughts became popular thought and hence left the Church to withdraw and mold itself to a new set of laws based on the secular states (there were reform groups working within the Church to accomplish this). So now the Church could no longer manipulate the monarchs, it was a tool in the hands of the secular governments to manipulate the people; e.g. the declaration of the Church that secular people who lived faithfully and worked honestly were as good in front of God as the religious people. This was a complete turn around from their threatening gestures made earlier towards anyone who said anything that challenged the Christian doctrine.
Machiavelli is today considered to be one of the founders of modern-day political thought. He wrote two books: ‘The Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy’, and ‘The Prince’. His political thought was: “Politics is purely secular. It is the combat of men in search of power. Men are all alike, brutal, and therefore, all selfish politics must follow universal rules which are the same for all men. Therefore, the successful ruler must have studied history, must observe his contemporaries and be willing to exploit their weaknesses”.
Many modern-day parliamentary systems are based on Machiavelli’s teachings, and many draw upon the example of 1790 – the French Revolution.
Starting with the reign of Napoleon in France, other Western countries began colonization of the other parts of the world, to export the Capitalist ideology and to gain economically. We still see this exploitation being carried out today, through more effective forms.
So, if we look at today’s Capitalist society, a politician is very similar to Machiavelli’s ideal politician. The Church no longer rules Europe; her place has been taken over by the corporations and banks. Just as an artist performs for the sake of art and not for the people, a writer writes for the sake of freedom of expression and not for the benefit of society, their intellectuals/thinkers are experts only at making compromises instead of solutions. Their governments are like tools at the hands of the corporate businesses and the wealthy. Each member of this society lives for the sake of their individuality, and not for society. Therefore, to conclude, we must say that Secular/Capitalist thought is built upon the shallow and the reactionary and it is not a rational basis of thinking.
