Spain, 1936 - History Repeats Itself
I've always been fascinated by the Spanish Civil War, especially the choices made by the Catholic Church, which are being repeated today.
The Spanish Civil War fascinated me from the very first time I learned about it, in High School Spanish class and then again in Literature when we read Hemmingway. The thing that made it interesting to me was that looking back, there was an obvious viewpoint that we were supposed to learn. That Spain was the last chance to stop Hitler, and the place the German military sharpened their techniques.
Of course, since this was me, that wasn’t the viewpoint I came away with. What I came away with was that this was a war with no “good” team, yet with a whole lot of people thinking they were fighting for the “good” team.
It was Communists against Fascists, with all the atrocities of Stalin and Hitler rolled into one little proxy war over who would get to rule Spain.
And the Church chose a side because the Church wanted power.
For more background on this, you should absolutely read this detailed history - https://www.spainthenandnow.com/spanish-history/civil-war-and-the-catholic-church
Trust me, it’s worth the read.
The short version, however:
Socialists win election
Socialists want a new Constitution with a clear separation between church and state, legalization of divorce, and the removal of nuns/priests from the public education system, which should be secular.
Church opposes this change - supports opposition movement led by Franco
Socialists burn down convents and attack church as the war begins.
Church actively supports the Nationalists in the war.
Now, a lot of Church historians will point out that the Church was really just defending itself from the Communists who wanted to destroy it in every sense, and to a degree they are correct. After they sided with Franco, they were a target of the Communists during the war.
They were a target because they had, for centuries, been part of the government that the newly elected party wanted to change. Those changes couldn’t be made with the Church still wielding the power that they did within government and society.
Franco, a fascist in every sense of the word, aligned himself with the church because he needed their support to win the war. He often described the war in terms of a Crusade, a term the Church was more than happy to take up. He then continued to align with the Church, giving it power over every day Spanish life for years after the war. In exchange, the Church legitimized Franco even as he had his political opponents murdered, and continued to violate the human rights of millions.
The Church had power, thanks to Franco, they weren’t about to jeopardize this, even if some in the Church saw it differently.
And, as long as the Church didn’t get in the way of Franco’s plans, they could keep that power. But, after Vatican I the Church changed, with a commission to take care of the oppressed, feed the poor, etc. and eventually Franco died, another government came in, actually created a separation between church and state, legalized divorce, abortion, gay marriage, etc. and the Church now has very little influence over what is a very secular society.
The thing I want to consider here is this idea of a totalitarian leader cozying up to the Church in order to gain power and control the people over whom they have that power.
We don’t have to go far in our history lesson to see another example of this.
Hitler, in the late 20’s and early 30’s always used a lot of Christian language and ideas in his speeches.
Like this one:
The national government...will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality.
Or this:
Today Christians ... stand at the head of [this country]... I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit ... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past ... (few) years.
Of course, now we know that in his private communication he did not believe this, and once he was firmly in power he would turn on the Church as well. But it was necessary to get the Church to legitimize him the same way it had Mussolini in Italy.
We can also exit the WWII era and look at the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the use of Islam as the only way to fight against the Russian invaders and the threat they presented to the religious beliefs of Muslims, even if the beliefs pre-invasion were nowhere near as extreme. The extremism was necessary to fight back the invasion, of Russia and then America. They are necessary to continue to protect against the attacks.
And now, we see Christianity in America circa 2022. A Church that is choosing sides in the political battles of the day despite a clearly defined Constitutional Amendment which prohibits the government from establishing an official religion. They have not just infiltrated, but have completely dominated and taken over the Republican Party. Republican candidates for office are tripping over themselves to show themselves to be the most aligned with the views of the church, which has, naturally, moved to more and more extreme views in order to protect the country from the perceived threats to their beliefs.
Yes, I said perceived. There is no Socialist army ready to start killing pastors and burning churches. The threat comes in the form of people who simply don’t believe in the same things they do. In a secular society, this is, of course, no big deal. They are no longer happy living in a secular society.
They want power. They look at the history of the Crusades, the Church during WWII and the Spanish Civil War, the Taliban, heck even historical events like the Irish famine and how English churches would feed Catholics only after they converted, and they don’t see lessons in what not to do, they see the power those religious groups held and are envious.
The leaders have duped millions and millions of believers into thinking that God wants them to have power too. That religious freedom means never having anyone disagree with you. That they, and only they, can protect their faith, the churches, their right to believe what they believe. They’ve been told over and over again, despite the lack of any actual proof that non-believers, especially immigrants, LGBTQ people, liberals, hippies and communists are going to take away their right to practice their religion. They are hunting down their children, and teaching them that America is not, in fact God’s own country. (Which they’ve also convinced you is a “thing” that the Founder Fathers wanted, despite their own words to the contrary.)
Most of them, by the way, do not believe any of this. They simply want power, which requires votes, and nothing turns out the Christian vote like convincing them that the other candidate is attacking their faith and wants to take away their right to practice it. It’s literally the entire programming ideal of Fox News and other right-wing media. Do you really want to argue that Trump is a true-believer? The “Grab them by the pu$$y” guy? The cheated on multiple wives guy? The guy financial fraudster? He’s no more of a religious figure than Franco was, or King Henry XIII was or most of the Republican leadership is. They are simply using the church to gain power, and should any part of the church get in the way of that, they will 100% turn on it.
Consider that a warning.
Let me leave you with another warning though. Throughout the later 20th century one thing also became clear. In Germany, Spain, England and Italy now, the Church plays a much smaller role in public life. They chose a side, and became an oppressor rather than a protector of the oppressed. Among much of the population, religion is little more than a tradition. The Church is not to be trusted with power. People left the Church in droves as it got more involved in politics and power than in serving the people it was called on to serve by Jesus himself.
That was not a coincidence. Eventually you run out of “others” and start to find them inside the church too.
The same will eventually happen here. It already is, and the more the Christians in America try to seize power and force their beliefs on everyone, the faster this will continue. Oh, people might show up in order to avoid the persecution, but they will no longer believe you. They will no longer consider themselves believers and followers.
We have all seen you become the oppressor, while claiming to be the oppressed.
Come to think of it, I think there’s a character in the Bible that thinks that same way, isn’t there? Someone who would love to lead the church astray and turn as many people against it as he can. Someone who has been doing this for centuries.
You’ve been conned.