Killing Kings

Now I love Anglicanism, it is my favorite of the Christian churches, a little bit Protestant, a little bit Catholic, a call to a middle way. However one of the shadows of that church is directly connected to these events. I mention this because I think that shadow looms over all religious communities. 

In the year prior to Cromwell’s posthumous execution the archbishops of Canterbury and York ordered the late King’s name added to the church’s ecclesiastical calendar. Reminds me of Our Lady of Kazan, the Russian Orthodox Church’s Outside of Russia’s congregation in San Francisco has an icon to the Romanoff family represented as martyrs of the faith.

The philosophy that the church is subservient to the state or that it is inextricably intertwined is known as Erastianism.

Let’s get this one thing straight. monarchs are a blight on the human stage. No good comes from absolute rule and appeals to divine right to such are an abomination.

Now there was a theological aspect to Charles’ downfall. And he had some very interesting ideas about ecclesiology. But he was a king. And was a tyrant.

And his removal from power was a good thing. Whether he needed killing is for a different conversation.

One of the interesting things about the American experiment is the separation of church and state.

Now our heart’s claim various allegiances. They are sometimes in conflict. And they often intertwine.

Within my religious communities of late I’ve heard and said prayers in support of our new president and expressed fervent wishes for his success. I’ve said in our Meeting House “God bless the United States of America.” A phrase not commonly echoed in our contemporary near pacifist church.

And I’ve thought about those words even as they spilled from my mouth.

Wishing well for this experiment in human dignity that is our country is right. I’m sure of this.

And, later, when the time comes, I hope I am not hesitant in objecting to the various excesses of the state, even when perpetrated by those whom I have supported with money and effort.

That bit of breathing room our founding documents established (bless you Thomas Jefferson) not only allows this but I think demands it.

We are inextricably bound up together. Our politics and our spirituality cannot be disconnected.

But I believe the state is better off when the churches are not unduly beholden and there is no doubt the church is better off – allowing it to pursue both its primary functions of seeking depth and meaning in life and its secondary function of expressing that prophetic voice calling us and our leaders back to our better angels.

Of course this blog is concerned mostly with spiritual matters. But here in this brief reflection we find the spirit and the world meeting. I hope among other things it is a call to caution, to hesitation, to that great way of not knowing.

Which itself brings me back the great project.

Most of us have heard Linji’s warning if you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him.

No doubt, no doubt, if you meet the king in the road, kill him.

But, also, all the while, remember the worst tyrant is the one that lives in our hearts…

When he pokes up from the depths of your mind, wearing his crown and ermine cloak and proclaiming various certainties, what will you do?