My father, Donald Niven Wheeler, was an atheist. Yet among the lessons he taught me is that the Christian doctrine of love is a profoundly revolutionary idea.
He was thinking of Saint Paul’s First Epistle to Corinthians, so lovely in its poetic imagery that it sends chills up and down my spine. Think of the power of seeing truth “as through a glass darkly.” It is worth quoting at length: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all knowledge and if I have faith that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
St. Paul continues: “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always perseveres.”
“And now these three remain: Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
It is a contradiction that St. Paul’ sublime vision of universal love was so corrupted by evil empires, starting with the Roman Empire. First the Roman Emperors crucified Christians, including the Apostle Paul. Then Emperor Constantine in 313 A.D. issued the “Edict of Milan” decriminalizing Christianity. From then on, the ruling classes have used Christianity as a weapon of ruthless conquest. Think of the conquistadors who pillaged the New World, murdering hundreds of thousands, driven by an insatiable greed for gold. And following right behind them was the Holy Roman Catholic Church subduing and indoctrinating the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans, as round two of the conquest.
Where was the love in this wholesale genocide?
Yet tens of millions of oppressed people reject the deliberate distortion of the Holy Gospel by the religious demagogues, fake evangelism pouring out a litany of lies.
Among the clearest in exposing these lies is the African American people. They saw in Jesus’ teachings a path to freedom. I think St. Paul, the African American people----and my dad----were right: “Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
He was thinking of Saint Paul’s First Epistle to Corinthians, so lovely in its poetic imagery that it sends chills up and down my spine. Think of the power of seeing truth “as through a glass darkly.” It is worth quoting at length: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all knowledge and if I have faith that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
St. Paul continues: “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always perseveres.”
“And now these three remain: Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
It is a contradiction that St. Paul’ sublime vision of universal love was so corrupted by evil empires, starting with the Roman Empire. First the Roman Emperors crucified Christians, including the Apostle Paul. Then Emperor Constantine in 313 A.D. issued the “Edict of Milan” decriminalizing Christianity. From then on, the ruling classes have used Christianity as a weapon of ruthless conquest. Think of the conquistadors who pillaged the New World, murdering hundreds of thousands, driven by an insatiable greed for gold. And following right behind them was the Holy Roman Catholic Church subduing and indoctrinating the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans, as round two of the conquest.
Where was the love in this wholesale genocide?
Yet tens of millions of oppressed people reject the deliberate distortion of the Holy Gospel by the religious demagogues, fake evangelism pouring out a litany of lies.
Among the clearest in exposing these lies is the African American people. They saw in Jesus’ teachings a path to freedom. I think St. Paul, the African American people----and my dad----were right: “Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Thank you for posting my essay about Christian Love on this blog. I have received many creative and thoughtful replies. One is especially important: If Christian Love is not hypocritical, then Christians who profess to live by love will embrace those who believe in Judaism, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. or no religion. And of course the religious quacks are those who use religion as a weapon of oppression, racism, exploitation, war, imperialism. I say stand with the millions of oppressed people including both those who reject religion and those who embrace the "Gospel of Love."
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