The Monopoly Mindset - Part 2a

Thank you to Maureen for providing a nice transition into Part 2, where we discuss two of the signs that reveal the church is pursuing a monopoly status in America.

Control vs. Competition: In this view competing religions are viewed as the "enemy" meant to be crushed, by force if necessary, in order to preserve the "true way" of Christianity. Christians use their financial, social, and political power to control access to competing philosophies. They then work to destroy those philosophies. For example:

1. Economic Sanctions and Boycotts. Though more popular in the late 80's and 90's, you will still occasionally see call for people to use financial pressure to influence moral conditions. These are mostly targeted at large retailers who sponsor groups that the Christian world deems immoral or evil. The tricky thing is that as a Christian I have a personal responsibility to use the funds God has given me in a wise way. I may choose to support some things and not support others purely for moral or ethical reasons. But, when I take my personal responsibility and make it a Religious Economic Effort then I take the risk of re-shaping the purpose of my religion. People begin to see me as a Financial force rather than a spiritual force. This can back fire if your purpose is truly spiritual in nature.
2. Legislating moral worldviews. The most popular example of this in my lifetime is the legalization of abortion in America and the fight to overturn that Supreme Court decision.
3. Social anathema. The fight against homosexuality has taken this tactic. There has been an active push over the last few decades to make homosexuality socially unacceptable. The attempt is not just to have it viewed as wrong, but to make it seem "icky".

The first thing we see is that none of these strategies work for the long-term. There are still immoral companies that make lots of money. People still get abortions (and would even if the law changed). And, homosexuality is more accepted today than ever. When we attempt to promote Christianity by controlling people's access to competing ideas then we are demonstrating a Monopoly Mindset. And, such a strategy is destined to fail.

Tomorrow we will look at the second symptom: "In-fighting and Cannibalism".