RE: Covid-19, and the Separation of Church and Constantine
You are one of the few Christians I know that is aware of that part of the history of Christianity and understand that the construct of "the church" is a power structure and nothing else.
One example is the priests who are supposed to be celibate only came about with Cluny and that priests weren't allowed to marry before to protect the property of the church, but they had often many children with their common-law wife - bastards, as they were called at that time, couldn't inherit property and all was well in the world.
We all have seen the results of this craziness as the lid has come off more and more exposing the many abuses perpetrated by priests and nuns. So sad to take a beautiful thing and turn it into an instrument of hate, torture, and so much more.
Let's hope that we are all rising to our best selves in this CoVid 19 world.
There are more of us that know than one would think, outside of European heritage. One might say in order to keep the faith in a robust manner, we have to seek the truth. Slave owners, and segregationists, plugged into the structure that supported them from 325A.D. onward. But even in the midst of that, the pure strand of the Way (the most ancient name) has never died out, in any tribe and nation where people have understood simple Christianity: we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so He sent His Son the Lord Jesus to die on the cross for all that sin and rise again, thus making the way for all men to escape the universal judgment that otherwise awaits them -- hence the ancient name of "followers of the Way" for those who believed in Christ. But we are not "saved" to be indifferent about the people around us in any way -- "Do good to ALL men," is a command completely suppressed in Constantine's model. Humility, gentleness, grace, generosity -- all denied by Constantine's model. Yet we are out here, quietly doing what "followers of the Way" are supposed to do. We don't need the structure. My prayer is that Covid-19 sorts out the worshipers of the structure and the followers of the Way in America, and that we start recognizing the "Constantinians" for what they are.
My hope is with you!!! So many bad things have happened in the name of (insert just about any religions name) used as an excuse to maintain the power structure.
I really hope that we are all rising to our better selves and not falling down...