In 1949, George Orwell published Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian novel which has become the best-known in that genre. In the future envisioned by Orwell, the world is divided into three superpowers named Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. All are essentially the same, each governed by an absolutist, totalitarian regime. In Oceania, the despot is a man known as Big Brother.
The chilling thing about reading Nineteen Eighty-Four was seeing so many parallels between Big Brother's regime and the way God is portrayed by Evangelical Christians. The comparison was inescapable, as point by point it laid itself out before my eyes:
Crimethink -- In Oceania, crimethink is the only real offense, as there are no actual laws. Crimethink is defined as holding a different opinion than what the Party prescribes; everything the Party says must be believed without question, because the Party is considered to be the source of absolute truth. The government agency called the Ministry of Truth (called Minitrue for short) is responsible for producing all the approved propaganda. Belief in it is enforced by the Thought Police, who monitor every citizen. Although the Thought Police cannot actually read minds, they can accurately infer anyone's thoughts by monitoring tone of voice and subtle facial expressions. Citizens thus learn to be constantly in control of their thoughts, and immediately reject and forget any thought that disagrees with Party line. Once a citizen is caught in crimethink, he is made to confess to all manner of crimes which, though he has not yet actually committed them, would be the result of dissenting from the Party; this is a valid confession because it is the thought, not the deed, that counts.
We see the same basic premise at the heart of Evangelical Christianity. There are prescribed doctrines which every good Christian is supposed to believe without question. Anyone who holds to something different is said to be in error, and his very salvation may be called into question -- even if the doctrines in question are not central to the Gospel message, the logic being that to doubt any part of it is tantamount to doubting the whole thing. This logically flows from the idea that the word of God is absolute truth. And of course, believers are also told that God knows every thought -- so, like the citizens of Orwell's Oceania, the good Christian constantly monitors his own thoughts and rejects any which are deemed heretical. Because after all, a sinful thought is at least as bad as a sinful act.
On the Minitrue bulding are the three slogans of the Party:
WAR IS PEACE -- By any standards, the book of Joshua in the Bible is the history of a brutal genocide. Joshua's avowed purpose was the total extermination of the Canaanites. Joshua came closer than Hitler to achieving his goal, because there was no international community to intervene. Yet most Evangelical Christians, if challenged about these atrocities, will defend Joshua by saying that it is okay to exterminate an entire people if God has told you to do it, because His will is more important than anything else. By implication, then, we must conclude that they believe Hitler was evil, not because he tried to exterminate a people, but because he did so without God having told him to.
No wonder that, even today, the Evangelical bloc has never questioned any war the United States has fought, even though so many of those wars have been fought against former allies. This exactly parallels the wars in Orwell's world: when the war with Eurasia ended, and Oceania instead went to war with former ally Eastasia, the Ministry of Truth went back and changed all the records to indicate that Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. As in Orwell's world, so in ours: Oceania's war was fought in faraway lands, and its citizens never saw the devastation of the people of those lands. Likewise, point out the devastation caused by America's wars today, and most likely, the Evangelical Christian will say it is better to keep the war over there so as to have peace at home: "WAR IS PEACE."
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY -- In the novel, O'Brien, a high-ranking Party official, pointed out to Winston, the main character, that this slogan is reversible; one could with equal accuracy render it as Slavery is Freedom. So often we hear Evangelical Christians give their testimony in terms like these: "Before I came to Christ, I did whatever I wanted, but I was a slave to sin; now that I am a Christian, I am free to obey." No one in Christian circles seems able to see the inherent contradiction in this. Free to obey? Surely the best analogy to this is the biography of Carmen Bin Ladin, living among devout, conservative Muslims, wearing their burqas and sequestered from the world as Saudi mores demanded, and thinking of themselves as superior to, and freer than, those decadent Western women out in the wider world making their own choices. When a Christian speaks of being "free to obey," this is only a paraphrasing of "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY."
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH -- In Orwell's Oceania, it doesn't pay to know too much. One of Winston's grave errors was having seen, briefly, a photograph proving that three executed men were actually innocent of the crimes they were executed for. If he had better developed his mental discipline, he could have managed not to see that picture, and his loyalty to the Party would not have wavered. The regime maintains itself in power by ensuring the people "know" only what it chooses to tell them; the populace's ignorance is the regime's strength.
We hardly need elaborate on how Evangelical Christianity participates in this. Merely look at all the rubbish written in defense of "scientific creationism" when the evidence for evolution is right there in front of anyone not determined to make science agree with doctrine. Merely look at the steadfast refusal to admit that climate change is happening when the climate scientists have all the data on their side. To accept either of these scientific truths would create a crack in the literalistic view of scripture on which Evangelicalism depends. Evangelicalism maintains its credibility by ensuring lay believers "know" only what it chooses to tell them about science. The laity's ignorance is the dogma's strength.
Tied into this is the equation: 2+2=5. Of course that is not empirically true; when empiricism is accepted, then everyone knows 2+2=4. But sometimes, the Party needs for 2+2=5 instead; or, conversely, there will be those occasions when the Party requires that 2+2=3. Truth is whatever the Party needs it to be at any given time. Of course, whatever the truth may be at that moment, it is also necessary that it must always have been true; otherwise the Party would not be infallible. So Winston's main task at Minitrue was to issue revised records, newspaper articles, etc., to replace all the earlier ones that disagree with the truth of the moment. When the war with Eurasia ended, and the war with Eastasia began, Minitrue had to reissue all written materials referencing the war, to ensure that all records showed that Oceania had indeed always been at war with Eastasia.
Likewise, there are murmurs in Evangelical Christianity against what they call "revisionist" history. They find it unacceptable that previously marginalized groups should bring their previously untold history into the mainstream; that would cast doubt on the accepted versions. If we want to maintain the truth that America was founded as a Christian country, it simply will not do to allow history books to discuss the Deist and other unorthodox beliefs the Founding Fathers actually held. This is important because, as the Party knows, "Who controls the past controls the future, and who controls the present controls the past."
In the same vein, can it be coincidence that in most Evangelical Christian bookstores, there are very few writings by anyone earlier than C. S. Lewis? Great Christian thinkers of the past, such as Tertullian and Zwingli, are seldom to be found in today's Christian bookstores; probably this is because Christianity as those men knew it was not like the Evangelicalism of today, hence, not appropriate for instructing Christians of today.
Junior Anti-Sex League -- In the novel, Julia was an active member of the Junior Anti-Sex League. The Party line held that the only acceptable sexual activity was that intended to produce a child by a married couple, and without the wife experiencing any pleasure. Some felt that even this was too risky, and advocated that all children should be produced by artificial fertilization. The reason was simple: the Party required all a citizen's loyalty, and all a citizen's energies, and sex was a diversion of energy away from the Party, and a potential source of divided loyalties. This indeed was borne out, as Winston and Julia grew to hate Big Brother more and more as they got deeper and deeper into their clandestine sexual relationship.
Need we elaborate on the fact that the Evangelical view of sex stems from the same cause as the Party's? Namely, that sex diverts energies and loyalties away from serving the Lord, who deserves all of us, our very lives and identities, all the time. We see a chilling parallel to the Junior Anti-Sex league among Christian teens, Julia's red sash transmogrified into a Christian teen's "promise bracelet." Like the Junior Anti-Sex League, these teens choose to deny their sexual development rather than develop it in a healthy way, motivated by a devotion like that of a Party member toward Big Brother.
Unpersons -- In Oceania, those who betray the Party are not merely executed; all record of their existence is erased. A true Party member will therefore not remember them, even if they shared the same workplace just the day before.
This is actually the most chilling parallel of all. Sooner or later, every serious Christian must face the question: how can I be truly happy in heaven if some of my loved ones are in hell? Wouldn't I feel anguish knowing that someone I love is in torment? The only real answer I have ever heard is that those in hell will not be remembered by those in heaven -- the damned are unpersons, in the Orwellian sense.
Interestingly, I find that there is also a horrific prallel between Nineteen Eighty-Four and a different stream of Christian thought, one not currently accepted by the mainstream, but relegated to the fringes and rejected by Evangelicals. I refer to Christian Universalism.
Christian Universalism has been much misrepresented by the current Christian mainstream. It has been accused of denying the existence of hell. This is false. Christian Universalism does not deny the existence of hell; rather, it holds that hell is a transitory state, similar to the Catholic concept of Purgatory, in which sinners are purified and eventually brought around to final repentance. Many of those who hold to this Universalist view find it comforting. But this is only possible without looking too deeply into its implications.
Ministry of Love -- The Ministry of Love is another of the government agencies in Oceania; it is called Miniluv for short. Just as the Ministry of Truth is in charge of propaganda, and the Ministry of Peace is in charge of war, so the Ministry of Love is where prisoners undergo torture. After Winston's capture, he is given over to O'Brien to be reeducated. Unfortunately for Winston, the human mind is so constructed that the only way to cure him of dissenting thoughts is through brainwashing. Through starvation, sleep deprivation, beatings, and electroshock in which he is held helpless, Winston questions everything he knows. Does 2+2 really equal 4 all the time? Did he really see that photograph? Did he really remember Oceania being at war with Eurasia before going to war with Eastasia? O'Brien tells Winston what he is supposed to believe, and Winston, determined to end his suffering, resolves to learn to see -- really see -- five fingers when O'Brien holds up four. The more Winston's thoughts come into agreement with the Party line, the less extreme the torture. But there is one thing he still lacks.
He still loves Julia. This indicates a divided loyalty -- he is holding something back from Big Brother and giving it to Julia instead. This can only be cured by subjecting him to the absolute worst horror he knows, until he begs to have it done to Julia instead, to spare himself.
After his release, Winston finds he has no more feelings for Julia, nor nostalgia about his unperson mother. He finally learns, not merely to obey, but to love Big Brother completely. Does this not directly parallel a central tenet of Christianity, viz., that we must reject all other loyalties, to love God wholeheartedly? But having survived Miniluv and learned to love Big Brother, Winston is a shell of a man, with no feelings or identity apart from what the Party wants them to be. It seems to me this is an apt description of the process occurring in the Christian Universalist conception of hell. Therefore, Christian Universalism brings me absolutely no comfort.
Now, most devout Christians, and probably all Evangelicals, will tend to conclud from this that I am an unbeliever. This is a common human thought process: in the First Century, because the Christians did not believe in the Roman gods, the Romans thought Christians must be atheists. Everyone tends to see their own concept of god or gods as the only sensible one. But I DO believe in God, I DO believe Christ died for man's benefit (although I cannot give as sophisticated a theology about it as I hear other people give), and I DO believe God cares what humans do in our earthly lives. I do not need to hear the same old "love Big Brother or else" message that evangelists repeat over and over, somehow calling it "Good News." I have been there, done that, and found it wanting. Instead, I find God in the experiences and observations of real life, in the love of one creature for another, in the people -- of whatever faith or no faith -- who care enough to make the world a better place in whatever way matters to them. That is a God with whom I would want to spend eternity.
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