Religion: The unholy alliance between religion and state power

Earlier this year I was in Peru for three months evaluating water supply and sanitation systems for small towns (< 30,000 people) throughout Peru. My work brought me to many different areas of Peru. One of the most fascinating visits was in Cajamarca.

Cajamarca, in northern Peru, is one of those places where a historical event has occurred that has forever altered the political and cultural landscape of the region. In 1532 Francisco Pizarro and a group of 168 Spaniards on horseback entered town and to the astonishment of the assembled Incas managed to capture the Inca king, Atahualpa. Great was the consternation of the local people for they considered their king as divine. Eventually an agreement was made whereby if the local people could fill the room in which Atahualpa was being held hostage with gold and silver, then he was to be released.

I visited the room in which this event occurred. It is a room of impressive size, 12m long by 8m wide by 3.1m high. Three times was the room filled with gold and silver. The Spaniards then found themselves on the horn of a dilemma. If they were to let Atahualpa go free, they would then be surrounded by thousands of hostile Incas in the heart of the Andean highlands many miles from home. Now of course these were "Christian" men and could not easily break their word.

The solution to this dilemma was to put Atahualpa on trial. If he were to be found guilty, they could be excused for not letting a convicted criminal go free. They then duly drew up the charges against him, twelve in all. The charges included such evils as adultery, polygamy, incest, usurpation of the throne (from Atahualpa's brother), fratricidal wars, idolatry, tyranny, heresy, human sacrifice, plundering and conspiracy.

Apart from the obviously ironical charge of plundering, the charge of fratricidal wars is especially interesting since it was these same Spaniards and their followers, who by their own internecine wars, would later carve up Latin America into the countries that we now recognize to-day. But who would defend the Inca king? This was especially difficult because the whole trial was to be in Spanish. Finally an interpreter was found and a Spaniard was appointed as Atahualpa's lawyer and the trial proceeded. Not too surprisingly, he was found guilty on all counts.

Now during this whole process the Spanish priest who was present was especially exercised about the state of Atahualpa's soul. If found guilty and executed, this poor heathen would be sent to everlasting punishment. As the trial proceeded, the priest urged the Inca king to convert to Christianity. After being found guilty and sentenced to death, Atahualpa must have concluded that things couldn't get any worse by converting to Christianity. It is recorded that because of his last minute conversion, instead of being burned alive, he was merely clubbed to death, in full view of the awestruck Inca people. In the mind of these medieval Christians, the important thing was that their newly converted Christian brother would enjoy everlasting bliss in heaven.

The whole event seemed to be a huge historical tragedy. Bernard Shaw, had he written a play about this could no doubt have given us a masterpiece. The lasting fallout of this crucial event was to be that Latin America is largely Catholic, dominated by descendants of the Spanish, and the Quechua people of the past Inca empire largely live like poor serfs in their own land.

While I was in Cajamarca, I was also reading the New Testament in Spanish. Perhaps because of reading it in new language, I was seeing it in a new light. I was struck by the book of Mark's portrayal of Jesus. Jesus drew from the well of his own religious tradition and found fresh and striking insights that he explained by simple paragraphs and pithy sayings. One would think that the religious authorities of his day might be delighted by his new and fresh interpretation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures. Such was not the case however.  In Mark ch.2, the scribes confront him, in ch.3 the Pharisees plotted to get rid of him. In this earliest of the four gospels, Jesus life and ministry seems to be a continual confrontation with the established religious authorities. In the end, they could tolerate him no longer and using Roman state power, they had him eliminated by crucifixion.

So the combination of established religion and state power eliminated Jesus. Fifteen hundred years later, in Latin America, the Church in His name, aided by Spanish state power, was back in the business of eliminating opponents to their global conquests.