n7axw wrote:
Nice post, Thanatos. At the risk of starting a discussion that really doesn't belong here and one that I really don't intend to engage in, I am deeply worried about our evangelicals and fundamentalists for the same reasons you mentioned above. Further, I worry about the long term damage they are doing to the church's witness and credibility. As for my opinion about mixing religion and politics, read my byline...
Don
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You are right to worry for those reasons (and I agree with your byline). But that is exactly my original point about Church of God Awaiting and how it addresses its sins and and its failure to deal with the corruption that ultimately led to the rise of Zhaspahr Clyntahn and the Jihad. Just as Evangelicals in the US today are willing to trade Christian principles for political power and influence in the name of expediency, the Church and Vicarite on Safehold did the same for over 200 local years. Clyntahn was able to gain the support of many within the Church by covering up their crimes and blackmailing when they proved less than tractable.
So while Duchairn has dealt with the Church's corruption by holding all of Clyntahn's blackmailing victims and outright supporters accountable for their actions, I find it hard to believe that he will be able to restore the Church's moral authority within 20 years. After all, Safehold is not yet the fast-paced world of 20th century Earth and therefore generational feuds are more likely to persist than the sort of reconciliation between descendants of ancient warring factions or at least youthful apathy towards such ancient grudges. Again, I'm thinking in terms of Israeli-German relations today, where many young people on both sides treat the Holocaust as ancient history that has little impact on their current lives.
So how will all the survivors of the Sword of Schueler in Siddarmark feel towards the Church 20 years after the Jihad? Will they be able to truly divorce their faith in the "Archangels" and God from the actions of their fallible mortal stewards? Or will suspicion of the Church linger? Remember that Stefyny Mahlard learned to fear anyone in a purple cassock or an AOG uniform. For many, Duchairn's reforms are too little and too late, especially for those who lost everything in the Jihad. For those in power, there will always be fear of returning to the pre-Jihad situation where the Church could dethrone any ruler (and they will be disinclined to return to that sort of situation). And given how deep in debt the Church is, what will they have to work with in order to make amends?