(News of the Christian Revolution spreads more slowly than those of its competitors, but for those of you in need of some, here’s a great story of Muslims converting to Christianity in Germany)
When the Communists took power in Vietnam the Marxists followed a pattern going back to 1870 when the Communards of Paris shot their city’s archbishop. Most priests and Christian clergy were arrested on the infamous catch-all charge of ‘inciting counter-revolution’. For instance all members of the ‘Oblates of Mary’ were deemed counter-revolutionaries, like the heroic Cardinal Nguyen van Thuan.
In the perspective of the Marxists, in that almost every action is directed towards some end, then those working for a different end ought to be stopped. Liberalism had a similar modus operandi as well throughout the 19th century and they – like Marxists – had their own revolutionary goals – that went against those of the Church. In France this battle was particularly pronounced as a war for society occurred throughout rural areas throughout the Third Republic. Schoolteachers and their assistants would be refused Christian burial by many parishes, since they’d teach students loyalty to the state rather than the church and pushed for the separation of the two.
While at best Liberal or Marxist goals can be set on Pagan virtues like Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and Fortitude, these are as far as their philosophies get. Since Christ’s Church is concerned with its own theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, it will always be at variance with the two former groups.
Democracy is a proper title for the way most modern/post-modern states function (even in monarchies like Canada). Power does reside in the people and their choice. Whatever 50% + 1 decide becomes the new end or project of society, and in such a world with competing ends, any Christian who bases their faith on a skewed liberal or Marxian vision of the world (whether this means women’s ordination or purely social justice) loses the foundation of the counter-revolutionary nature of Christianity. To teach that human reason ought to be our supreme discourse and revelation must be twisted to fit whatever today’s rationalism decrees is to sin against faith, which trusts even when it isn’t sure (Heb. 11:1). Just as to hope for a purely Libertarian world (notice I didn’t say state) that doesn’t offer help to anyone in need in the name of ‘Justice’, ‘fairness’, or ‘hard work’ is to sin against charity.
In short, this is why in one sense, Christians will always be counter-revolutionary to the ends and goals of this worlds’ wisdoms and views, because we have our own revolution. The Christian Revolution celebrates neither the storming of the Bastille nor the Winter Palace, but the Harrowing of Hell, done not by human strength or cooperation, but by the God-Man Jesus, our Lord Christ. It is decidedly a Monarchical sort – a reign of the Prince of Peace who is in revolt to the human usurpation of power and alleged claims of autonomy begun by our long father Adam. For Christians the situation is ironic, since human cooperation and unity without the need for God – the dream of both Liberals and Marxists – is viewed as a culmination of evil rather than good (see Gen. 11 / Tower of Babel). Since Christ is our chief cornerstone, any systems whose end is not Him, will thus be so many castles of sand.