The Dark Side of Celtic Christianity
What the Celtic Christian Perspective Has Taught Me, Part 4
Years ago, a friend of mine was super excited because one of her favorite comedians was going to be performing in a local bar. It was all she talked about for a couple of weeks before that night.
I didn't go to the performance, because I was working. I had to get an update on how well it went afterward. Over a meal with a couple of friends, I asked, “So, how did it go?”
She replied, “You know how they say you should never meet your heroes because they're going to disappoint you? Well, I met one of my heroes, and I found him to be incredibly disappointing.”
It wasn't the comedy. He was funny. In fact, it was a great night for the bar.
It's what happened after the performance that threw her.
She finally got some time to talk with him a little bit. It turned out that he was absolutely nothing like what she expected. In her mind, she had this vision of who he was, and it had nothing to do with him as a person. I can't remember the details, but I do remember that the experience was jarring for her
That's kind of how I felt when I discovered the darker side of Celtic Christianity. I had spent some time practically idolizing this approach. It was fresh, exciting, and expansive in comparison to what I was used to.
Then, I discovered something I did not like about it…at all. How was I supposed to deal with this?
You can listen to this article if you prefer. Enjoy!
“Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?”
I think most people are familiar with the story about how St Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. It's quite the myth. And, when we think about the significance of that, what he's doing is making the place safe for people to live in. How cool is that? Right? I mean, who wants to live around poisonous snakes?
It's a beautiful image…until you realize what it's actually all about.
It seems the snakes were a sacred symbol for the pagan druids. So this whole “getting rid of the snakes” business wasn't really about getting rid of snakes. It was about getting rid of the druids.
Yes, it was about getting rid of people.
Follow the leader
It was common at the time for the people in an area to share the same religion as their king. So it's no surprise that Christian missionaries focused their energies on converting those kings.
As they converted the kings one by one, it was expected that all the kings’ subjects would join him in this conversion. And this brings us to the dark side of the evangelization of the British Isles.
Forced conversion.
Convert or die.
Today we think of conversion to Christianity as something a person may choose to do, or not do. But what would it be like to live in a time when you had no choice? Either you converted, or else.
To my knowledge, we don't know exactly what happened to the druids. What we do know is that they were demonized by the Christian monks. And quite frankly, given that they were seen as agents of evil in the context of forced conversions, I expect a bloody resolution to the issue.
And what happened once the area was Christianized? What happened to those who wanted to continue in their pagan ways? I expect the Christian monks—backed by the power of kings—did what they needed to in order to suppress (violently if necessary) the old ways.
So what we effectively end up with is a version of genocide. The eradication of “the snakes” through forced conversion, which included bloodshed.
When the full weight of this hit me—this idea that Celtic Christianity had become an agent of genocide—I was aghast. Sure, I realized that Christian conversions followed the sword in the medieval period, but I wanted to believe that those who ultimately got St Patrick's Day on our calendars didn't do so with blood-soaked hands.
How did I deal with this?
The year this realization fully sunk in I did not wear the traditional green on St Patrick’s Day. I wore red. A symbolic, very visual reminder that the reason we have St Patrick's Day in the first place was because human beings were brutally murdered in the name of the Christian God of love.
When people noted my odd color choice and asked about it, I suspect my answer may have been a bit off-putting. After all, is not Saint Patrick's Day really all about the green beer? I may have seemed a little too uptight that night.
For the record, I have no problem with it being about green beer. But I also think that the holiday is useful to remind us that if we think Christianity is always a force for good in this world, we haven't learned a damned thing from our history.
If we think that the main reason Christianity came to prominence in the West is because people experienced the love of Jesus Christ and wanted more, then we are living a lie
If we think that we, as Christians, aren't still reaping the rewards of anything less than generations of damnable atrocities, then we are delusional.
Sanguine blood
“Sanguine.” the color of blood.
Many churches have red carpets in their sanctuaries to symbolize Jesus’ blood, that which binds us to him.
Through the blood spilled, he identifies with us
Through the blood spilled, he redeems us.
Through the blood spilled, he enters into solidarity with us.
And there are none with whom he identifies more than those who have had their blood spilled unjustly.
On the cross, the Executed One shares in the pain and despair of those in history who have been murdered (including those druids and pagans murdered by the church in the British Isles) as he cries out, “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Whenever I allow myself to sit and really open up to the weight of the human lives lost as a side effect of evangelism, I feel a heartache well up from deep, deep within that nearly makes me sick.
Sanguine is the color of blood.
Sanguine hope
“Sanguine” also means hopeful.
I don’t know if it is a coincidence that hope and the color of blood are entwined, but it certainly brings two parts of my world together.
Reflecting on the medieval conversion of the British Isles and today, I can safely say that we live in a very different world now.
When people live in a culture surrounded by violence, it's hard for them to even see what's wrong with it. And medieval culture was permeated by violence. I can certainly understand why the Christians at the time didn't have a problem with what they were doing. Being covered in the blood of enemies was just a part of living in that age.
I'm thankful that we have moved beyond that today. Yes, we do have violence in our culture, but it's nothing like it used to be.
When I look at Christianity today—mainly progressive Christianity—I see something different emerging. While committed to the same God as those medieval Celtic Christians, the same Jesus, and the same tradition, the progressive Christianity of today embraces compassion, non-violence, and inclusion as its way of being in the world as it proclaims the Gospel for the salvation of all.
This gives me hope.
I like to think it's not a blind hope but a realistic one. I know what is emerging will not be perfect, just as my beloved Celtic Christianity wasn't perfect. But I think as a tradition we have grown, and we have matured in ways that have opened us up to greater depths of Divine Love.
One final lesson
So this is my last lesson from Celtic Christianity to share with you, and it is perhaps the most powerful one…
The blood is upon us all.
Part of being human is to participate in and to contribute to the bloody tragedy of human suffering, often in ways we don't even realize. Nobody's hands are clean, not yours and not mine.
But that doesn't mean we're stuck, doomed to exist under the pall of despair. It doesn't mean we can't make this world a better place to live in for everyone.
Every single one of us longs for a more vital and thriving life. I believe it is Life Itself that is calling us to emerge from the darkness and to bring into being a brighter future.
I believe we can learn from our history. We can change our way of being so we don't repeat the same mistakes. And, while we cannot escape the human condition, we can elevate it.
Indeed, covered by the blood that we cannot wash off, we can open ourselves up to the power of Life Itself and allow it to transform us and work through us to turn the darkest of ages into the brightest.
Peace, Bo
The Evolving Christian Faith Network
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Credits
Thanks to Leonardo AI for the cover art