Billions of people around the world are celebrating two of the great advances in human freedom this weekend. Wednesday night marked the start of Passover, the Israelites’ divine rescue from slavery in Pharaoh’s Egypt. This Sunday, Christians will attend Easter services to commemorate Jesus’ resurrection and triumph over death after his execution by Roman soldiers.
These Abrahamic religions focus on the eternal, but they strongly affect earthly matters. The Anglo-American branch of the Judeo-Christian civilization is the dominant force in global affairs today, and this century will be defined by the contest between this branch and a heretical offshoot, the Chinese version of Marxist-Leninism.
The Anglo-American culture is predominantly Christian but uniquely affiliated with Judaism. During the Reformation, common people in England gained access to the Bible in English, and as they read the Old Testament, they encountered Jewish heroes, kings, and holy men. England became more philosemitic and religiously tolerant as it became more Protestant, and a country that had once expelled its Jews welcomed them back in 1656. John Locke and his patron wrote into the constitution for the Carolina colony explicit protections for Jews and proto-Evangelical “dissenters.”
The Judeo-Christian belief that liberty comes straight from the Creator heavily influenced the American Founding. The Declaration of Independence explicitly referenced it. Biblical passages and allusions permeated the Founding Fathers’ speeches and letters, especially the book of Deuteronomy. The Exodus story inspired American champions of liberty, including Frederick Douglass and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The term “Judeo-Christian” became popular after World War II, but the affinity Americans have felt for Jews predates that term by centuries.
Americans and their leaders have not always been devout or doctrinaire. George Washington commented that “above all, the pure and benign light of [divine] Revelation” aided the American Revolution, but the Founding generation was unusually irreligious. They and their descendants generally respect the roots of America’s beliefs in liberty and human value though: This is still a country where aspiring politicians exaggerate their religious fervor rather than downplay it.
This civilization’s influence has spread across the world. The British Empire seeded its institutions and culture into its colonies, and many countries have adopted aspects of the American system. Whether from love of liberty or colder self-interest, others have adopted aspects of this Anglo-American culture.
But it has enemies too. New Pharaohs constantly emerge to treat their people like livestock, to be herded and poked and prodded into submission. Ideologues like Friedrich Nietzsche despise the Judeo-Christian “slave morality” and its belief that a good society protects the poor and the weak. Enemies of freedom and of human dignity generally see the United States as their great foe.
The gravest threat to this Anglo-American branch now comes from a heretical offshoot of the Abrahamic faith, Marxist-Leninism. China has been intellectually colonized by a German, Karl Marx, who twisted and warped aspects of the Judeo-Christian message: Salvation would not come from God, but from using the scientific laws of history to create a paradise on earth. Marxism is an anti-civilization that corrupts the good and the beautiful, and destroys what it cannot corrupt. It is a threat to the Judeo-Christian civilization because it is a threat to all civilizations.
The Chinese Communist Party is the most malevolent champion of this heresy. Although it claims to advance Chinese culture, it is at war with much of China’s heritage. Mao Zedong boasted that the CCP had outdone one of the great crimes of Chinese history, the Qin dynasty’s attempt to destroy Confucianism by burning its books and burying alive its scholars. Xi Jinping demands that his cadres adopt Marx’s ideas as a “way of life” and “spiritual pursuit.” He also seeks to subvert Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese Christianity, most recently by arresting Ezra Jin and the other leaders of Zion Church, the largest free church in China. Other Communist parties have moderated their global ambitions, but Xi’s has not.
Many other civilizations will play an important role in this century. Branches of the Judeo-Christian civilization exist in Europe and Latin America. Islam has great potency, but it is internally divided. The Hindu heartland in south and southeast Asia has proven unusually resistant to the global advance of Christianity and Islam, and it seeks equal footing in the world rather than domination.
None pose the threat to other civilizations that Marxist-Leninism does. Judeo-Christianity adapts itself to local cultures, like the Roman one, and preserves them; Marxist-Leninism dissolves them like acid. The CCP has captured China and its immense potential, and if it subjugates others before it devitalizes its host country, the fate of the world could be grim indeed.
The divine author of liberty has not always ordained that His people will triumph. There is much sorrow in Jewish and in Christian history. But Passover and Easter remind us that the God of liberty is mighty, and with His help, the United States can prevail.