Chaplain's Corner

There is always a danger in quoting fascist dictators, but I am risking that danger because of the potential for good that can be achieved as we consider this statement. So here goes: “Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.” (Adolf Hitler)

Propaganda is defined as “information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, or nation.” Unfortunately propaganda has most often been used to harm people and by definition is organized, intentional manipulation intended to get people to embrace, cooperate and support goals that are not their own.

I work in the world of spiritual care. At times churches and ministers have been accused of perpetrating propaganda campaigns designed to manipulate those who follow towards an end that may not be their own. However, Christianity stands squarely in opposition to the use of propaganda as a means of controlling the beliefs, thoughts and actions of people.

Historic orthodox Christianity has always held a high view of both God and humanity. The Faith understands that God’s love for his creation is not manipulative or coercive and certainly not deceitful: God does not use propaganda to manipulate people to obey Him. The Faith also understands that by nature God created people with the capacity to think, feel, relate and chose and these capacities should be respected. Because propaganda is inherently disrespectful the church should never use it to control the thoughts, feeling, relations and choices of people.

In my work this must be respected. I have had desperate family members ask me to use my position to try to get a loved one to turn to God during a medical crisis. But I don’t at all see that as a legitimate use of my position. This isn’t to say that I don’t believe that we have important choices to make that determine our eternal destiny. But I do not believe that the use of propaganda intended to manipulate or coerce such choices is ever legitimate.

The Christian Scriptures at times use the metaphor of the love between a husband and wife to describe the relationship between God and his people. This is a helpful metaphor because it demands that we dismiss the possibility of using propaganda to reach the end of a loving relationship between two persons. Nothing kills a relationship more comprehensively than learning that one’s affections have been managed and manipulated by slick propaganda.

This is one reason some have turned away from God. Not because He has sought to manipulate them through clever propaganda, but because misinformed “Christians” have felt that controlling the affections of others through propaganda was a legitimate means of corralling others into the kingdom of God, as if they were cattle and not human beings, created in God’s image.

Hitler was a man controlled by a devilish spirit, he found sadistic pleasure in using propaganda to achieve his selfish ends, as a result millions died, millions more were complicit with his evil and to this very day, many live with the spiritual and emotional scars of his propaganda campaigns. Unlike Hitler, Jesus and His followers simply extend the invitation, “Whosoever will may come.” No pressure, no coercion, no propaganda. The promise of forgiveness and everlasting life are real, offered to whoever will receive them. Jesus demonstrated this perfectly when he watched with sadness when the young man who came wanting to follow him walked away, because trusting Jesus required him to stop trusting in his riches. Accept God’s gift, reject God’s gift – the choice is ours. No propaganda, no manipulation, no coercion – simply an open invitation. And the invitation still stands.