Lesson Three: Beware the One-Party State
In the fourth century, the Roman emperor, Constantine, called for a council of bishops to work out the inconsistencies within Christianity.
Constantine wanted to establish Christianity as the state religion, but Ethiopian Christianity was different from Grecian Christianity, which was also different than Ephesian Christianity.
Over the course of 300 years, these regions had evolved separately, influenced by different leaders. There were disputes over whether Jesus was human or divine or both. Where did the Holy Spirit come from? Which writings are actually Scripture? And, one that we can still appreciate today, when are we supposed to celebrate Easter?
So, bishops from around the empire gathered for a series of councils throughout the century and resolved all the disputes. They wrote the Nicene Creed, established the canon (the writings that we refer to as the Bible), and further recognized the authority of the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, and Alexandria to resolve ongoing disputes.
The Roman Catholic Church was born (the history is more complicated) and became the authority on what it meant to be Christian.
Over the next thousand years, dissenters, or anyone who held opinions outside the established doctrine could face excommunication - banishment. Those who openly defied or questioned Church doctrine were demonized as heretics and could be punished by death.
This single Church, married to the power of the State, demanded allegiance and obedience. Non-compliance was met with force and threats of eternal torture. Little meaningful opposition meant no accountability so corruption and abuse were rampant.
There was dissent though. There were always voices crying in the wilderness for reform, for peace, for justice. Sometimes they were allowed to form little communities and be left alone (the monastics) and over time the regions broke apart (notable the East-West schism of 1054. Still the Roman Catholic Church maintained a kind of one-party rule over Western Europe, until Martin Luther came along.
Martin Luther started an opposition party.
We see the idea of coming together to work out differences and come up with agreed upon statements as peacemaking. It seems perfectly reasonable to me that those bishops who gathered in the fourth century truly just wanted to create some kind of order. Christianity was chaotic.
One-party rule doesn’t always come in with guns blazing, it comes when we are too afraid to dissent.
Beware of demonizing language used against the opposition party.
Beware of threats of punishment (banishment or violence) for perceived disloyalty.
Beware of threats of violence for perceived disloyalty.
Beware of actual banishment or violence for dissent or disloyalty.
I started speaking out for “liberal” Christianity because of the rhetoric I heard from evangelical leaders who demonized anyone who wasn’t one of them, particularly those of us in mainline churches, as “liberals,” with no definition of what liberal means other than, “not one of us.”
It felt like my “party” was being denied legitimacy.
It took me a long time to get used to being called a “liberal,” but then I realized that the simple definition of liberal, in 2026 is: anyone who opposes a one-party state.
Liberalism “emphasizes the liberty of the individual.” The opposite of liberalism is not conservatism, but illiberalism; things like communism, totalitarianism, fascism, monarchism, etc.*
I saw a really great chart once that showed all of these “-isms” not as a left-right spectrum, but as a circle. On the top, communism and fascism, represent the left-right spectrum of illiberalism; on the bottom, liberals and conservatives represent the left-right spectrum of liberalism.
Over the last quarter century, illiberals have exploited the confusion over the word “liberal” to demonize people who really do want the same thing as they do - a healthy, functioning democracy.
Christianity and democracy are healthiest when there is dialogue and debate over opposing views; when there is no debate, when there is only one way, then everyone suffers, especially truth.
This is part 4 of a series inspired by my reading of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons Learned From the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder as part of my effort to offer Christian insight to those wondering what to do in this moment.
Sources: https://medium.com/@arthur.holtz/conservative-is-not-the-opposite-of-liberal-6644dbd76e1d
https://www.brookings.edu/books/rebellion-how-antiliberalism-is-tearing-america-apart-again/