Organized Religion: Unwitting Accomplice to Imperialist Practice, Past and Present

The imperial mindset is not one that can be summarized neatly. It is a complex and variegated system of beliefs, and reliant upon numerous presuppositions and institutions. These are necessitated by the fact that Empire falsely presumes that it can fully comprehend an entire people, and amount to little more than justifications for an unjustifiable practice. By employing a number of strategies and arguments, Empire attempts to render the domination and exploitation of a race of people not only logically sound, but morally defensible. Not the least of these strategies is the institution of organized religion.

Empire, at is core, is a collective of like-minded individuals seeking to not only sustain, but also to improve their quality of life. This collective adheres to a system of beliefs that simultaneously keeps it cohesive and renders it different from other collectives of individuals with differing beliefs. By propagating this idea of difference, Empire justifies its expansion and absorption of other peoples, and it does this in a number of ways. Christianity, however, has served as the prime motivator for numerous causes over the history of the world. While, in theory, it serves as a guideline for a harmonious existence, historically, the religion has been and continues to be abused, serving as the stock justification for an untold number of atrocities.

A comprehensive belief set enjoying almost universal acceptance, Christianity was one of the chief rationalities for the expansion of the British Empire. Though Empire amounts to little more than a people's acquisition of land and resources at the expense of other peoples, through religion, Britain painted it as not merely economically sensible, but as a moral obligation. Because natives of colonized lands were heathens, they were condemned to Hell from the start. In order to give them a chance to be saved, Empire reasons, they must be introduced to the tenets of Christianity.