The Queen is Dead, But the Monarchy Lives! The recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) was a time of grief and reflection. Grief at the death of Britain’s longest-serving monarch who was very popular among her own people. But also a time of reflection on the monarchy as an institution, one that was historically responsible for the exploitive behaviour of the British Empire, which exported tyranny and plundering all over the world.
Oct 5, 2022·edited Oct 8, 2022Liked by Michael F. Bird
I was in the 1980’s a participant in a ‘Charismatic’ teaching, publishing, and Conference ministry [Logos Foundation] that swung from its original mandate and became an intense Christian lobby and platform for Christian Reconstructionism. We were active in raising a voice decrying a proposed Australian Bill of Rights, a proposed national I.D. Card, constitutional change, and Australian republicanism. We were ‘God-King-and Country’ to the bones. After living in North America for well over 20 years and watching the fiasco of U.S. style Christian Nationalism I remain disposed to the benefits of a constitutional monarchy but now live in a country with its own bill of rights that is tied to the U.N. Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and carry an I.D. Card [sigh]! It was calling that brought me to this continent from my beloved Australia. However I fled the Reconstructionist camp when I got sick of wielding a big black Bible and Rousas Rushdooney’s Institutes of Biblical Law and subscribing to a brand of the Faith that was increasingly heavy handed and nationalistic [at least in my view]. I opted for a simpler, perhaps naive, expression of the Gospel, and church, and ministry. Glad I did. Right now, here in Canada we are facing some of the worst possible ‘sins of our empire’s past” and this article by Michael Bird resonates well with me for the journey I have taken, in holding to certain values, while re-evaluating and moving on from other points of view, repenting for the sins of my own past, and seeking to unsubscribe from ‘empire’ —I can hear Gough saying “Well may you say, ‘God save the Queen, but nothing will save… I certainly did not agree with him then, and was glad for the functions of a constitutional monarchy that ousted him. But in some ways now, I concur, ‘nothing will save…the empire’ because “Thy Kingdom come -Thy Will be done” is wonderfully, redemptively, relentlessly moving toward the ultimate Monarchy characterised by Jesus, the cross ,and His love for all peoples. Neither the brouhaha of strident Christian nationalism or swooning towards ‘God-King-and Country’ will cut it where all this going when ‘the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and and of His Christ.” —Thank you Michael Bird.
Well, that was thought-provoking. I’ve always felt fortunate we in Australia were colonised by the British and not the French or Portuguese or others. I felt we got the best of a bad lot. All my ancestors were convicts who came out here on the various fleets. All found God- under people like Samuel Marsden, the whipping parson, and they may well not have found God in their abject poverty back in England. And all had a chance at a new and much better life. That doesn’t make things better for the first inhabitants who have equal value but were cruelly driven West away from their homes. Even though there is more to do, I think God is in the process of bringing good out of bad, and pray the new King will both honour God and respect all people.
Nationalism equals patriotism was sadly drilled into me at church, home and in the broader society from my earliest years. Yes, there was the detention camps of the Japanese, the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, the death march of the Cherokees, the brutality of slavery, and a host of other atrocities, BUT we were a nation blessed by God above every other nation in history aside from the Jewish people. We were a special people. There was little of a global mission except for the converting of other nations to an American brand of Christianity. In recent years I have come to grips with the arrogance and this anti-gospel version of the Christian faith.
I was in the 1980’s a participant in a ‘Charismatic’ teaching, publishing, and Conference ministry [Logos Foundation] that swung from its original mandate and became an intense Christian lobby and platform for Christian Reconstructionism. We were active in raising a voice decrying a proposed Australian Bill of Rights, a proposed national I.D. Card, constitutional change, and Australian republicanism. We were ‘God-King-and Country’ to the bones. After living in North America for well over 20 years and watching the fiasco of U.S. style Christian Nationalism I remain disposed to the benefits of a constitutional monarchy but now live in a country with its own bill of rights that is tied to the U.N. Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and carry an I.D. Card [sigh]! It was calling that brought me to this continent from my beloved Australia. However I fled the Reconstructionist camp when I got sick of wielding a big black Bible and Rousas Rushdooney’s Institutes of Biblical Law and subscribing to a brand of the Faith that was increasingly heavy handed and nationalistic [at least in my view]. I opted for a simpler, perhaps naive, expression of the Gospel, and church, and ministry. Glad I did. Right now, here in Canada we are facing some of the worst possible ‘sins of our empire’s past” and this article by Michael Bird resonates well with me for the journey I have taken, in holding to certain values, while re-evaluating and moving on from other points of view, repenting for the sins of my own past, and seeking to unsubscribe from ‘empire’ —I can hear Gough saying “Well may you say, ‘God save the Queen, but nothing will save… I certainly did not agree with him then, and was glad for the functions of a constitutional monarchy that ousted him. But in some ways now, I concur, ‘nothing will save…the empire’ because “Thy Kingdom come -Thy Will be done” is wonderfully, redemptively, relentlessly moving toward the ultimate Monarchy characterised by Jesus, the cross ,and His love for all peoples. Neither the brouhaha of strident Christian nationalism or swooning towards ‘God-King-and Country’ will cut it where all this going when ‘the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and and of His Christ.” —Thank you Michael Bird.
Well, that was thought-provoking. I’ve always felt fortunate we in Australia were colonised by the British and not the French or Portuguese or others. I felt we got the best of a bad lot. All my ancestors were convicts who came out here on the various fleets. All found God- under people like Samuel Marsden, the whipping parson, and they may well not have found God in their abject poverty back in England. And all had a chance at a new and much better life. That doesn’t make things better for the first inhabitants who have equal value but were cruelly driven West away from their homes. Even though there is more to do, I think God is in the process of bringing good out of bad, and pray the new King will both honour God and respect all people.
Nationalism equals patriotism was sadly drilled into me at church, home and in the broader society from my earliest years. Yes, there was the detention camps of the Japanese, the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, the death march of the Cherokees, the brutality of slavery, and a host of other atrocities, BUT we were a nation blessed by God above every other nation in history aside from the Jewish people. We were a special people. There was little of a global mission except for the converting of other nations to an American brand of Christianity. In recent years I have come to grips with the arrogance and this anti-gospel version of the Christian faith.