No Kings March

 

Seeing how Christianity is counter-cultural to democracy

11/11/2025

Luke 17:7-10 Jesus said to the Apostles: "Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'? Would he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished'? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

The Christian faith is deeply counter-cultural, and this contrast with contemporary culture has been highlighted by the recent No Kings Marches around the country. Now my purpose is not to score any political points but rather to make a theological one. Ever since the American Revolution of 1776, when we threw off the yoke of tyrannous King George III, Americans have championed democracy, or rule by the people.

We have fought wars in defense of democracy; we have supported economic policies in favor of democracy; and have helped overthrow despotic governments to promote democracy. And so the No Kings March follows in the same vein, regardless of whether you personally feel it is right or wrong-headed. Democracy is the irresistible cultural current in which we American fish swim.

But democracy is exactly the wrong lens through which to understand Christianity. A better lens is hierarchy, which flies in the face of the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal.” I tried to explain this underlying hierarchy in creation to a Bible study group who called me from Florida with some questions about the angels.

I said that God created the cosmos with natural superiors and inferiors. At the top of the hierarchical ladder stands God, below him on the next rung are the angels, below the angels are humans, and below man are animals, and below them are plants, and finally at the bottom are the rocks and other inanimate matter. Inanimate literally means “without souls.”

The harmony, happiness, and holiness of the entire cosmos require every inferior to obey and submit to its natural superior. And that hierarchical harmony is precisely what the angels disrupted and tried to destroy when they rebelled against God, and fought their Revolutionary War.

Revelation 12 describes this angelic rebellion when Satan, the first fallen angel, swept a third of the stars – meaning 1/3 of the angels – from the sky. We might say Satan led the very first No Kings March to overthrow the reign of God as their king. Incidentally, you might enjoy reading C. S. Lewis’ book A Preface to Paradise Lost, and the chapter simply called “Hierarchy” if you want a deep dive into this topic of hierarchy versus democracy.

The reason I am going to all the trouble to explain the difference between democracy and hierarchy is not only because it makes Christianity hard to understand, but it makes the Bible opaque as well. For example, in today’s gospel Jesus speaks about masters and servants.

And those categories immediately sound like nails on a chalkboard to the ears of people who walk in a No Kings March, that is, to modern American saturated in democracy. Indeed, Jesus’ take-home message will sound utterly nonsensical, even offensive, to democratic Americans: “When you have done all you have been commanded say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do’.”

In other words, Jesus calls Christians to be like salmon and swim upstream against the modern democratic cultural current. As C. S. Lewis puts it: “The goodness, happiness, and dignity of every being consists in obeying its natural superior and ruling its natural inferior” (92). The Bible makes more sense the more we think hierarchically and the less we think democratically.

We find the same hierarchical principle operative in the Church and in the liturgy. The priesthood is ordered in a hierarchy of authority: deacons at the bottom, then priests, bishops, cardinals, and the pope at the top. The harmony of the Church depends on the inferior obeying the superior. Can you imagine the chaos that would be unleashed if the deacons organized a No Kings March in Rome protesting the prerogatives of the pope?

The movements of the liturgy, at Mass, all the kneeling, sitting, standing reflect the hierarchy of the human priest and the divine Priest, Jesus. That is why we genuflect on one knee when we come into church and enter our pew. That is why deacons bow before the priest and ask his blessing before reading the gospel. That is why altar servers are called “servers.” And they should leave Mass repeating what Jesus said in the gospel, “We have done what we were obliged to do.”

My friends, the moment we step out of our cars and into a Catholic church, we step into a very undemocratic world. The flood waters of modern democracy that have washed over the entire world ever since the American Revolution may splash against the doors of the Church, but do not dare to enter. And if you have been imbibing that cultural Kool-Aid, then when you walk into Mass, you will feel very much like a fish out of water.

Praised be Jesus Christ!