Christ Is King
And we shouldn't be afraid to state the Truth
Last year, the phrase “Christ is King” made headlines. The left and right wing media machines agreed (a rare occurrence, to be sure) that the phrase was now an anti-semitic dog whistle. The left, of course, has no moral qualms about censoring the truth. Right wing pundits, however, most of whom have themselves said “Christ is King” in the past, tried to make up nuances that don't exist.
According to some on the right, if you say Christ is King at a Jew (whatever that means), then you're an anti-semite. But, if you just say the phrase, that's fine. Some even went so far as to say that the phrase could be contrary to the commandment not to take the Lord’s name in vain. This year, the same controversy has resurfaced, and it's being taken for granted that the phrase “Christ is King” is, or at least can be, blasphemous.
Both of these charges are utterly ridiculous. It is, of course, possible for an anti-semite to utter the phrase “Christ is King,” just as it is possible for a sexist or a racist to do so. An atheist could also say it, and so could a murderer. The very man who put Christ to death wrote it above the cross, and when he was asked to change what he wrote, he replied “what I have written, I have written.”
Even if an anti-semite were to say “Christ is King,” and meant in so saying to indicate some really anti-semitic opinion, for instance that he believes that the Jewish race ought to be eradicated, this would not make the phrase itself anti-semitic. The man who speaks this way is simply deluded, because he believes that the words he uses mean something which they do not. “Christ is King” cannot be blasphemous: it means that God is King. “Christ is King” cannot be anti-semitic. It means that a Jew is King. If you say that Christ is King, but you mean to blaspheme, you are a fool. You don’t turn the phrase into blasphemy by your foolishness. If you say that Christ is King, but you mean to express anti-semitism, you are an idiot. You don’t turn the phrase into an anti-semitic phrase by your idiocy. It is a very modern and progressive notion that our words and phrases mean whatever we want them to mean. In reality, our words and phrases mean today what they have always meant, and developments in language are legitimate only if they really accord with prior meanings. Developments that are discordant with prior meanings are always contrived, as in this case, to undermine something that is good.
Yet, because we will be called Hitler by the crazy people if we say Christ is King, some on the right will say you have to agree that the phrase is evil. Or at least that it could be evil. They say it's blasphemy. Quick, someone tell Blessed Miguel Augustín Pro and Saint José Sánchez del Rio that they got into heaven by mistake! They should be in hell since they died with blasphemy on their lips! These men died for standing up to the atheistic Mexican regime in the name of Christ, they loudly proclaimed that Christ is King before their deaths. They were unafraid of wicked men with guns. Why should we be afraid of wicked men with keyboards and computer screens?
The sobering reality is that men have been murdered, martyred, for saying Christ is King. We should not be afraid to speak the truth just because of a little name calling. It's not blasphemy. It's not anti-semitism. Christ is King, without qualifier and without question.
¡Viva Christo Rey!