Penultimatology

Chapter Two of Helena, a novel in progress. This work of fiction examines Christian nationalism, political power, and the corruption of religious language.

Helena read through the Affirmation once, then began again, contemplating every word—first its surface meaning and then what lay beneath it.

I solemnly affirm that I am a Christian or a Jew, a citizen of the Christian States of America, holding fast to the tenets of our shared religious inheritance:

Abortion is murder.

Marriage is between a man and a woman.

Homosexuality is an abomination.

The rich and powerful have been blessed by God for their industry, righteousness, and good works.

The poor and powerless have been cursed by God for their sloth, unrighteousness, and evil deeds.

It would be an offense against God to punish those He has chosen to bless through excessive taxation, or to support those He has chosen to curse by providing them with welfare of any kind.

Capitalism, guided as much as possible by the invisible hand rather than by government policy, is the most Christian of all economic systems.

Anyone elected or appointed to public office in the Christian States of America was required to take the Affirmation with his or her right hand resting on the Bible. The Congress of the Christian States was now debating whether to impose the same requirement upon every employee of the federal government. Several legislators had already proposed extending it to state and local employees as well.

The inclusion of Jews was frequently cited as evidence of the Republic’s tolerance.

Official instruction described the Jews as God’s chosen people and their preservation as a religious obligation. Every schoolchild learned the supporting verse from the King James Bible:

“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.”

Genesis 12:3 KJV

The words had been spoken to Abram, but the Republic treated their application to the Jewish people as self-evident. To bless them was to invite God’s favor; to oppose them was to invite His judgment. Their inclusion within the Republic’s approved religious order was presented not merely as tolerance, but as obedience to God.

Helena read the Affirmation again.

What struck her most was not what it declared, but what it omitted.

It said nothing of the essential confession of Christianity: that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; that He became man, was crucified, arose on the third day, ascended into Heaven, and would come again at the end of the age.

Christ was absent from the central creed of the Christian States.

That omission exposed the Republic for what it truly was. It was not Christian at all. It was a fraud—a mockery of the faith whose name it had taken for itself.

The first three points were slogans inherited from the Culture Wars that had precipitated the events leading to the Republic’s establishment. Points four through six condensed the Prosperity Gospel into state doctrine. The seventh represented the Free Market Capitalists’ ultimate dream, which had nothing to do with Christianity except that the Republic had declared it so.

The Affirmation, like the Republic itself, was Christian in name only. Its purpose was to increase the wealth and power of those who already possessed both, at the expense of the poor and powerless—and with no concern at all for the vast middle class caught between them.

Helena looked again at the acknowledgment waiting at the bottom of the wall.

I AFFIRM

Only two words. She had selected them every year since reaching adulthood. Nearly everyone did. Refusal did not result in immediate arrest, as it once had during the Republic’s unsettled early years. The methods had become quieter since then. A citizen who refused might lose employment eligibility, housing priority, travel authorization, or access to medical care. No single penalty was officially described as punishment. Taken together, they made ordinary life impossible.

A profound sadness settled over Helena, followed by a hopelessness deeper than anything she had felt before.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing anyone could do.

The Christian States of America were the new reality. Life would never be the same.

Her wristband vibrated.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT REQUIRED BY 08:15.

Helena raised her hand toward the wall.

For the first time, she hesitated.

Previous: Helena — Chapter One