Simone Weil regards Christianity as a religion for slaves. What does Essay

Simone Weil regards Christianity as a religion for slaves. What does she mean by this, and is it a justified claim - Essay Example universe good outweighs evil†¦ Thus the object of this certitude is an eternal and universal dispensation constituting the foundation of an invariable order in the world. Diving Providence is never represented in any other form, unless I am mistaken, either in the sacred texts of the Chinese, the Indians, and the Greeks, or in the Gospels. She believed that such pseudo-universal religious idea was significantly transformed by the Romans in their unique and odd acceptance of Christianity, with historic outcomes: â€Å"†¦ when the Christian religion was officially adopted by the Roman Empire, the impersonal aspect of God and of Divine Providence was thrust into the background. God was turned into a counterpart of the Emperor.† Weil believed that the ideas of nationalism of the Jews and the Romans were the same—both were cruel, profane, and agnostic, both supported the exploitation and persecution of the inferior by the superior. Associated with this sameness of outlooks was a shared subject matter in the spirituality or worship of the two groups. Both the Romans and the Jews, regardless of their dissimilarities in other aspects, had a similar idea of slavery, essential to the cosmological beliefs of both people. The Jews believe that: In the texts dating from before the exile, Jehovah’s juridical relationship to the Hebrews is that of master to his slaves. They had been Pharaoh’s slaves: Jehovah, having taken them out of Pharaoh’s hands, has succeeded to Pharaoh’s rights†¦ He orders them indifferently to do good or evil, but far more often evil, and in either case they have to obey. It matters little that they should be made to obey from the basest motives, provided that orders are duly executed. With regard to the Romans, â€Å"Such a conception as this was exactly on a par with the feelings and intelligence of the Romans. With them slavery had undermined and degraded all human relations.† Therefore, Weil claimed, in addition to the