February 27

Today marks two days of significance in the Roman Empire’s adoption of Christianity: it is the birthday of Constantine the Great, in the year 272, and it is the anniversary of the Edict of Thessalonica, in 380. Although Constantine ended the occasional persecutions of Christianity, his adoption of the religion is seen by most historians as political expediency. His mother was a devout Christian, making pilgrimages to holy sites and writing about her travels, but Constantine’s approach to forced conversions changed Christianity from a grassroots movement into a religion of domination and empire. The Edict of Thessalonica further restricted the varieties of Christianity that were legal. 

It is also the anniversary of the 1933 Reichstag Fire, an event that gave Hitler a pretext to subvert the rights of his citizens and begin his dictatorship. We should all learn from it as precedent: autocrats trump up fake crises and exploit real ones to solidify their power and get people to give up their rights for “security.” But it is also the anniversary, ten years later in 1943, of the only major public demonstration against the Nazis, led by non-Jewish women protesting the arrests of their Jewish husbands. Today is a reminder not only of the tools dictators use, but also of their limited power when confronted with people united for justice. 

Today is the birthday, in 1956, of Meena Keshwar Kamal, founder of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She was a feminist opposed to fundamentalism and the glacial pace of social change in her country. She had a tremendous impact in the years she was alive, but was assassinated in 1987 at the age of 30.

Reflection: 

Here is part of a poem by Meena Keshwar Kamal: 

I find the events of this day through history particularly poignant. Constantine’s appropriation of Christianity warped Christian theology for the next two millenia. We are still trying to undo the toxic mix of faith with a politics of domination that is the exact opposite of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

And we see the struggle for freedom echoed with both our Jewish and Muslim siblings against autocrats and dictators. I continue to hope that we can unite across our religious differences to end the rule of petty tyrants who are terrified of change. 

Prayer: God of Mary, Mother of Jesus, who prayed for rulers to be toppled from their thrones and the rich sent away hungry: we ask you to complete the Great Turning. Bring down the powerful and raise up the oppressed. Amen.