The Animal Farm, Christianity and the Totalitarian Regime

"All animals are equal but some other animals are more equal than others." This profound statement was uttered by George Orwell in his novel Animal Farm in 1945. Many writer and journalist  admire the prose of Orwell for the honesty, sticking with the conclusion even he know, his writing will offend some group but he stick with it for he know, his conclusion is logical. Today, Animal Farm as an allegorical novel has set itself apart as one of the greatest novel of all time one of the inescapable canon of English literature. The brilliant part of the book is not all about imaginative story but it moves beyond story and present a strong and bold rhetorical argument as the writer himself says in one of his essay, "Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full conscious of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole. The story was not much about animals and their interactions but behind all the scenes there are deep theme of utopia, communism, equality, power that the author want to address. The special critique to Stalinism was exhibited in the book. 

Basically, the story line of the Novel is quite simple. The animal rebel against human (Mr. Jones), the oppressor's in the eyes of all animals in the farm and latter on, after the revolt to human is successfully established the group of pigs dominated and exploits the others animal. Tranny of man ended but what the tyranny that is coming now is from fellow animals. What surprises the reader is the use of the allegory of pig. Napoleon is the Berkshire boar, the leader of revolution. Why pig is chosen to be the leader and the leading characters in the Novel? There reason is simple, despite the negative religious connotation about this animal normally, pig is an intelligent animal, followed by dog. In the novel itself, the pigs have learned how to read and they teach also the ideology (animalism) and alphabet to the other animal, so that so the revolution can start to burst into fire. In history, the longevity of Stalin rule, makes the Novel popular for the Novel present the hefty opposition toward the communist government, particularly of Russia.  The novel try to critique the communism and its empty promise to the Western World. Communism as the ideology that promote totalitarian regime is not be the best options to choose and to rely on according to the conclusion of the Novel might lead us. To conclude, communism and its totalitarian regime promise to remove the current oppressor by being the new oppressor.   

If we try to dig deeper on the notion of totalitarianism, by definition, totalitarian regime was the governmental system that prohibit the people to oppose to the state, usually leaded by a dictator. Paul Cocks mentioned how China in some respects, echoes this regime apart from Russia. The positive side of the totalitarianism was there will be a faster and strong alignment. Also, it will minimize the unnecessary conflicts and also hinders the apathy or passive attitude in respond toward every policy. Yet, there is one vital condition needed. The totalitarianism need to be rule by a capable, Charismatic, visionary and ethical leader otherwise, what has been described in the narrative of Animal Farm will happened. The oppressions will be triumph or perhaps, will be another ground revolution to overthrown the government (Coup detat) as the end story. The other worst case, the totalitarian will be the one who make and create the history so making themselves as infallible hero. As we can see in the novel, The pig normal destiny is in the slaughter house but in Animal Farm, pig become the land-owner! Surprisingly, In one of the cartoon series of Animal Farm, we can see how the animals that reject the act of killing from human wrote in the wall, "Killing is not allowed!" Nonetheless, after the regime of Napoleon the Berkshire boar, the rule is revised, "killing is not allowed without reason (Written with blood)!" And of course, the reason of the authoritarian leader is always justifiable. In this case, the position of a Christian in respond to this is a bit tricky. 

Should Christian support the authoritarian or totalitarian system? In one of the classical treatise made by William Tyndale entitled, Obedience  of Christian man said, "God has given laws unto all nations, and in all lands He put kings, governor and rulers in His own place, to rule the world through them the inferior person may not avenge himself upon superiors, or violently resists him for whatever wrong it be...be it for good or bad." From here, we might agree that all government is coming from God yet on the other hand, we should be moderate. One the one hand appreciate the action from the ruler but offer a positive critique or actions when needed because state is not above anything, it's under God's rule. The worst scenario of totalitarian regime in church, governmental system and nations or any areas in life is the dehumanization of human as Hitler's ideology describes it best, "The soul of a people can be won only by battling for one's goal and by annihilating all opponents to the goal". Very horrifying statement! If this principle is true, at the basic level of totalitarian regime, then there is no room for plurality or diversity. The freedom and the dignity of human is also diminished. The Darwinian agenda is going to be flourish in this regime. The survival of the fittest, in the most extreme way. The weak will be annihilated. The strong will be promoted. They seek the victory of the strong and the defeat of weak.

As Christian, it is true we need to acknowledge that all government is under God's sovereign rule. But at the same time, totalitarian and authoritarian contradicts that very core idea of God's sovereignty, and could never be the ideal state in any form of life. That is why, most totalitarianism state or regime exclude God in the picture. Although Bible does not prescribe any specific form of government as an alternatives, democracy perhaps is the closest to the Christian culture for it emphasizes the idea of collectivism (The people). As Christian, Dr. Albert W. Beaven wisely says that we need to be aware of the "political Nazism." Not just we need to be aware of this totalitarian tendency, we need to promote justice and righteousness in every areas actively, as much as we could, and never trying to make one in our own personal context whether in company, home, or church. The principle we need to foster always is to bring justice and love not the power and control. The Scripture clearly wrote the voice of God, "I am the Lord which exercises loving kindness, judgment and righteousness, in the earth: For in these things I delight, said the Lord." Therefore, it is better to say all animals are equal but have different role and characteristic to play rather than to say "All animals are equal but some other animals are more equal than others." Totalitarian could possibly make citizen a mere slave. If God have  free human from slavery of sin, to enslaved others through the means of totalitarianism is never preferable options to be taken. We are all in equal dignity we are not God and we are ruled by God. Christian should aware of any totalitarian action as Karl Barth aptly puts it, is not for the repute and the rightness of certain men, nor is it for the re-erecting of an old orthodoxy with its claim to sole validity, but it is for the truth; "I, the Lord of heaven and earth, am thy God."