The Church, a Demon Lover: A Sartrean Analysis of an Institution

Daniel M. Kolos is president of Benben Books in Orangeville, Ontario.

It appears that the Sartrean analysis is but another context within
which to critique the Roman Catholic Church. This thorough examination
of the Church, past and present, shows that institutionalized dogma
leaves no room for opposition or change. Three major areas—heresy,
women, and the Jews—stand out in the conflict between love and power,
personal interaction and authoritarianism, belonging and separation or
alienation. A church founded on love must now adhere to dogma that may
be irrelevant to people’s lives and needs.

What this book misses by insisting on Sartrean terminology is that many
people have willingly entered authoritarian institutions and given up
their souls in order to earn their living. Pop culture, in turn, tends
to trivialize their plight and to offer to heal people within the
environment that stole their freedom and sovereignty in the first place.
Sartrean analysis hints but never actually says, that the Roman Catholic
Church, like governments and industry, is nothing more than a legal
fiction—a “big lie” that becomes truth for those who willingly
join it. Instead, Sartre focuses on the development of power and
domination within institutions. Ultimately, whether it is their
religious beliefs or their need to earn a living that leads them into
corporations and behemoth church organizations, people still have no
means of escape from these institutions.