STUDIO BRIEF 1// Essay/ In what ways does the Catholic Church attempt to control the Individual?

In 1998 Dr. Steve Wright reported to the European Parliament Scientific and Technological Options office (SOTA) that the British-American run 'Echelon' system was capable of intercepting "within Europe, all e-mail, telephone, and fax communications" (Wright, 1998). The report was mostly true, as Echelon monitors all satellite communications globally. The idea that an omnipresent higher power listens in on private communication, ready to punish the involved if certain rules are not obeyed, may appear to be an Orwellian vision of a dystopian future; This essay will argue that these principles have been the historical foundation of major world religion since man created god, more specifically how the largest Christian church, the Catholic Church, uses the principles of panopticism to control the lives of its reported one billion followers as well as how its tenets aim to control the individual.

            'The building is circular.
            The apartments of the prisoners occupy the circumference. You may call them, if you please, the Cells.           
            The Cells are divided from one-another, and the prisoners by that means secluded from  all communication with each other, by partitions in the form of radii issuing from the circumference towards the centre, and extending as many feet as shall be thought necessary to form the largest dimension of the cell.
            The apartment of the inspector occupies the centre; you many call it if you please the Inspectors Lodge.' (Bentham, 1791, pg5)

            The Panopticon (Figure 1.) was a project set about by Jeremy Bentham in 1791, a model prison where the guards become almost omnipresent beings themselves, leading to self regulation between the Inmates. Bentham proposed that a central guard tower be built, with a row of open front cells circling around it. This would allow the guards in the central tower to have a view of every single inmate. There would be a physical space between the tower and the cells called the 'Intermediate or Annular Area'. The tower would also have a system of blinds, obscuring the inmates view of the guards whilst allowing the guards to still gaze at the inmates. Bentham noted that 'The essence of it consists then, in the centrality of the Inspectors situation, combined with the well known and most effectual contrivances for seeing without being seen' (Bentham, 1791, pg25)meaning that the guards will become all powerful whilst the inmates are under the illusion that they are being watched at all times, leading to a huge amount of pressure to adhere to the authority of the prison; 'the greater the chance there is, of a given person's being at a given time actually under inspection, the more strong will be the persuasion, the more intense, if I may so say, the feeling, he [the inmate]has of his being so.' (Bentham, 1791, pg25) Bentham realised that even if the guards were not present at all times the mere suggestion or possibility of their gaze, would strike fear in the inmates, leading to a system of self control and ultimately rehabilitation.

            There is a large correlation between the all-seeing Inspectors of the panopticon and the Christian idea of an omnipresent god. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, it is made clear that Man cannot take independent, self initiated, action without being challenged by gods authority. The story of Adam and Eve is one where the first humans are given free will and knowledge by eating the forbidden fruit; "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:5) before being punished by god because he "commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" (Gen 3:11) resulting in banishment to the wastelands of reality, painful childbirth, hard work and most importantly for Christianity; Original Sin.

            Original Sin is a deeply Catholic concept that all humans are born inherently evil in the eyes of god. 'As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin, this inclination is called "concupiscence".' (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993). In Catholic belief, as a punishment for these inherited sins and 'concupiscence', humans are placed in a prison much like the panopticon from the moment of birth, where every action is monitored by 'God', or as Bentham would say; 'Inspector'. The Catholic Church uses the doctrine of 'Original Sin' as a fear device; as sinners will burn for eternity in Hell, and no-one can hide from god. However the Catholic Church can offer salvation in the form of gods own son, Jesus Christ. Christians believe that '[the world] has fallen into slavery to sin but has been set free by Christ, crucified and risen to break the power of the evil one. . .' (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993), As to make it perfectly clear to Catholic followers that an individual will suffer absolute pain and torture for eternity if he or she does not follow specific Catholic dogma.

            Some would argue that this is imposing industrial era philosophy on a much older belief system, which grew without this doctrine. Throughout history Christian scripture and art has depicted god as the Sun or an 'all-seeing eye'.  In 1480 Hieronymus Bosch started painting 'Seven Deadly Sins'. (Figure 2.) The painting is constructed much like the panopticon; the painting is circular. Christ appears in the centre  with rays of light stretching out to seven 'cells' which contain illustrations of the seven sins, id est; 'Its task consists first of all in obtaining a systematic overview of human frailty in everyday life [which is then] categorically dammed. (Schmidt-Burkhardt, 2002). Christ's central position on the table allows him to capture humanity with a 'divine eye in a panoptic glance'. The painting reconfirms gods constant surveillance over all actions of humanity to its viewers and gave birth to the re-emergence of the church using the eye to symbolise god. The symbolic use of a divine eye reaches back to Roman, Greek and Egyptian mythology and its usage is the same here;  'the eye organ acts as mediator between interior and exterior, subject and world. Above all, second degree vision -charged with reflexivity - was to guarantee critical access to reality'. (Schmidt-Burkhardt, 2002). The eye is a clearly recognisable object, and vision is a signal we read and process every day giving us our strongest  sense of reality (e.g. 'I can't believe me eye's'), so the panoptic gaze of the divine eye connotes gods everlasting reality, authority and surveillance.

            In Catholicism the basic concept of an omnipresent god that can see you all day every day; that controls the fate of every human and writes down the basis for law and morality, but cannot be seen, controlled or spoken too forms the institution of god. God is an entity or being that will judge our actions and reward us with heaven or punish us with hell. 'Hence the major effect of the Panopticon; to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that ensures the automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action.' (Foucault, 1975) Foucault alludes to the fact that god is never present in reality, much like the guards in the Panopticon's tower, however the controlling power, in this case the Catholic church, creates the illusion of gods reality to exact control over the population. In Foucault's essay 'Discipline and Punish' he writes of the quarantine during a plague and how 'The plague is met by order' (Foucault, 1975), In the case of the Catholic church the plague is replaced by original sin. The order which is meets the plague of original sin allows the church to 'lay down for each individual his place, his body, his disease and his death... what characterizes him, of what belongs to him, of what happens to him.' (Foucault, 1975).

            Belief in the Catholic Churches idea of a monotheistic god is reconfirmed for its followers in their everyday lives as part of a compulsory routine as well as during special events which happen three or four times in a lifetime; The seven Sacraments. The weekly routine involves praying, attending mass, bible study and other short term devotional practices like confession. These small events are engineered to ensure belief in god is sustained to those who have already been indoctrinated. Carrying out these small tasks may seem insignificant, however they are part of a larger process of obedience 'Computers do what they are told. They slavishly obey any instructions given in their own programming language... it is their unquestioning obedience that makes  computers useful.' (Dawkins, 2006) By carrying out the repetitive tasks of everyday religious activity the mind becomes accustomed and accepting, even if the topic is wildly false. Many of these tasks are self-regulated but others are controlled by the church, grounding themselves into the routine, and securing the individual as an unquestioning follower. 'The primary function of such recursive religious communication is to lend meaning to the root indeterminability' (Beyer, 1994, 102)

            To this end the Catholic Church takes the concept of a god and builds its own dogma on top of it, creating an institutional power, backed by the authoritative power that the concept of 'God' already demands. In reality the purpose of any globalised religious organisation is to exact power over a population of people, and by using a god as a divine entity that sets their 'laws' or 'commandments' on how you should behave, the Catholic Church, lowers the proverbial Venetian blinds on their own movements and practices, as the guards do behind the blinds of the Panopticon. By being 'always with us' the Catholic God can make sure total social control can be enacted over anyone who believes. The Catholic Churches desire for massive power (ignoring older examples like the crusades, inquisition, new world conquest and witch trials)  is made clear in its more recent complaints regarding a steady decrease in congregation sizes; particularly in modernised societies where wealth and education can be found. "We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognise anything as definitive, and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own desires." (Norman, 2007, 186) Here Pope Benedict XVI is quoted moments after the admission that the Catholic Church fought Marxist uprising in Latin America and South Africa, in what was essentially a ideological power struggle where the Catholic church aimed to gain followers off the back of a true revolution 'The poor themselves, unable to recognise their own best interests through their false-consciousness (in classic Marxist presentation) were to be re-educated'. (Norman, 2007, 174). What is truly revealing here is the rejection both capitalist and Marxist principles, whilst adhering to both depending on circumstance.  In Religion and Social Movements, Beyer notes that; 'Christian Churches [style] religion as the holistic essence of the 'civilizing' project: along with the merchant and the soldier came the missionary'. (Beyer, 1994, 103) In this case Beyer speaks of Imperial expansion to the new world, demonstrating the Catholic Churches ability to infiltrate massive social change off the back of any ideology, regardless of the moral or ethical reality, as long as its own world authority continues to grow.

            The Catholic Church ordains several major events in its followers lives. Separate from short term devotional tasks, these events are mandatory to any true Catholic and aim to exact total control. They make up four of the seven sacraments;  'There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life: they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.' (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993). The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the Vatican's public facing Manifesto, clearly outlining the aim to reduce the human experience into stages, whilst controlling every one of them. The main four stages of life here are Birth, Education, Sex and Death.

            Birth. 'As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God'  (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993). From the instant of birth a newborn child of Catholic parents  is expected to be baptised. In one of the most draconian and sadistic tenants of the Catholic faith, if you do not, god will punish your infant child forever in hell. The Sacrament of Baptism allows the Catholic church to control the birth of a child, not physically, but mentally. After the baptism, the Child, for the time being, will be saved 'from sin and reborn as a son of God'. The Baptism is where the child is labelled as a catholic before its own mind can conceive of the most basic principles of logic or reason, the child is abused into the Church; 'isn't is always a form of child abuse to label children as possessors of beliefs that they are too young to have thought about?' (Dawkins,2006)

            Education. 'tradition gives "the age of discretion" as the reference point for receiving Confirmation. But in danger of death children should be confirmed' (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993). Confirmation comes at a time in a person's life when they are at a point of being able to make their own decisions. From its official statement above the Catholic church alludes to the fact that the child or young adult will be able to make a decision as to whether they would like to remain Catholic, whilst immediately confirming that the child will be sent to hell if they make the 'wrong' decision. In this way the Catholic Church continues to act like a Mafia. Confirmation comes to enact further control over a young and impressionable mind. Foucault would call the 'confirmation' a 'system of permanent registration' (Foucault, 1975). Once decisions are taken away the human becomes a docile body, In this case the individual will allow the Church to take control of morality, ethics, sex and death. In this sense the individual becomes an unquestioning follower to the point of absolute savagery; 'Age of body does not determine age of soul. Even in childhood man can attain spiritual maturity: "For old age is not honoured by number of years." Many children, through the strength of the Holy Spirit they have received, have bravely fought for Christ even to the shedding of their blood.'  (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993)

            Sex. 'Matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.' (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993). The next step for the church to enact total control of the individual is by taking control of the institution of marriage, and by controlling the terms of marriage they can regulate the sex lives, and eventual offspring of the individual. Furthermore by regulating the sex lives of the individual the church takes control of the most important, scientifically functional, part of a humans life; to reproduce. The Catholic church outlines here that it desires to marry two Catholics who will give birth to catholic 'offspring' thus eventually creating a catholic master race in theory.  'The most important moral issues all concern control of the body, above all sexual control. Abortion, homosexuality and pornography are [most obvious]. Religion determines what proper (sexual)use of body is. Correct education inculcates this bodily propriety into the next generation.' (Beyer, 1994) Beyer makes good commentary on the Catholic Churches doctrine on sexuality and sex, but also notices that its main goal is to 'Educate' the next generation to behave the same way, perpetuating the dogma and controlling the population.

            Death. The purpose of the Catholic celebration of death is illuminated again in their own manifesto; 'The liturgy of the Word during funerals demands very careful preparation because the assembly present for the funeral may include [non-Catholics], and friends of the deceased who are not Christians. The homily in particular must "avoid the literary genre of funeral eulogy" and illumine the mystery of Christian death in the light of the risen Christ.' (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 1993). The purpose of the funeral in the eyes of the Catholic church is to spread the word to non-Catholics. The manifesto also describes how the funeral will be a 'proclamation of eternal life to the community.', in essence, an opportunity to remind followers that being a Catholic will allow you to live gloriously forever whilst living any other way will result in eternal damnation. Control of death is not of major importance to the Catholic Church as other stages of the individuals life, it is not part of a sacrament for example, however the church does realise that for the continuing support of the deceased's family, it needs to be visible, and so does god. There was a time, as late as 1903 where the Catholic Church would 'sell "indulgences" for money. This amounted to paying for some number of days' remission from purgatory' (Dawkins, 2006), in an ideological way nothing has changed today. Catholics are tricked into supporting the Catholic Church with their money and obesience. They do this so they can go to heaven and avoid time in purgatory or eternity in hell. This is more conspicuous but no less of a con. The Deceased individual becomes institutionalised on death, the mourning family is then emotionally tied with the organisation that controlled every part of the individuals life.

            By having control over Birth, Education, Sex and Death the Catholic Church can fully institutionalise the individual into a virtual panopticon. Once the individual is told that 'god' is the authority and heaven and hell are the options he/she will become docile towards the institutional power of organised religion, allowing it full control over all aspects of life without resistance. In this way the Catholic Church is once again likened to the plague that Foucault wrote on; 'The registration of the [individual] must be constantly centralised. The relation of each individual to his [beliefs] and to his [life] passes through the representatives of power, the registration they make of it, the decisions they take on it.'

 Bibliography

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Author(s) names not disclosed  (1993) 'Catechism Of The Catholic Church', Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Schmidt-Burkhardt, A. 'The All-Seer: God's Eye as Proto-Surveillance', in Y. Levin,T.  Frohne,U. and Weibel,P. (eds.),  (2002)  'CTRL [SPACE] – Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother', Boston, MA. pg. 16-31.

Foucault, M. 'The Eye of Power', in Levin,T.  Frohne,U. and Weibel,P. (eds.),  (2002)  'CTRL [SPACE] – Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother', Boston, Mass. 2002, pg. 94-101.

Duncan Campbell. 'Inside Echelon: The History, Structure, and Function of the Global Surveillance System Known as Echelon', in . Levin,T.  Frohne,U. and Weibel,P. (eds.),  (2002)   'CTRL [SPACE] – Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother', Boston, Mass. 2002, pg. 158-169

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Beyer, P. (1994) 'Religion and Globalization', London, Sage Publications Ltd. 

Foucault, M. (1975) 'Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison' 2nd Ed (1995),  Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.