One of the consequences of having a pagan or neo-pagan society is that the provision of trinkets, charms and idols becomes a profit center.

Paul continually broke the command not to destroy profit centers. He had already been forced out of one town for freeing a slave woman from demonic possession. And here is has annoyed the silversmiths.

For the business of statues, icons, religious trinkets has always been popular. People will pay a premium over the cost of silver and skill.

Acts 19:21-41

²¹Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.” ²²So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.

²³About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. ²⁴A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. ²⁵These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. ²⁶You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”

²⁸When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions. ³⁰Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him; ³¹even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater. ³²Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people. ³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ³⁵But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven? ³⁶Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. ³⁷You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another. ³⁹If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” ⁴¹When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

The Romans tended to rule the place with a light hand. Their compromise was that you had to swear fealty to their idol, the genius of Rome. They did not care if they were despised, for they themselves cheerfully hated the Orient, which they saw as an area of vice, corrupting their good Roman morals. (To a Roman, watching an execution or slaves fighting to the death was good clean fun, but the tendency to pederasty and sleeping with the slaves had to be combated, for Rome needed her sons to fill the legions. There were anti-bachelor taxes in Rome in Augustus’ time: the rulers were not stupid and had seen how inheritance taxes and tight rules of citizenship had destroyed Sparta (along with the practice of infanticide and abortion) and were trying to ban these things as they became common practice.

But here, the secretary dismissed the riot: the city did not want to be charged with misrule (and being regulated further by the imperial forces).

Perhaps I am cynical. (Well, I am). But the stirring up of the locals to riot to protect a business is all too common. Particularly when that business relies on state money. What was initially a dole, or a safety net, becomes over time a right, an entitlement, with advocates demanding that this is done or that. Advocating for the oppressed can be a good business, if the oppressed remain on the plantation.

Finally, I note that Alexander tried to speak, but they saw him as a Jew and shouted him down. Antisemitism has existed from the times before the Church. I note that the left, as they move into an institutionalized role of advocacy, have become more and more against Israel (which) may be reasonable and Judiasm (which is not), pandering to their new clients, the Muslims, who are so useful because they put themselves in the plantation and then use force to demand all Muslims stay there and that all governments pay them to be idle. It may be that the hatred of Jews is a signal that you are definitely up to no good.

Finally, yes, I’m Christian. There are implications of this. Christianity is universalistic (there are no ethnic requirements, or intelligence ones. We will cheerfully accept all into the faith) but it is an exclusive one. It preaches that only in Christ is salvation, and all others are in error.

And since people choose to say that this is inappropriate, not politically correct, not progressive, hurtful and hate speech, I will cheerfully say that you can scream this like the Ephesians as much as you like.

But while we have freedom to speak and one nation cannot ban another from saying things. I will cheerfully, on this blog, paid for by me, speak plainly and trample all politically correct rules into the dung, where they belong.