> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://david-santin-kilday-dsk.ghost.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Sermon 6
- URL: https://david-santin-kilday-dsk.ghost.io/sermon-6/
- Published: 2026-08-17T03:03:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-17T03:03:33.000Z
- Author: David S Kilday

American Babylon 3.1 David Santin Kilday DSK Copyright 2026 Unholy America: holier-than-thou the not-so-sacred Christian veil which hides lust, sodomy, greed, theft, and murder. What are Nazis but racist pirates? What are Nazis in America but skin heads and the Klu Klux Klan writ large? The priests manage sin, guilt, and shame, but the Law never forgives crime and has secular authority over the evil, morally bankrupt, choir-boy-screwing, nun-raping, paedofiles-in-power, Church. Leave those choir boys alone. I sang The Messiah. Leave the heathen alone. Other religions deserve our respect, especially in this America with its religious plurality E. pluribus unun “In our differences, we are one.” Raping thieves will screw their victim in the name of God. Aren’t theft and rape the values of criminal piracy? Aren't the values of piracy “theft and rapine.’ How many hundreds of millions have been murdered in the name of God? Maybe the Catholic affiliated Nazis owe the Jews 6 million dead Nazis, the price of the horrible Holocaust. Of course, that way, vendetta breeds vendetta and violence never ends Wasn't the Holocaust only another goddamned holy war. What's the difference between piracy and the state. What is the difference between piracy and the Church? Do we live in a failed state? It is almost clockwork, when you look at Empires in world history, empires tend to last 250 years. Murderous Christians: Christopher Columbus demanded a quota of gold from the natives he enslaved or he would cut off an arm. “Love thy neighbor,” said Christ. “Good fences make good neighbors,” wrote Robert Frost. In Ohio, it is legal to kill trespassers. Lethal defense is considered necessary for the preservation of private property. In the wars of religion, religion equaled imperialism, enslavement, murder, and theft. Weren't those slave owners pretty, with their eloquent Declarations of Independences and sops-to-the-slave-states Constitutions? The Christian invaders are said to have murdered 56 million natives in the Americas alone according to Meta AI. You know, only 62% of Americans are Christians (Meta AI). 40% of this 62% are Protestant. Half that 40%, 19% are Catholic. 3% are from other Christian sects (Meta AI). 38% of Americans must think Christians are provincial, backward, violent, hypocritical, and without moral authority. Goddamn Belfast, where Christians fight Christians and the cycle of violence continues from generation to generation. There is an interesting movie on the subject of cyclic violence in Belfast from the British Film Institute called ‘71 (2014). The passing on of violence from one generation to another is a central theme of this movie. Have you seen the film The Mission (1986)? Meta AI describes The Mission and its relationship to Neil Young’s tune Cortez the Killer (1975) thus: "Cortez the Killer" came first - 1975 on Neil Young's album Zuma with Crazy Horse. It's a 7+ minute guitar epic about Hernán Cortés's conquest of the Aztecs in 1519-1521\. Overall, "Cortez the Killer" contrasts the cultural heritage of the Aztecs with the brutal colonization of their homeland by Cortés and his army. The Mission came 11 years later - 1986, directed by Roland Joffé, screenplay by Robert Bolt, score by Ennio Morricone. It won the Oscar for cinematography and Palme d'Or. The film is set in 1758 around the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. Plot: When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. It's partly based on Paraguayan saint Roque González and the Guaraní War and the Treaty of Madrid of 1750, when Spain and Portugal closed the Jesuit reductions and opened the Guaraní to enslavement. So why are they always paired? They are thematic twins telling the same larger story from two different centuries: 1\. Same historical argument: Both are elegies for pre-contact America and indictments of the Spanish/Portuguese imperial project. Young imagines the Aztecs "still living there and loving him" before the galleons arrive. Joffé shows the Guaraní living that idyll 250 years later, and then the bureaucracy that sells them. 2\. Opposite view of the Church: This is the key difference. In Young's song, the Church and Cortés are one destructive force - "he came dancing across the water with his galleons and guns." In The Mission, the Church is split. Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) and Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) are trying to protect the Indians from the colonial state. The villains are the Portuguese empire and Cardinal Altamirano's Realpolitik. 3\. Different tribes, same mechanism: Cortes vs Aztecs in central Mexico in 1521\. Jesuits vs Guaraní in the southern jungle in 1758\. Both show how a legal document signed in Europe - a papal bull in 1493, the Treaty of Madrid in 1750 - becomes a death sentence on the ground. In short: no legal or musical relationship. Cultural relationship, yes. If "Cortez the Killer" is the ballad of how the conquest began, The Mission is the drama of how it ended - with the same promise of "civilization" and the same result for the indigenous people. Neil Young Have you seen Romero? Romero (1989) is a biographical drama starring Raúl Juliá as Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador. Produced by Paulist Pictures, the film chronicles Romero's arc from a quiet, scholarly priest chosen by elites because he was considered "safe" and non-threatening to a courageous defender of human rights who was assassinated by a right-wing death squad in 1980\. Historical Context of the Film To understand both the movie and Romero’s life, three historical factors are essential: Extreme Inequality and State Terror: In the 1970s, El Salvador was dominated by a wealthy oligarchy (often called the "14 Families") backed by a repressive military regime. Peasant workers (campesinos) faced brutal exploitation, landlessness, and poverty. Peaceful protest was met with torture, disappearances, and paramilitary death squads. The Post-Vatican II Church: Following the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and the Latin American Bishops Conference in Medellín (1968), Catholic social teaching shifted toward a "preferential option for the poor." Liberation theology emerged in Latin America, asserting that the Gospel demands liberation not only from personal sin, but also from systemic injustice. The Catalyst – The Murder of Rutilio Grande (1977): Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in February 1977\. Just weeks later, his close friend, Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande—who organized peasant cooperatives—was murdered alongside an elderly man and a boy. Grande's death shattered Romero’s trust in the government and transformed his ministry. Over the next three years, Romero used his weekly radio broadcasts to document disappearances, name victims, call out government abuses, and demand that soldiers refuse orders to kill their fellow Salvadorans. On March 24, 1980, he was shot and killed while celebrating Mass. The Tension Between Savior and Martyr The dynamic between the Savior and the Martyr is a central theological tension both in Christian tradition and throughout the narrative of Romero: 1\. The Trap of the "Savior" In Christian theology, Christ is the sole Savior. When human leaders attempt to act as political or worldly "saviors," several theological and ethical problems arise: Political Entanglement: A savior complex tempts leaders to embrace worldly political power, ideological alignment, or even violent rebellion to achieve immediate temporal victory. Self-Reliance & Pride: The savior figure risks substituting human power and ego for divine grace, viewing themselves as indispensable to the cause. In the film, revolutionary groups pressure Romero to endorse armed rebellion and act as a partisan political savior. Romero repeatedly refuses to align the Church with any political party or violent tactic, recognizing that attempting to "save" El Salvador through armed political force merely perpetuates the cycle of violence. 2\. The Identity of the "Martyr" The word martyr comes from the Greek martus, meaning "witness." Bearing Witness: A martyr does not seek to conquer or defeat enemies through force. Instead, they bear witness to divine truth, justice, and human dignity—even when doing so leads to their own death. Surrender of Power: Unlike a savior who commands or wields authority to change an outcome, the martyr surrenders life, trusting that God—not human violence—ultimately brings redemption. 3\. The Resolution in Romero Romero's spiritual journey in the film is precisely a shift away from human self-reliance toward radical witness: "Voice of the Voiceless": Romero does not organize a private army or promise political liberation; he makes the Church a refuge and uses his pulpit to give voice to those being murdered in silence. Participation in the Cross: By stepping between the military apparatus and the oppressed, Romero accepts that his stance will likely cost him his life. In Christian theology, the martyr's power lies in paradoxical weakness: by refusing to kill, hate, or compromise the truth, the martyr exposes the moral bankruptcy of tyranny and points directly to Christ, the true Savior (Meta AI).” If you don't read The Holy Bible yourself, and wrestle with God alone, you are a stupid, lazy Christian. Whiteness the brave Methodist circuit riders. These soldiers of Christ rode alone through the frontier and preached at tent gatherings. They invoked Christ and urged us all to follow the footsteps of Christ and walk his path with the lantern of his light. These preaching circuit riders were survivalists to in the tradition of military reconoissance. They preached their preach. In the rough and tumble world of the American frontier, few circuit riders lived past 30\. The light they shared, lives on. Amen …