August 29 is recognized in the Church as the day to mark “The Decollation of St. John Baptist.” Frankly, I had never seen the word “decollation” before and wondered aloud if it might be related to décolletage (which refers to a low neckline on a woman’s blouse or top). The answer is Yes! The Decollation of St. John Baptist refers to the removal of his head from his neck, as ordered by one of those Herods that were ruling over Judea on behalf of Rome at the time of John and Jesus.

Here’s the thing that I am struck by in Butler’s recitation and, overall, in how the Church writes and revises its histories. As I read the Gospels, John was a wild man. He lived in the wilderness. He was hairy and ascetic and loud. He stirred up crowds. He ate what he found in the wilderness–locusts, honey. He yelled at people. He told rulers to stop sleeping around with relatives. He chose to be executed rather than to be silent. He was “a voice crying in the wilderness” that no one could put a stopper in, and it took cutting his head off to shut him up!

This is Powerful Religion. This is amazing, unruly, outside-the-box behavior. And Jesus himself praised John as the greatest of all people, the brightest light!

So how does Butler, on behalf of the Church, regard John from a distance?

This glorious saint was a martyr, a virgin, a doctor, a prophet, and more than a prophet. He was declared by Christ himself to be greater than all the saints of the old law, the greatest of all that had been born of women. All the high graces with which he was favoured, sprang from his humility: in this all his other virtues were founded. (emphasis added)

A virgin? His sex life was never detailed. A doctor (i.e., teacher)? Only if yelling at people to stop being sinners is teaching. Humility? What?!!! Yes, he saw in his cousin Jesus someone that was holy, and John intially demurred at the idea of baptizing Jesus, but he went ahead anyhow, because Jesus asked. C’mon: John was most decidedly NOT some “humble virgin teacher.”

Let’s face it: The Church has a problem. It can’t just act like there never was a John the Baptist, but it certainly doesn’t want another! Its priority is to keep people calm, collected, lust-less, sincere, malleable–in other words, domesticated! The Church doesn’t want Wild Men, and it most CERTAINLY is clueless about what to do with Wild Women! And don’t even get started about Wild Transgender People!

Butler, again on behalf of the Church, makes this quite clear:

St. John cannot be commonly imitated by youth . . . but he teaches what are the means by which they must study . . . what they must shun, in what maxims that ought to ground themselves, and how they are to form and strengthen in themselves the most perfect habits of all virtues.

UGGH! By all means, let’s NOT have any of our youth become like John. Instead, let’s change John into some neutered and humbled example of piety that encourages our kids to become more perfectly virtuous.

If the Church were more true to its own history and roots, then there would be zillions more youth just like those from Parkland, Florida, who are standing up to the most powerful and most ugly in our world, demanding an end to easy gun access and gun violence and the buying of political influence by the National Rifle Association–thanks to (not despite) Christianity! There would be Wild Women tearing down patriarchalism everywhere–thanks to (not despite) Christianity! There would be hairy leather men, dikes on bikes, and drag queens calling people on ALL their shit–thanks to (not despite) Christianity!

Instead, Christianity spends its time domesticating, taming, neutering, and conforming. And calling a bloody execution of a loud-mouthed political prisoner a “Decollation.”