When religion teaches people to obey a cosmic king, it shapes how they respond to earthly power (and not always in healthy ways). This episode explores how “Christ the King of the Universe” has fueled authoritarian thinking, justified exclusion, and warped our politics, and why a values-based, human-centered approach to leadership offers a far better path forward.
This weekend’s celebration within the Catholic Church has a very dramatic title: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. That’s quite a mouthful. And before we get into the bigger themes here, I want to pause on that first word: Solemnity. In the Catholic Church, a solemnity is the highest ranking of feast days—higher than a feast, higher than a memorial. It’s the Church’s way of saying: “This is foundational. This is doctrine. Pay attention.” These things don’t usually emerge organically either; they’re designed, often very intentionally, to shape how people think about God, about authority, about the world, and about themselves.
And that brings us to the main point of this episode of Afterthoughts: What does it mean when a religion asks people to imagine Jesus Christ, not just as a wise teacher or moral guide, but as the King of the Universe? Not a metaphorical king, not a poetic flourish, but an actual sovereign of all existence. And what does that do to the minds and worldviews of the people who take it literally?
Because once you start pulling on that thread, a whole lot of things suddenly make more sense—historically, culturally, politically, and even psychologically.
So, let’s dive into that… in this episode of Afterthoughts!
