By Ruth A. Sheets
As a Christian minister, I am appalled so many people in this country are trying to force Christianity and supposed "christian" beliefs on the people of this nation. Each time I hear Republicans whining that this nation isn't christian enough, I groan because those hypocrites do not in any way embody or care about what I would consider Christian precepts, and they are fine with the hypocrisy, perhaps even revel in it. They lie, approve cheating/fraud if it gets them what they want while claiming it isn't cheating/fraud, and choose leaders who have questionable backgrounds and intentions (Jordan, Gates, Greene, Johnson, Trump, the judges in Alabama, the ones who push the 10 Commandments while they choose not to live by them), and those who regularly spew hate of everyone who is not them. They want the government up in everyone's business but theirs.
NOTE: The lower-case “c” used in
Christian indicates non-Christian behavior and CNs is Christian Nationalists.
The CNs have tried to shape Christianity to reflect their own personal biases, behaviors, comforts, fears, and hatreds. Lying has become their coin of the realm and they do it so often there is little sense of what is true for them. They themselves, may not even know.
There is nothing in Jesus's teachings that supports their attitudes, behavior, lying, faith being forced on others, and the rest of their Republican/CN agenda. If Jesus had been so opposed to homosexuality, for example, he would have said so since it was present within the Greek/Roman world of which Jesus was part. The same can be said of abortion. However, the CNs have put these issues at the center of their campaigns against the American people, claiming they are “pro-life” so God must be against both LGBTQ persons and abortion because they are.
The scriptures do say Jesus told folks: love one another, love your neighbor as yourself (and everyone is our neighbor), welcome the stranger, blessed are the peacemakers, forgive 70 times 7 times, care for poor and sick folks, visit those in prison, do unto others what you would have done to yourself. I see none of these critical Christian precepts in anything CNs are pushing. When Republican CNs notice the national debt is really high, to fix it, they propose that cuts be made to the programs that support the people who are most vulnerable, actions that are antithetical to what the Jesus of the gospels would have stood for and with.
I have noticed over the years that conservatives grab onto an issue they feel will get them attention, then wield it as a weapon supposedly of God, to get others to give them power, money, or something else they want. Right now, it’s controlling women’s lives, in particular, abortion rights, and giving their faithful minions, folks to hate (LGBTQ persons and immigrants). We all should know what Republicans are up to by now, but these fools keep winning elections, claiming to be soooo christian, having the “true faith” or something like that. That’s a message people have spewed throughout history to force others to do their bidding. Republicans keep coming up with warped "ideas" trying to make this a Christian nation despite the fact that the United States was never intended to be a Christian state no matter what Republicans believe about our founders. I think I have the actual translation for what Republicans are really saying when they claim this as a christian country; “we want to be able to do whatever we want with impunity and claim that what we are doing and proposing is Christian, thus from god.” They expect/require everyone to go along with it.” Sounds a lot like Republicans wish to go back to being toddlers with bad parents, whining and tantruming as they try to get whatever they want. Clearly, Republican leadership right now does not care about any honest traditional form of Christianity because it does not speak to their childish need to get power and money no matter who is hurt. Conservative christianity has become the Republican weapon of choice to gain undeserved power, to continue to live their distorted beliefs, and to do as much harm as possible to anyone who does not go along with their nonsense. There are probably “true believers,” but I suspect those “believers” are not among the leadership. The leaders know what they are doing and have been carefully crafting their attack on our democracy to be sure it has a “christian” ring to it designed to hook people who have been groomed to fear, resent, even hate those who do not see the world as they do. “Those people are just so different, they’re trying to convert you to wokeness (or something); so they must be stopped.” That is a powerful message for those who know nothing of our Constitution, little of our history or rights as citizens, and that they are being used by conservative religious leaders and politicians for their own gains, not to improve the lives of their congregants and constituents. They are reviving the old mollifying line used during slavery days, you may suffer now while on Earth, but god will bless you and you will face eternity in Heaven if you do what we say.”
That seems legitimate to Americans who are actually looking for some kind of approval for their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, xenophobia, and the rest. Republicans in power hold that their voters really are useful and “it is our duty as good christians to ‘guide’ them in the right direction because they aren’t dependable enough to buy our lies without help.” The leadership wants the sheep to say, with a straight face, “since god is OK with what my leaders in god’s party are doing, I must be right. Those other horrible people are trying to force us to mix together with sinners and we won’t have it!”
We the People and our media should not
tolerate this false christianity without rebuttal. Republicans can worship in
any way they choose. What they can’t do is foist their brand of religion
on anyone else; it’s in our Constitution. That can be a problem, though
because our Supreme Court has drunk the Republican Kool-Ade, so are regularly
ruling in favor of the Christian Nationalists, even when they don’t have
standing before the court or even an actual case. We may have to go
around the Supreme Court somewhat, as Gov. Abbott of Texas has lately to do as
much harm to immigrants as he can get away with. In this case, it will be
to defend our rights and liberties from people for whom the Constitution is
just a suggestion and swearing an oath to “protect and defend” it is pretty
much irrelevant because they have their fingers crossed, at least mentally, so
whatever they swear or affirm means little or nothing to them. In
addition, they get The Federalist Society and other rich guys to buy and supply
members of our courts. The judges and justices can then push for the
oppression of people not like themselves. They will rule in favor of
pseudo-christian practices, against our Constitution, while quoting pre-18th
Century bullies as proof they are right. The opinion of the judges and
justices has more weight than the Constitution, the law, or common sense, which
of course, is just wrong.
Six of the Supreme Court justices are Roman Catholic and a seventh nearly so (Gorsuch was raised Catholic but is now Episcopalian). That is definitely not representative of the American people, and many of their recent decisions related to religion are not either.
An additional factor in Christian Nationalism is that the vast majority of its practitioners are white Evangelicals and Roman Catholics, leaving out a whole lot of Christians who don’t go along with their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, xenophobia, and the rest. Among the rights the CNs wish to eliminate is voting rights for the people they don’t see as worthy. Black Americans have been specifically targeted in “red” states as have young people and people with disabilities, clearly in opposition to the Constitution which gives the right to vote to every American citizen age 18 and older. How this fits with Christianity is not entirely clear. Perhaps it is that CNs are truly dictators (for god of course).
We need to get the word out more forcefully that the Germans who conducted the Holocaust were Christians who used their faith as a weapon against millions ultimately murdering millions. It was Christians who operated the slave trade enslaving tens of millions of people. It was Christians who lynched Black Americans and people who supported them. It was Christians who marched with the KKK yelling stupid phrases like “Jews won’t replace us” while now claiming to be so pro-Israel. I guess they hate Muslims/Palestinians more than Jews.
Donald Trump is a Christian Nationalist as are Mike Johnson and numerous other members of our legislative bodies. Trump claims the Bible is his favorite book, and is selling his own version to raise money for his cause, himself. We should not try to trip him up with verses to see if he knows them because he does not. He has never read the Bible and never will. It is his fave book because he can use it to stir up the people who value it, those who have been raised to question nothing their masters tell them, and it is always their masters because women are lesser beings. So, if Trump says it’s a favorite and he is selling it, he is speaking just to them and his words go straight to their heart, and the lie sticks with them and they stick with Trump.
There is nothing positive about Christian Nationalism for anyone but its practitioners in leadership roles, and it is up to us, those of many different faiths or none to stand up to them and challenge them at every opportunity. One way is to vote them out of office. Another is to insist that our media call the CNs out on their bad behavior and call their lies, lies. We are not a theocracy no matter what the CNs want.
The question is, will we let ourselves be ruled by people who have so little regard for the truth or Truths. For me, the answer is NO!
