CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM’S LIES

By Ruth A. Sheets

This Sunday is Pentecost, the “end” of the holiest part of the Christian calendar.  The “season” began back in February with Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, passed through Easter in April, then closes 50 days after Easter.  This year, as a United Church of Christ minister, I have been thinking a lot about Christianity during this special period.  More and more conservative Christian groups are claiming that the problems this nation is facing are due to people not living rightly.  For those people, Christian Nationalists, “rightly” means doing things the way “we conservative Christians” say they should.  Why?  My question to them, why should what you think is “right” impact me and the rest of the people in America who may not agree with your notion of “right?” 

Last week I read a book I found enlightening as well as disturbing, and quite relevant to my ponderings.  The book is one every American should read if they can.  It is The Founding Myth, Why Christian Nationalism is Unamerican by Andrew L. Seidel & Susan Jacoby.  The book’s premise, too many “religious” Americans believe this nation was founded on Christian principles when there is far more evidenced that this is not true.  Evangelical Christians (mostly white) and many Roman Catholics hold extreme conservative beliefs, particularly related to “the 10 Commandments,” sex and gender, and forcing people who don’t share their beliefs to follow them anyway.  That is simply put, unamerican, unconstitutional, undemocratic, but alas, when one is convinced of their own righteousness, everything is on the table and everyone is in their sights.

The authors bring up a point I have known since my college days, there are several (4 at least) versions of the Ten Commandments and it is a bit arbitrary which ones they decided to pick.  When did the “Ten Commandments” hit the political scene?  It happened during the 1950s And the “Red Scare,” not at our founding as the religious right would have us believe.    A paranoid legislator with too much power, Joseph McCarthy saw Communists around every corner, under every chair and bed and would even hold up blank folders claiming he had lists of Communists in our government.  To prove, I guess, that our leaders weren’t among those Communists, a whole lot of unamerican actions were taken.  “In God We Trust” was printed on our money, the words “under God” were added to the “Pledge of Allegiance,” and an opening arose for presidents to say “God bless America” at the end of speeches.  By the way for years, “god” was not in the oath of office either. 

There were some Christians among the founders, but they represented a lot of different perspectives.  Even John Adams who was pretty religious did not want any religion either established or given privilege in the nation.  George Washington rarely attended church services, seldom mentioned God in any of his writings or public addresses.  Jefferson and Franklin were at best Deists and neither considered Christianity any kind of influence in developing the Constitution (which does not mention a higher being) and begins with We the People of the United States.   

So what is going on here?  It seems to me that conservative Christians, mostly white people, are using their religion to front for their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, and xenophobia.  They often get very angry when someone points out that something they have said or done is racist, sexist, or the rest.  They jump into religion so they can claim, “god is against what those ‘woke’ people stand for.”  They are rarely asked what they mean by “woke.”  Interviewers don’t ask them to explain their words or actions, “if it is not racist, sexist, homo/transphobic, what is it?”  It is as though those white conservative Christians are so holy they can’t be challenged even though they are working hard to eliminate rights that are guaranteed to all Americans through our Constitution.

I think of those “worshippers” as “pseudo-Christians.  They pick from the Christian and Hebrew Scriptures those passages they are comfortable with to try to force on others and ignore such  sayings as “love your enemies and do good to those who hurt you.”  Or rather, they distort them to mean, “we should do whatever it takes to stop them because that is really what god wants.  They are really enemies of god, you know.”  In other words, they know better than their god what “He” wants (always “He” because women are just an afterthought.  They ignore the verses in Genesis that say that man and women were created equal.  So, men are supposed to be the masters of the world and women must go along with whatever nonsense, whatever violence, whatever ignorance men decide.  Male supremacy, if even thought of at all may have been the belief of the founders, but they didn’t put that into the Constitution.  At the time “men” was considered to mean “men and women,” linguistically.   

One major problem we have is the extreme deference to religion our conservative national leaders have.  The words “god, faith, and “religious freedom” are tossed about regularly.  In this case, “god” is their god and “faith” is their faith.  “Religious freedom” means freedom for them to discriminate, to dismiss, to hurt anyone they claim their religion demands they exclude and harm.  Our Supreme Court, you know, the supposed highest court in the land has too many members who think their religious beliefs supersede the rights of the American people.  No one who is in business should be able to refuse service to customers unless those people are committing a real crime against them, not just being LGBTQ or Black, or an immigrant, or whatever excuse they come up with.  The SC is OK with such discrimination if someone just says, “My faith says I shouldn’t do it.”  One’s faith should be irrelevant.  If your faith is so exclusive, you should not be in business, but that uber-religious conservative court has decided that it’s OK to discriminate as long as you blame it on god.  Hey, if a plaintiff’s god supposedly doesn’t like abortion, no problem, we’ll let the scared, misogynistic, white mostly male legislators in the pseudo-Christian states put women’s lives and ability to decide for themselves at risk “for god, of course.”

One’s religion should never be a weapon, although it often has been used that way.  If one looks beneath the religious shield the folks wielding religion are holding, there is always a real reason.  It usually is power or fear of losing power, revenge (that’s a big one), economics (enslave people to do the work you don’t want to pay people to do for you while claiming it’s god’s will).  Those leaders always carry with them a high opinion of themselves, their abilities, and their value.  They surround themselves with people (mostly sycophantic men and a few women, who will do whatever is commanded for the crumbs of religious reminders that doing it will win them a place in heaven, the ability to do harm to others in god’s name, or some other such potent bribery.  This phenomenon is not restricted to Christianity.  Other religions and political entities like Fascists, Communists, and emperors whose religion is themselves actively participate too.

These forced religious and pseudo-religious practices should never be part of a democracy, but fear is opening more and more democracies around the world to them.  In India, the current Prime Minister wants a Hindu-nationalism where Hindus can do pretty much whatever they want to Muslims and other religious and non-religious groups within the society, even allowing barbaric anti-women and marriage outside the faith laws to be passed and brutally employed to enforce male and religious supremacy.  Hungary is well on its way to creating a pseudo-religious nation where only white Hungarians with certain religious beliefs are welcome and will be treated as citizens.  China and Russia have already made their versions of Communism straightjacket the people into doing only what the men at the top say they should, even to the point of arresting comedians who say things the thin-skinned leaders don’t like. 

We the People of the United States should be able to do better.  We can stop bending over backward to accommodate the religious right whose purpose is to bring this nation to its knees so they can enforce their own brand of Christianity on a people that does not want it and know it is unconstitutional.  The question is, how can we get Americans to care enough to stand up for real religious freedom, that is freedom to worship as one pleases as long as it does not interfere with anyone else’s life without their uncoerced permission.  It is also the freedom to not have a religion or believe in god, any god.  That is what our founders actually wanted.  It’s time we live that and not the myth of our being a Christian nation.  We aren’t and were never that. 

A “NEW RELIGION?”

By Rev. Ruth A. Sheets

There are times when reading an article I simply can’t believe what I have read, then I think about it a bit and decide maybe there is something to it and the presentation may actually be useful for understanding the opposition.

The article in question this time is “The New Religion of the Woke Left is a Faith Without Atonement” by Tripp Parker.  The article appeared in thefederalist.com.  Although I read occasional articles from “The Federalist,” it is not a favorite.  I find the articles I have read to be judgmental (as one would expect from an organization that hand picks conservative judges for the courts, even quite a few who are completely unqualified). 

This article piqued my attention because of several words:  religion, faith, woke, left, and atonement.  I didn’t expect all of those words to appear together in the same place.  Mr. Parker claims the “woke left” “does seem to resemble a religion.”  He says that should not surprise “us,” I assume meaning conservative academics.  It surprised me, though.

Parker proceeds to explain that “humans use sacred rituals and symbols as unifying forces that allow us to participate in large scale societies.” 

Then, he slithers off into the real intent of the article.  His next sentence tells us that all “non-insect creatures” participate in close kinship networks, while insects like bees have large societies (notice the reference to insects – well done).  Then, those insects share a large amount of genetic material (bring in the science).  Why the insect reference?  Is that to prove your credentials in science of some kind, or perhaps a comment on how much you appreciate the Lefties?  But of course, Parker must tell us that humans are different, we can choose who will be siblings with us.  We recognize those siblings through the “sacred”  you know: “a rock, an ancestor, even a god,” and we organize around that “sacred artifact.”

OK, now, here comes the “Left” into it.  Parker claims the Left has increasingly rejected Christianity (as if that is a sign of anything real), and thus, need something to fill “the void – it’s inevitable!” because we humans need that unifying force; we can’t help it, according to Parker.

At this point, it occurred to me that the article has the flavor of a documentary, studying the Woke Left the way early anthropologists studied chimpanzees before Jane Goodall came along.  The author doesn’t really know what he is talking about, but he has assumed some things he just has to remark on, also hoping to inform his own group just what those creatures are like in their own language. 

Parker proceeds to tell us that the Woke Left is a religion.  He says that even without a supernatural element the Lefties have all the necessary religious trappings:  a core set of beliefs you cannot question, myths that are not subject to “normal” academic inquiry (the 1619 Project), sacred texts (White Fragility), an idea of original sin (being born white and male), rituals (self-flagellation – whatever that is), symbols (he doesn’t describe those), heretics (J.K. Rowling), and de facto priests and prophets (doesn’t name them either) “to enlighten, then initiate us into this new religion.”

He continues by claiming that the Woke Left wants to force everyone to adopt their new way of viewing the world.  But despite this near perfection, there is one truly holy thing missing – atonement.  Huh!         

Parker has now tied the Lefties to Christianity  even though he previously told us the group has left Christianity.  If that is the case, what does the new Woke Left religion need with atonement?  He asks what they do if they sin (original or otherwise), how do we make up for that; “how can they balance the scales?”  He tells the Left a price has to be paid for their sins.  Really, why?  The Woke Left is supposed to have to make some kind of sacrifice because of the horrible things they did in their past life, you know, before the Woke. 

Jimmy Kimmel is one of Parker’s targets because he once hosted a sexist racist show.  Hosting a funny honest show now cannot possibly make up for that past according to Mr. Parker, so Kimmel can’t be part of the Woke Left faith.  Says who?  Then Kimmel is accused of being a Progressive!  O heavens!  What a sin!  And, horror of horrors, Kimmel called out a Republican Representative (Parker doesn’t say who) for not having a soul.  I say that a lot when I hear the appalling things those mostly white Christian men say in hearings and Fox News interviews about their fellow citizens.  They claim Christianity.  Where is their atonement or do they just get to claim they’ve made their sacrifice in private? 

It appears the Woke Left are supposed to “repent” somehow while not calling out those who are doing actual harm to their brothers and sisters, Christian or not.  That’s rather hypocritical, I’d say.

Then, as if that were not enough, the Lefties are accused of getting people fired (the equivalent of human sacrifice in the past).  This means that the ones being fired (whoever they are) did nothing to deserve the firing or whatever public shaming they received.  It is all the fault of the Woke Left, that horrible cult.  Parker ignores the very very many times Christians have fatally accused folks of all kinds of things:  worshipping wrong, being witches, being uppity women or Blacks, not being servile enough, committing crimes they didn’t actually do, whistling at white women, and on and on.  Then there are the actual acts committed against those ancestors and their descendants:  constructing statues of traitors to intimidate a whole people and let another people believe the Civil War was a good cause, destroying whole Black or Native American communities because . . ., denying housing to people because of their color, setting up scams to rip off poor people, wearing sheets and hoods to cause murder and mayhem (boys will be boys, I suppose). 

None of the “shaming” done by the Woke Left even comes close to what has been done by folks on the Christian Right.  Where is their atonement or is that only for the “new religion?”  What actions should a group being oppressed by a more powerful religion do, just knuckle under and go along?  The ancestors of the Woke Left did that for generations, only now and then being able to break through and force some concessions.

One thing this nation knows well, if you are used to being entitled and to being seen as the most valuable group, when you don’t get what you want, it feels like oppression.  And, like the early anthropologists, you are reading the situation wrong.  You, the oppressors are blaming the oppressed for wanting some of the power and rights you have and not being properly sorry for it.  

I understand your fear.  You are used to being in charge of just about everything and now, for the first time you’re not, and I think, somewhere in the depth of your faith, you know you are wrong and have been wrong for a long time.  White isn’t automatically right.  Male isn’t the head of anything.  Straight isn’t godly in itself, and rich is just having more than you need while you leave others to suffer.  That is pretty scary. 

You want no stones thrown at you while you are constantly winding up to toss stones at so many others.  You claim Jesus while you denounce nearly everything he stood for – you know, love your neighbor as yourself, do unto others . . . , love your enemies, blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, etc.

Perhaps Mr. Parker and those on the Christian Right would do well to step back a minute or two (if you can spare that time from your judgment jags) to listen to the Woke Left.  Instead of being defensive at every turn, acknowledge you have participated and continue to participate in the oppression that has awakened the Woke Left.  The Woke Left is not really a new religion.  It is a movement of people who expect a nation of many races, genders, and religions to live up to its promise as described in the Constitution and its amendments and the Declaration of Independence.  OK, that’s pretty WOKE!

And, Oh, by the way, Christian Right, don’t forget to take the log out of your own eye before you go after the mote in someone else’s eye. 

DON’T TELL ME WHAT YOU BELIEVE

I’ll Tell You What You Believe When I See What You Do

by Ruth A. Sheets

The American “Christian Right” has stepped up its campaign to make the United States a Christian nation.  They claim incorrectly, that the founders were Christian and really intended that this be a Christian country which only tolerates people of other religions.  To modify that notion further, they want us to be a people that reflects their particular world view.

What does that world view consist of?  It is a world of the Bible, so they tell us.  Jesus is at the center of this world and of course, Jesus looks like them, tall, handsome, and white.   

It is not sufficient to hold these beliefs within their own spheres.  Members of the “Christian Right” see themselves as evangelists.  To forward their “cause,” they are and recruit public officials willing to pass laws restricting the rights and beliefs of others, (for their own good, of course).

The “Right” laments the lack of formal Christian prayer in school.  They sue districts for their anti-school prayer policies so the Supreme Court will ultimately rule that school prayer is really OK.  And, the current court will.

The “Rights” laws require that The 10 Commandments be posted in courthouses and courtrooms.  Of course, among the several versions, the one to be posted is the King James version, the one they grew up with. They can’t actually state what the Commandments are and don’t follow them particularly well. They “love” guns and encourage wars, and have no problem bearing false witness against their neighbors or coveting their neighbor’s . . . .  Oh well!  That clearly doesn’t matter; it’s the principle.

Their interpretation of their Bible demands women’s submission.  This allows men to pass any law they feel necessary to keep women in the place men approve for them.  “Christian Right” men value women who have learned to want only what their men provide.  Women with choice regarding their reproduction, on the job pay, or anything else is forbidden.  Women just can’t handle it.   

The “Christian Right” reads hatred of homosexuality on every page of their Bible and will stand against any manifestation of it to the death (well, maybe to the death of the homosexuals).  This is interesting since there are so few references to same-sex anything in the Bible it is almost invisible.  And, Jesus said nothing about it.  He clearly would have known of it as popular as it was in Roman culture.

Jesus tells his followers to care for the poor, imprisoned, outcast.  However, the “Christian Right” seems to despise the poor judging by the budgets they bring to Congress.  There are more imprisoned in America than in any other country.  The “Christian Right” doesn’t have much problem with that.  Funds to support “the least of these” are being cut on a regular basis.

Our problem with the “Christian Right,” as I see it is that few non-members today seem brave enough to say “NO” to the “Right.”  Each time they pass a law that restricts religious freedom in one state, a group of them in another part of the country pushes a similar law through there too.  Then, it creeps around to other states and localities. 

The cost of challenging a law once it is passed and signed is high.  The “Christian Right” knows this.  If enough restrictive laws are passed, the rest of us will be overwhelmed, unable to challenge all of them.  On top of this, the “Right” restricts the vote, so more “Right” lawmakers are elected.

We need to stand up and fight the childishness of a group of “Christians” who think they have the full truth. They don’t.  Seeing what they do, though, we know what they believe.

 

They believe that one’s gut feeling is more valuable than thinking. 

They believe the Bible is one’s plan for life, even if they pick and choose from it what they will follow and ignore the rest.

They believe that money and the pursuit of it for themselves and their kind is Holy and entitles those who have the most to do whatever they want with it.  They are God’s favored ones.

They believe the poor are in that condition due to their own actions.  If they weren’t lazy and stupid they would have money and whatever they want and God would bless them.

They believe that acting holier than thou is better than actual caring, kindness, and love directed toward the other.

They believe they have a phone line to God and no matter how they act, God approves and wants everyone else to approve.

These are the fantasies of self-centered children who have no business governing anything.

 

THOU SHALT NOT LIE – Unless You’re Mitt Romney and Company

by Ruth A. Sheets

People on the Christian Right want everyone to live their idea of the Christian life.  They cry out that God is not enough in our country and our actions.  They want the Ten Commandments (the Protestant traditional list) on every courthouse in America.  One might think these are people holier than most.

It seems to me that one would be wrong.  What the Christian Right wants is to be comfortable and to feel righteous, or rather self-righteous.  They pick and choose from the Bible what they will espouse.  They select the Commandments they like and discard the rest.  They claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, yet find most of His teachings unacceptable and put into His mouth things He did not preach.

Some examples might help to put this into perspective.  Jesus said nothing about homosexuality even though it was a common practice in the Greek and Roman world, yet the Christian Right is so sure that it is against God’s law, they would condemn people for it.

The 5^th Commandment is “Thou shalt not kill."  It works for them when related to abortion and human fetuses, but not when it comes to war, famine, capital punishment, over accessibility to guns.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” is not a problem because one can simply ask forgiveness and go on with life.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,” though, does not even seem to cross their radar.  Their candidate, Mitt Romney, bears false witness on a daily basis, as does his team and PACs, yet the Right does not call him on it.  Why is that?  Lying doesn’t count if it will get you what you want and if it will make America a “more godly place?”

As for Obama’s agreement with the states to make more flexibility in their welfare to work programs--Romney calls this “welfare with no work requirement.”  He knows this is a lie, but who cares?

Mitt said “Nobody ever asked me for my birth certificate 'cause they know where I’m from.”  When called on it, he said he was just using humor.  He knew this was a lie, but oh well.

Romney and Ryan continue to claim that Obamacare will take 716 billion dollars from Medicare recipients.  They know that is not true, but scaring older Americans is worth the lie.

Any true Christians would have trouble with the repeated lying of the Romney campaign, but what can the Right do?  He's all they have. The racism that sits at the core of Christian Right beliefs, and their illusion of having achieved everything in their lives on their own, make it impossible for them to rethink their position.  They have to pretend Romney is everything they want, so to avoid the dissonance, they just don’t hear what they don’t want to hear.  Hypocrisy is better than a Black president for one more term.

The Christian Right can’t help themselves, so the rest of us had better get to the polls  to protect all of us from their fear and deliberate hypocrisy.

PSEUDO CHRISTIANS?

by Ruth Sheets

As a Christian minister, I am appalled with the way Christianity is being tossed around by the Republicans these days.  It seems that claiming Christianity as the center of one’s life is all one needs to prove one is a “real American.” 

The candidates stand before the American public and declare that they believe in the Bible word for word and “know” that creation is just as described in Genesis (although which creation story, they are not always sure since there are two quite different accounts).  These candidates are also sure there is a “Second Coming” as described in psychedelic dream that is  the Book of Revelation.  In between, they also are committed to the one verse in Leviticus that condemns homosexuality.  So, we know they accept Genesis, Revelation and a verse of Leviticus, but what about the rest of the Bible? 

If one looks at the “deal” the Congressional Tea Partiers proposed and examine their plans for the future of America, it is hard to see that the gospels, for example, are any part of their public considerations and actions.  (I cannot speak for their personal lives.)

The conservative Republican proposals support the wealthiest Americans, yet, Jesus says that it will be harder for a rich person to enter heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  He also told the rich young man in Mark, to sell all he has and give it to the poor and follow Jesus.  That doesn’t exactly sound like it meshes very well with what is happening among these professed believers and their relationship with the top 1 percent of American earners.

It is the “Good Samaritan” who stops to help the man along the road in Luke, not the wealthy religious travelers, and the Samaritan was of a hated race.  Jesus said “Go and do likewise. " I see no evidence of Tea Party support of anyone who is in need.  And, their attitude toward non-Christians is not particularly Christ-like.”

Jesus spent a lot of time teaching people, yet, education is certainly not a priority of the Republicans.  Well, sometimes it is, if they can introduce privatization, vouchers, and other destructive elements to “public” schools.  Who benefits?  It is rarely the children.

Jesus said “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  I don’t see the Republican representatives offering Americans the same kind of health care and pensions that Congress enjoys.  In fact, Republicans are doing everything they can to be sure American citizens never do.

Jesus fed the 5,000, yet the Tea Partiers would cut the programs that help to feed their fellow Americans who are not as privileged or lucky as they are.  Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, yet many Republicans across the country have eliminating gay rights as a centerpiece of their platforms, along with abortion which is also not seen as important enough for Jesus to mention either.

Instead of the gospel of love and caring, they read and understand a “Gospel of Prosperity” which tells them that they are receiving all the good things that America offers because they are God’s favored ones.  They pray loud and long in public so that everyone can see how pious they are.  It seems to me that if anyone chooses to claim Christ as their Savior, they must remember the saying of the Civil Rights Movement:  “You can’t just talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.”  We’ve all been hearing a lot of the “Christian” talk, but where is the walk?

American Fascists

By Ruth Sheets

I just finished reading the book American Fascists:  The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges.  This is one of the scariest books I have read in a long time. 

Mr. Hedges describes a group of Evangelical Fundamentalist Christians who preach and practice a “Gospel of Prosperity and rule of God’s law.”  If one is wealthy, God must have provided that as a reward.  If one lives God’s law, one too, might become wealthy.  Surrendering all to God (through God’s male representatives on earth) will lead to a life of peace and order.  And, surrender is required.  He convincingly compares this movement to those active in Germany during the 1930’s.

If the followers of this Gospel kept it within its narrow sphere one could say “let them do whatever they want.  It doesn’t affect the rest of us.  America is a free country.” 

But, this “Gospel of God’s law” has a political power component which is even more substantial.  You see, they want to control all aspects of government to make this nation fully “Christian.”  In their way of thinking, as a “Christian” nation, those  who do not confess Christ cannot be permitted to drain America’s resources.

This brand of Fundamentalists co-opts the language of freedom and Civil Rights, even quoting such figures as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  But civil rights and pluralism in any form are not part of their theology. 

Male absolute control in the name of God trumps freedom of speech, religion, press, or anything else that our founders stood for.  The strong, white, macho male as the ideal.  Women must be relegated to the home and spheres of limited influence.  The few exceptions (people like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, attractive and empty-headed) allow conservative women to think they are included.  The token black males can talk the talk, but are not welcome to actually walk the walk.

Right-wing Evangelical Fundamentalists prey on the most vulnerable among us, those whose lives have been difficult through poverty, divorce, unemployment, family dysfunction, etc.  People in personal crisis often value a system where someone else is in control and where there is a promise of something better.  Of course, they believe that “something better” occurs for these pathetic people after THIS life is over.

Mr. Hedges believes that the leaders in this right-wing Fundamentalist movement:  Pat Robertson, George W. Bush, et al, know exactly what they are doing and what they are supporting.  They are focused on their goal of power and there is little they won’t do to achieve it.

The Tea Party arose after this book was published, but I suspect Mr. Hedges would include them in the right-wing movement he described in his 2006 book.  Tea Partiers might resist such inclusion, but their words and actions would place them squarely within that group.  They fought for cutting programs that enable people to live a decent life in the name of lowering the deficit.  Their proposals are designed to help the rich become richer and businesses to do whatever they choose despite environmental problems.  Women’s rights are being challenged at all levels. Their leaders claim their FIRST goal is to remove President Obama from office. They were willing to take America to the brink of economic disaster to prove their political power.  Sounds like they fit right in.

What does Mr. Hedges suggest we do to protect our democracy?  He recommends that we become vigilant.  We must not tolerate the actions of this movement.  We need to stop being so “nice” to them, smiling and giving in to their demands.  We should stop saying “it’s a free country.  They have a right to their beliefs."  They do have a right to their beliefs as long as they don’t force them on the rest of us, and that seems to be what they intend.

Now is the time to stand up.  If we don’t start moving to block their insanity, their garbage, we may not have the free country we cherish.