January 28, 2016 4:54 AM

Republicans: Can you claim to be Christians while ignoring the teachings of Christianity?

No one in American life today proclaims their allegiance to Christ more conspicuously than those who have rejected most of what Christ actually taught: Republicans. The modern Republican Party’s hell-bent embodiment of nearly everything Christ warned against has become so serious that we have to call it out. You cannot be a Republican and a Christian. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. There was a time, maybe even as recently as the early 1990s, when to support the Republican Party was not altogether evil. And further back, of course, things were even more different. As Garrison Keillor once reminisced, Republicans used to be: moderate, business-minded civic boosters and unapologetic patriots who were the linchpins and bulwarks of small towns across the Midwest, the enthusiastic backers of projects for the civic good, usually in partnership with the town liberals (the librarian, the bar owner, a lawyer or two, the Methodist minister, the banker’s wife). These Republicans were uniters and diehard optimists and persons of compassionate conscience, inveterate doers of good deeds.

I don’t believe in God, of course, but I do remember enough from my Sunday School days to recall that the Christian God not only doesn’t vote, He/She doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. He/She doesn’t care about your political affiliation; He/She cares first and foremost about how you treat people. The idea that today’s Republicans are claiming Christianity (and the God that goes with it) as their personal property is as inappropriate and arrogant as it is offensive to those Americans actually endeavoring to lead Christ-like lives.

Once upon a time, the Pilgrims alighted on the shores of the New World in search of the religious freedom denied them in their native England. After the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers (some Christian, some not) were determined to create a durable system of governance in which State and Church were kept strictly separate. This, they felt, would allow for the free and unfettered practice of religious faith without allowing it to infect public life to the detriment of those who may believe and worship differently.

For the past almost 240 years, the separation of Church and State has served America and Americans well. Though still in many respects a deeply pious nation, American governance maintains its secular character, thus ensuring that America works for ALL, regardless of whom or what they may (or may not) worship.

Now America faces perhaps one of it’s greatest threats from those on the Far Right who would gladly dismantle the Constitution in favor of (their interpretation of) God’s laws. After 200+ years of secular governance, they’d install a theocracy based on (their interpretation of) Biblical law. Welcome to a glimpse of what our tyrannical future might look like.

Even today, there are probably some Republicans who still fit that description. The problem is that they are for all practical purposes invisible in American public life, and if their party found out about them, they would be hounded out of it. If they dared to compete in the lunatic talent show of Republican primary politics, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

The reason that you cannot be a Republican and a Christian is that today’s Republican Party doesn’t appear to stand for anything but what Christ strenuously rejected, like organized violence, self-righteous division, and greed. To say the least, this is hard to square with Christ’s teachings and example.

Right-wing theocrats loudly trumpet their faith and concomitant moral superiority, in some cases explicitly claiming the imprimatur of the Almighty. The truth is that, if you’re claiming God is on your side, you very likely have no idea of, or commitment to, the teachings of Christianity.

In Christ, we’re talking about someone who said turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39) and that all those who take the sword will perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52).

We’re talking about someone who warned “judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) and urged people not to look for a mote in someone else’s eye while they have a beam stuck in their own (Matthew 7:3).

We’re talking about someone who said, “woe unto you that are rich!” (Luke 6:24) and, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25) Did Jesus ever have anything good to say about people who hoard wealth?

Truth be told, there’s no way to square the teachings of Jesus Christ with the positions and proclamations of those on the Far Right, zealots often referred to as the “American Taliban.” These are people who claim the mantle of Jesus Christ while modeling little in the way of behavior reminiscent of His teachings. The “Christianity” of the American Taliban has little if anything to do with the Gospel; it’s about power, control, and dominion over all aspects of life. They wish to control the media, the economy, female reproductive functions, virtually all aspects of human sexuality, and anything else they feel to be “deviant.” They firmly believe that all facets of life should be under the control of Conservative White Christians (preferably male). All others should by rights be considered “less than” and unworthy of full membership and participation in the American experience.

Listen to Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and so many others on the Far Right, and what you hear are voices committed to the teachings of Jesus Christ only insofar as they can be used to manipulate and control the American Sheeple. Not that they may not at some level actually consider themselves to be “Christian,” but scratch the surface and what you’ll find is a tyrant willing to use hyper-religiosity and piety as a means to an end. THEIR end.

CAN one be Republican AND a Christian? Of course they can; there are many good, kind, committed Christians who actually endeavor to live their faith and happen to come down on the Right side of the ideological spectrum. The difference is they don’t claim ownership of Christianity, they don’t reject those whose politics and lifestyle differ from their own, and they don’t advocate for dismantling the Constitution and replacing it with a Christian theocracy.

Unfortunately, there are far too many who’ve rejected Christ’s teachings about tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion in favor of their bastardized doctrine based on hatred, intolerance, and exclusion.

Not exactly what Jesus would do, eh?

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 28, 2016 4:54 AM.

How tyranny begins was the previous entry in this blog.

Today's chilling double standard is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 6.0.8