Thousands, maybe millions, of Christians sit silently on the sidelines because they were told that religion and politics weren’t subjects for polite conversations. It will fall to the the silent majority of ministers, pastors, preachers and theologians to discount, discredit and ultimately debunk the growing heresy of Christian nationalism. The wall that should exist between church and state is crumbling, and that was predicted - or at least contemplated long ago by the Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In other words, politicians have been aided in this deception by charlatan theologians who have given them religious cover enough so that they can be assured that Jesus would vote Republican, loves guns, wants you to be rich, and doesn’t mind the idea of forcing prayer in schools. This is a problem that exists, in part, because politicians have embraced the Gospels with their own secular spin. Maybe the largest failure isn’t reserved for the folks who have been duped into thinking that Jesus would don a star-spangled tunic, it’s for those Christians who feel the discomfort of having Christ coopted by people who believe Christianity should be placed on a pedestal, and yet will not speak out against such twisted theology. Disagreeing with America is one thing disagreeing with our Lord and Savior – well, that’s something else. The problem seems to be that no one wants to be the critic going up against the formidable combination of both church and state.
#Elevated faith plus
Yet my reading and study of America and its founding documents, plus academic studies of Christianity, lead me to believe that Jesus wouldn’t endorse America’s new found love of Christian nationalism, and nothing in the Constitution reserves an elevated position for Christianity. I mean: Declaring you’re against Christian nationalism is akin to saying you’re anti-Jesus, and possibly have misgivings about America itself. To stand up to this emerging mix of religion and politics is to invite scorn. Today’s form of Christian nationalism, served American style, makes all things about Jesus. It’s a clever political position that takes some Americans for granted, co-mingling a love of Jesus with a fuzzy, non-specific appeal to patriotism, tailored especially for those too lazy to parse out nuance. Marjorie Taylor Greene, proudly espousing that she’s a Christian nationalist – which combines two of my favorite character traits, religious zealotry and fascism. In their zeal to stoke the fires of a culture war, conservatives have drafted Jesus into their army, with some, including soccer-mom-turned-goofball Rep. I keep on coming back to that scene, and it’s becoming less funny by the day. “All things are about Jesus, Homer,” Lovejoy replies. “This isn’t about Jesus, is it?” Homer asks. Timothy Lovejoy, the busybody, sanctimonious preacher at his door, accompanied by a mob. In one of my favorite scenes from “The Simpsons,” Homer answers the door to find Rev.
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