I offer this LONG blog like every other blog, not to be critical for its own sake, but to critically THINK as a follower of Jesus on what it means to faithfully follow Jesus. I pray that it will help you think about what it means to follow Jesus in your life, as a community of faith and as a nation.
You have heard folk talk about this being a "Christian nation", or a nation founded on "Christian" principles. At the time of the Revolutionary War, 17% of the nation identified with a church body and all but 13% of the founding fathers were deists, who believed that God exists but does not actively intervene in the world. Yet, since the year 2000, 62% of Americans identify as "Christian".
But what brand of "Christianity" do we see? In the face of our recent election and over the eight years prior to it, we have heard lots of claims of people being Christian and having their faith inform their politics, economics and life in society, but much of what we have seen has been ANYTHING but Christ-like in rhetoric and behavior. What is "American Christianity"? My fear is that for many in our nation, it has become AMERICAN CIVIL RELIGION.
American Civil Religion has its origins in the 15th Century Document of Discovery, initiated by the church, which sanctioned the discovery of new lands and the subjugation of the inhabitants of those lands "for King and the Kingdom of God." So, upon the "discovery" of this land inhabited by millions of original "Americans", it was the right of European explorers and then colonists to take from them what they wanted, according to the Church of Jesus Christ. And they did so, and the genocide of native residents extended into the mid- 19th Century guided by our sense of "Manifest Destiny" - that God wanted us to have all the lands West of the original colonies and territories, so we pushed out and killed the inhabitants and took what we wanted, much like the Hebrew slaves did when entering the land of Canaan. Then, in the early 1900's we squatted on and took lands from a sovereign nation named Mexico, bought Alaska and Hawaii, fought the Spanish and took Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. People resisted. The Filipinos resisted enough that we "gave them" their sovereignty back. Then we turned our attention to Panama, paid mercenaries to fight the Columbians for control and took it to build the canal that would now serve our economic imperialist desires. It was the belief that God had chosen these people to discover and subdue these places, to take what we wanted because we were chosen by God to have it all.
And the church not only sanctioned this, but praised God for the wonderful bounty that God was providing through our ruthless means. The church prayed to God for further increase and favor, evermore. Revivalists then modeled evangelism on free market economic principles being developed in the country. The shows were well received. Their product was finely honed and people bought what they were selling, and America the Conquerors became America the Profiteers, and God sanctioned it all. God was the God of America's Empire.
We fought a Civil War, mostly over the evils of slavery, and much of the fervor over it was that it was economically sound as a business principle, and people had no right to take away the right of others to enslave whoever they wanted, for profit. God sanctioned it. It was in the Bible, after all. Who were abolitionists to tell others that their interpretation of the Bible that justified this was dubious? It was their right, sanctioned by God to do so, as God's White, Protestant elect in America.
The industrial revolution once again showed us that God favored Americans as being "exceptional."
The barons of industry built their wealth on the subjugation of immigrants and cheap labor, making their millions on the backs of others, now paid badly and worked to death for the gain of a few. The achievements were astounding, however and much of the world marveled at the accomplishments of America. Now, the economic empire was building. The Gilded Age had begun.
Walter Rauschenbusch preached about the Social Gospel of Jesus, the need for love as the center of our Christianity, and the need to treat others with generosity, kindness, equal justice and equality for all. His words fell in relative obscurity, as the powerful and wealthy in the nation binged. Many preachers saw all the gain in power and wealth as a sign of God's continued favor, rather than see the ruthlessness of means by which we got it.
We were dragged into World War I, and out of necessity our Military Industrial Complex was born, manufacturing what was needed to supply a War Machine. God showed favor in our "Exceptionalism" again by allowing us to win the war along with other, smaller players. Our wealth as a nation was building also on the backs of poor laborers, so God was blessing us with economic growth as a nation of exceptional and chosen people.
The Roaring Twenties gave way to the Great Depression after the de-regulation of our economic system by the robber barons of industry and the dustbowl challenges across our land. The stock market crashed, and the nation suffered the hangover of the over-indulgence of those captains of industry who made millions. Many went to church during this time, because the idea of unlimited growth as God's nation of favored and blessed, exceptional people was thrown into question. FDR brought us out of it, calling the nation to move back to compassion and pull together as a people.
We stayed out of World War II as long as we could. We had too much to lose. For years we ignored the plight of many who were being exterminated, the taking of nations by a European Autocrat and the threat to allies we swore to protect, until we were attacked. Once again, the military industrial complex geared up for action and we sent our young men and women overseas. Once again, American "exceptionalism" was seen worldwide, this time on the grandest scale. Nazi Storm Troopers, who had "Gott Mitt Uns" on their belt buckles, were defeated by the TRULY chosen of God. Once again, it was God who proved that we were the chosen, the blessed and highly favored, the nation of God.
Our economy blossomed. The threat of the Soviet Union loomed large, along with the threat of utter annihilation through atomic war. Billy Graham, "America's Preacher", preached about the evils in America at his revivals. He did not address our corporate sins of greed that drove us to exploit many for cheap labor or abuses of power and injustice regarding our own citizens of color. He preached about individual salvation and sin - mostly sexual sins, use of drugs and alcohol and entertainment not fitting wholesomeness. People ate it up. Communism, an economic system, was addressed as evil and godless, while "Western culture" was God's culture. Capitalism was of God. Jesus loved Democracy and Capitalism and hated Socialism and Communism, clearly. Jesus loved the upper, middle-class, straight, white, Protestant, male dominated, Capitalist American Way of Life. Anything else was ungodly, un-American or uncivilized. He called for prayerful repentance to THAT vision of America in the face of the threat of destruction. Those things marked our morality.
This view of morality, that ignored greed, abuses of power and self-promotion but embraced all sexual "sins" was perfected during the period of the 80's that I call "The Desolating Sacrilege". This was marked by the Religious "Right"/"Moral" Majority of Jerry Falwell getting in bed with the Political "Right"/Laissez-Faire Capitalists of Ronald Reagan. They were a force to be reckoned with. The legislation of sexual morality became an issue, and the de-regulation of greedy business practices became mainstream. Greed was good. Sex was evil. God sanctioned it by providing a fine, upstanding "moral" man of God to work with America's Grandpa in the White House. The economic and political corruption that followed took the nation years to recover from, but still some harken back to those years and the 50's as "the good ole days". The middle class was gutted, the environment destroyed and wasted, the poor blamed for their victimization at the hands of the new robber barons, government was bought by corporations, liberals were vilified and everyone was blamed for the nation's decline except those who orchestrated it for their own profit, at the expense of the rest of the nation. But we finally beat the Russians, and people believed that God was pleased by all of this. 1981 to 1992, the "Desolating Sacrilege" was the duping of America into believing that laissez-faire Capitalism was Democracy, America's military might was God's tool and we were a "Christian" nation. Jesus is a Capitalist and favors Oligarchy. It was in this period that the church largely abandoned the plight of those living in the cities economically, and developed more fully a Theology of Prosperity and Church Growth that would go along with the Capitalistic American "Exceptionalism" of the day. Ignoring what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled in the Gospels,
our American Civil Religion came into its fullest expression. Anyone who was not a true believer in this was un-American, un-Christian and unacceptable.
The 2016 Campaigns have shown us the underlying racism, classism, homophobia, misogyny and religious intolerance of those who have fully embraced American Civil Religion. Their belief in white supremacy and God's favor on laissez-faire Capitalism and Oligarchy, the evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant faith, the superiority of men and the inherent morality of being straight have shown themselves time and time again. Those at the top of the economic ladder, mostly white and Protestant, have exploited the masses by pitting them against each other along these lines. The "Make American Great Again" crowds see themselves as trying to regain their dominance in a culture that has been moving toward ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, religious and economic justice and equality. The New Gilded Age has begun, with the new Robber Barons at the helm, gutting the power of organized labor and fighting the raising of wages for workers. The New Jim Crow has begun regarding our black and brown sisters and brothers, women of all ethnicities, our LGBT sisters and brothers and people of other faiths who have been gaining rights and safeguards from discrimination. Greed, abuses of Power and self-centeredness are no longer seen as immoral, but normal and sanctioned by God. Love outside of marriage, abortion, homosexuality, liberalism and the practice of other faiths are the only "moral" concerns of those blinded by this renewed faith in the God of America.
MY FEAR is that we are headed for another Great Depression. That is also MY HOPE.
It is not until these beliefs in God's blessing and favor of ruthlessness, intolerance and exploitation
out of our Greed, Lust for Power and Self-Indulgence are challenged that we will finally embrace a faith in Jesus' Good News of Agape Love (active commitment on behalf of the other) in Grace as Americans. Until we understand that God is the God of ALL PEOPLE and not just Americans or the wealthy or powerful, we will continue down this path of a people who "will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will accumulate for (our)selves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away into myths." II Timothy 4:3,4
It will be a GREAT PRICE to pay. I believe it is our only hope, along with people of sound faith and mind standing up and speaking up against words and actions that are anti-Christ. People are NOW being hurt in our own nation and across the world by our American Civil Religion, that had its origins 500+ years ago and has grown and been perfected over that time to benefit a few at the cost of the many. It is time, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, to stop this false belief and idolatry. Every Civil Religion practiced in world history has fallen. Israel fell. Rome fell AFTER making Christianity the religion of the Empire and adapting it to be an institution. The Holy Roman Empire fell. The 3rd Reich fell. Their versions of "the true faith" were false. American Civil Religion that elides a false vision of God, Country, Capitalism and Democracy that is more Oligarchy, white, straight, male dominated, Evangelical Fundamentalist Protestant as blessing and sanction to exclude, exploit, discriminate against, enslave, exterminate, hurt and marginalize all others in the world must go. It is time to recognize that it was not God who gave us this, but our ruthlessness in Greed, lust for Power and self-promotion through the subjugation of others that got us this. It is time to find a more loving, just, peaceful, gracious and inclusive way. It is time to follow Jesus' Way.
Toward that end... LIVE what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in the Good News.
Pastor Jamie
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