Christianity is Not a Tool for Achieving Political Ends

But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Matthew 6:33, NRSV

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  Matthew 28:18-20, NRSV

The Christian church experienced some of its greatest periods of persecution between the reigns of the Roman emperors Nero and Constantine.  Steadfast in their obedience to the instructions of both Paul and Peter, they did not rebel or turn violently against their persecutors, choosing death over denying their faith in Christ.  The emperors, who, from the time of Nero, demanded to be worshipped as if they were a god, saw the Christian refusal to do so as an act of disloyalty against the empire, and intended to wipe the Christian church out completely by murdering all of its adherents.  

But the persecution, which was as severe and cruel as anything the Roman Empire ever committed, had exactly the opposite effect.  Rather than wiping out the church and depleting its membership, the steadfastness and obedience of Christians to the instruction of the apostles, even in the face of martyrdom, had the effect of convincing their pagan neighbors of the veracity of their beliefs and of the existence of God as revealed by Christian practice.  And so, when Constantine came on the scene, after over 250 years of persecution of the church, Christianity had become the predominant religion in the empire, with literally thousands of churches scattered in virtually every province, including a large and very strong church in Rome itself.  

A Paradigm Shift

Constantine's conversion to Christianity is an enigma.  Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, records the vision Constantine claimed to have as he was struggling militarily to gain control of the Roman armies and the empire.  Clearly, he had been exposed to Christianity, and was influenced by the resilience of Christian faith against severe persecution.  Seeing this in terms of being some kind of power which he could appropriate to his military advantage, he claims to have had a mid-day vision, as he was reaching out to a God he didn't know, of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, bearing the inscription "By this symbol you will conquer."  

That's where the paradigm shift occurred.  Constantine's conversion brought about the sudden end to the persecution of Christians.  It also brought about the end of one of the greatest periods of evangelism in the history of Christianity.  Almost as quickly as the persecution ended, the infiltration of pagan influences began as the Christian church, heavily influenced by Constantine's power, entered into an alliance with the political state, and in short order, the gospel of Jesus Christ was overwhelmed by worldly power and pagan influence.  

Not only did the political authority surrounding Constantine overwhelm the church, but he poured personal wealth, and resources acquired by the empire, into the churches.  The combination of this new found wealth, and the power of the Emperor himself completely changed the character of the church.  Its theology and doctrine were changed to be compatible with things Constantine believed and practiced, large, ornate church structures were constructed, replacing the house churches where most Christians once worshipped, and large numbers of pagans were brought into church membership and leadership of the church who had never experienced genuine spiritual transformation and conversion, and the church became a tool for achieving the emperor's political and military ends.  

The sign that Constantine claimed to have seen in the heavens could not have come from the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Conquest by the sign of the cross is diametrically opposed to Christian theology.  Being a peacemaker is one of the primary virtues of the Christian faith. There are those who believe that his vision was a hallucination, the product of the emotional and physical state he was in at the time.  Or, as others speculate, a deception designed to gain the loyalty of the church's leaders and the power he perceived them to have in order to solidify his own emperorship.  

What Jesus and the Apostles preached and taught was a faith dependent on spiritual transformation and aimed at redeeming the virtues and value of human life.  What Constantine saw was an institution that could be used to achieve his own political ends.  He took control of it and turned it into what he wanted it to be.  And it didn't take very long for it to become something very different than what Jesus Christ planned, or imagined it could be.  For over a thousand years, Christians who practiced their faith separate from the dictates of the Roman emperor, Byzantium and what became an institutional, state church had to do so underground, to avoid continued persecution by the state and its allies in the church which it controlled.

American Religious Liberty was a "Second Chance"

There are a lot of parallels in those historical events to what has happened to the Christian church multiple times as it has struggled to free itself from political influence and use of its influence to achieve political goals.  Attempts to reform itself and return to what Christ intended for it to be rarely met with much success. Until the Protestant Reformation, there were very few opportunities or places for the church to escape the political control under which it had endured since Constantine.  The Reformation gave some Christians a taste of religious liberty, but provided few actual opportunities to experience it.  

"A free church in a free state" was the result of American constitutional religious liberty.  There was no state church, and churches were not dependent on the state for financial support or for filling their pews with people required to be there by law.  As a result, the church entered into another period of virtually unprecedented evangelistic activity.  But, as Christianity became the overwhelmingly predominant religious expression in the United States, it also became the recipient of favors, exceptions to the establishment clause and in some places, a dominant force that could not resist becoming engaged in politics.  And when Christians push their churches to side with partisan politics, it subverts its mission and purpose and waters down the content of the gospel to the point where principles of faith become indistinguishable from political agendas, or they get pushed aside altogether. 

The Evangelical branch of the Christian church in America has been undergoing a decline in participation, attendance and membership that is unprecedented in its history.  It's difficult not to notice that this decline, which is getting worse every year, coincides with the increased involvement of many of the members and leaders of churches and denominations in right wing politics.  And it's easy to see why.  The Christian gospel is politicized in sermons, books, conferences and rallies, distorted beyond recognition.  People are leaving because of this.  

Christianity is a Faith Experience, Not Something Which Can Be Mandated or Enforced by Law

Christian faith loses its essence and meaning if it becomes nothing more than obedience to a set of commands out of fear of punishment. It requires spiritual conviction in order to be brought to confessing Jesus as the Christ.  And it also requires spiritual conviction to exhibit the virtues of Christian faith as a lifestyle.  Those things can't be enforced either by threats of violence, military power or coercion.  They must be willingly accepted and genuinely practiced.  

There is no "faith" in a religion dependent on political power to enforce its tenets.  Jesus made it very clear that he was the promised Messiah, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy and law, and that meant that he was not going to somehow miraculously restore the military might of ancient Israel to overthrow Roman rule and set up another earthly, theocratic kingdom.  The "kingdom" he was establishing was the Christian church, a faith which transcended worldly, temporal politics and all of the prejudices and hatreds that were part of that way of life, and which would be based on God's love for his human creation and his plan for its redemption.  

What we are seeing, on the political right in America, is the development of another gospel, one which perverts the Christian gospel and by its actions and intentions, flatly denies everything that Jesus said and did.  The Christian gospel rests on virtues that are brought about by the presence of God's spirit, motivated by gratitude for the grace which brings about spiritual transformation.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness sake and because they have chosen to follow Christ," said Jesus, at the beginning of a passage known as "The Sermon on the Mount."  Those are virtues of Christian faith.  And--this isn't judgment, it's observation--I see none of that in the far right politics of Trumpism and Christian Nationalism.  

"God is love," said the Apostle John in his epistle to the church, "and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them."

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.  Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen.  The commandment we have from him is this:  those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."  (Selected passages from I John 4, NRSV)

White, Christian nationalism, at the intersection with Trumpism, is anti-Christian, denying the purpose that Jesus had for his church, denying the gospel, and promoting hate.  

"I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and you know that no lie comes from the truth.  Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son."  I John 2:21-22 NRSV 

Well I think that says enough.  Turning Christianity into a political faction to achieve the ends of right wing politics is a denial of Christ and a subversion of the Christian faith that he established.