Baptist News Global: False Prophets Have Hijacked Evangelical Christianity in America
For those who have avoided entanglement with the religious right, or the Evangelical right, as it has become known in its merger with extreme right wing politics, it might be a good idea to get informed about who these people are, what they believe and what in particular drives their attraction to a politician and leader who exhibits absolutely no characteristics of their faith at all, nor any real interest in its beliefs, beyond how he can use them to get votes. I've been criticized by friends and acquaintances I've tried to educate on this subject for calling them "dangerous," and implying that they are capable of more than just benign, intellectual disruption.
But let me tell you, they are dangerous. I was raised in an Evangelical church in which the preaching was driven more by personal prejudices and cultural influences than it was by any biblical text. From the earliest memories I have in church to the time I graduated from high school and went off to college, our church only had one pastor who had earned a college degree, and he was a part time pastor and full time high school teacher. The contrast between what I learned in the university's theology classes that were required for graduation at the denominationally-related school I attended was mind boggling. It wound up causing an entire deconstruction of what I believed, and it made me unwelcome anywhere in the church when I went back home. I had become, in their eyes, an educated liberal.
Had I been able to see where all of this was headed, I'd have taken the exit ramp from that whole branch of American Christianity back in 1989, when I finished my first graduate degree. But there were places to "hide," I guess, including being fortunate enough to find and join a theologically liberal church that took Christianity seriously, and integrated the practice of its values and virtues into congregational life. As a results, the overwhelming majority of the congregation were Democrats, including a member of Congress, a local county supervisor, and a former governor. It was a Southern Baptist church that had welcomed black and Hispanic members for most of is more than 100 years of existence, and was one of the first to ordain and call women to the ministry, long before even some of the more liberal Mainline denominations did. It thrived, as a result.
The church itself took the exit ramp out of affiliation with the denomination, shedding any potential identification with conservative Evangelicalism, in the late 1990's. But it's still a vibrant, growing congregation, with a pastor who identifies with the progressive left wing of the Democratic party. That's a byproduct of its commitment to the Christian gospel, unlike the cult that most conservative Evangelicals have become with their worship of money and power.
We're not a threat to progressive liberalism, we are progressive liberals. It was Baptists, and other Christians, in this same tradition, back in the late 1700's who championed religious liberty, along with the principle of the "free church in the free state," and influenced the founding fathers, particularly Jefferson and Madison, convincing them to include the establishment clause in the first amendment, setting both church and state free from each other's control. Our freedom of conscience, our ability to worship as we choose, and to function as the Christian church is protected by American constitutional democracy, and we will fight to protect those things.
We're not going back, either.
Give Some Thought to What a "Christian Nationalist" America Would Look Like
Oklahoma School Superintendent Announces "Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism"
Prohibition made its way into the United States Constitution in the form of the 18th Amendment, ratified in 1920, just after the First World War. It lasted 13 years, was one of the most difficult restrictions to enforce, and literally created an entirely new criminal class that wouldn't ever have existed, had it not been for this ridiculous intrusion into personal liberty, based on the premise that America was founded as a Christian nation, and that somehow the consumption of alcohol represented sinful rebellion against it. The Women's Christian Temperance Union, organized in 1874, was primarily responsible for the 18th Amendment.
That's where we are now headed, with the blending of conservative, fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christianity with the extremism of right wing politics. The Heritage Foundation is the modern day Women's Christian Temperance Union, and it aims to reform the Constitution in a way that imposes its own version of Christian faith and practice.
Christians in America have been as free as any in the world, at virtually any time and place in human history, to practice their faith as they see fit, and to become its evangelists, with the goal of "winning souls to Christ." There is no point or place in the history of the Christian church where it has enjoyed anywhere close to this level of virtually unrestricted freedom. If not a "Christian nation" in the sense that the authority of the state compels Christian faith and worship among the population, there is no other place in the world where Christianity has had such a pervasive influence over the culture and society of a nation as in the United States.
It is, in fact, the pervasive influence of Christianity in America that is largely responsible for the inherent social problems which exist, which conservative Christians blame on the influence of progressive liberalism. Collectively, even though the atmosphere of complete freedom the Christian church in America has enjoyed led to its splitting and splintering into a myriad of denominational clusters and groupings, all centered around the idea that each specific group thinks it is more privileged by God and more "chosen" or "elect" because of some distinctive doctrine or theological point they've come up with, Christianity exerted far more influence over all aspects of American culture, politics, social behavior, business practices, and education, than any other cultural influence.
As long as this pervasive influence was felt in American culture, and in some cases enforced by law, such as required prayer and Bible teaching in public schools, invocations at school events and school baccalaureate services prior to graduation, blue laws that prohibited some kinds of businesses from being open on Sunday, and restricted the sale of alcohol, along with a lot of blurred lines between church and state that permitted tax dollars to find their way into church budgets, and virtually no restrictions placed on the ability of churches and church organizations to evangelize or "proselytize," the push for Christian nationalism wasn't part of our politics. It's only been since the steady decline in church membership and attendance which began with mainline Protestants back in the 1960's, and which has now caught up to the less educated, more conservative groups which use a literal interpretation of the Bible, the fundamentalists, who are legalists, and the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, steeped in mysticism, that the movement toward Christian nationalism has revived.
These people believe that the prosperity and peace of the United States is directly affected by the collective "morality" of the nation, and if we get to the point to where we have more sinners than saints, making us do "worldly" things as a nation, such as give rights to LGBTQ persons, or allow abortions, then God will judge this country and remove its prosperity as a blessing.
I'm serious. That is, in a nutshell, what we are looking at with these people. The test of righteousness is shutting down a measurable amount of immorality in order to get back into God's good graces so he keeps the money streaming along, feeding our prosperity.
They have a very distorted view of the Christian gospel. They see themselves as agents of God's righteousness, and are not adverse to ignoring what Jesus claimed are the very core values of the Christian gospel to achieve a very different end. They no longer see non-Christians as "lost people" in need of saving redemption, they see them as enemies of God deserving of death. They believe people who are not intently committed to Christianity are reprobate, chosen by God for damnation, and unworthy of life.
I've told friends of mine for decades now that if the United States ever had a dictatorship in which Evangelical conservatives were determined to have a prominent role, they would be as merciless and brutal in their attacks on and elimination of their perceived enemies as the church of the middle ages was in pursuing and burning heretics at the stake. It's time to pay attention to "Seven Mountains Dominionists" and the kind of rhetoric being thrown around by people proclaiming themselves to be prophets and prophetesses. They subvert the Christian gospel by claiming that their words are a new revelation, replacing that which was preached and taught by Jesus, that what Jesus said then, pertained to that generation then, and what they say now pertains to this generation now. And they see their mission and purification of the world which makes them more than willing to murder to achieve their purpose.
But don't take just my word for it. The Oklahoma state school superintendent is giving a good primer in what's coming. The Women's Christian Temperance Union showed how religious intimidation worked. Today's Charismatic prophets and Fundamentalist legalists are angrier and more full of hate. I'm just saying, we better be ready.
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