Saturday, June 8, 2013

What does it mean to be Christian in America? Or what it shouldn't mean?

The Not-So-Lofty Origins of the Evangelical Pro-Life Movement


[W]hat galvanized the Christian community was not abortion, school prayer, or the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment]. I am living witness to that because I was trying to get those people interested in those issues and I utterly failed. What changed their minds was Jimmy Carter’s intervention against the Christian schools, trying to deny them tax-exempt status on the basis of so-called de facto segregation.
In other words, as Randall Balmer has succinctly put it: “the religious right of the late twentieth century organized to perpetuate racial discrimination.”
As I write this we citizens of the United States of America live in a country that has nurtured and sheltered the growth of religion within its borders. We have done so - despite the lies coming out of social conservative noise-makers - with what has become a constitutional mandate to keep state and religion separated; to keep both out of each other's way.

As I write this I’m aware that many religious politicians have spoken about tearing down the traditional wall of separation of church and state. Such a movement of itself is constitutionally part of the rights of citizens who desire to advocate for legal and governmental change.

Advocating for change and reform is part of what it means to be American, like baseball, apple pie and Mom.

Seriously considering change and reform must include a sense of what “being American” really means.

In the absence of civic passion, do we not passively allow our society to slide toward being told by others the correct answer to “What does it mean to be Christian in America?”

For me being an American Christian equates to believing in Jesus as the founder of a global religion that has become the predominant spiritual philosophy in this country.

Furthermore, Christianity as a global religion is essentially the consequence a historical religious imperialism that proved to be - much more than philosophical conversion - the most successful force behind its growth.

We then are either spectators of or participants in a conflict in this country about what a Holy (or Wholly) American Christian identity really means to its citizens.

What being Christian in America ought to mean …

If we follow Jesus do we not follow the ultimate portrayer of human goodness? Ought we not follow Him who taught love of God and each other and who taught that compassion and understanding are the highest spiritual virtues to be sought?

Jesus tells us to love and be concerned about the poor, the suffering, and the weary. Jesus encourages us to learn and practice compassion.

However, in America, conservative Christian celebrities seem to be telling us that such is not as important as other things:

-Being seriously frightened by the threat of having our children indoctrinated in the homosexual agenda and lifestyle by human beings who are different from us and are "evil" while we are "good."

-Being more concerned about a plot by judges to assault our right to publicly acknowledge God.

-Being outraged by media slander of Christians which is in reality a media slander falsely portrayed and exaggerated by slanderous and agitating right wing celebrities.

-Being disgusted by Hollywood attacks on Judeo-Christian ethics which are supposedly distinctly separate from common sense ethics, personal morality and sense of goodness - thereby inferior to conservative Christian values for the rest of us.

-Being very worried that America is experiencing the imaginary lifting of God’s hand of protection and the imposing of His judgment on the nation most responsible for endangering the land and people of Israel.

Conservative Christian political activists express this in a form that assumes that we all - like they - have glibly accepted the notion that America is special above all other peoples;

- that God has maintained some sort of holy curtain of protection from natural and man-made disasters and attacks in our less recent history because of our supposed holiness;

- that America has enjoyed some vague status in the eyes of God as an especially chosen people and nation more worthy than the rest of the world.

-Being “fearful” of God in a way that recognizes God’s capacity for wrath and punishment to those who stray, backslide and slip into immorality. The God of the Christian political conservatives is perfectly capable of destroying the innocent with the guilty as evidenced during the 9/11 attacks and the godly fist of Katrina where God expressed His displeasure with an entire city that has supposedly mocked Him for too long.

This is the stuff of which an American Christian separation from global Christianity is made.

You tell me, gentle readers. What does it mean to you to be Christian in America at this time in our history?

Although many Christians are not actively and outwardly religious except perhaps on rare Sundays, special holidays or family events, there are millions who sit in congregations and outwardly celebrate their religion in a spirit of worship and fellowship every week. Yet many of these do not cross the line into the politics-and-religion discourse.

They are content in their lives but are they content with what they are told from the pulpit or see and hear on television and radio?

The citizens of this country hold the power to impact the political and spiritual direction in the U.S. and the time is coming when it will be unavoidably necessary to willfully and powerfully express themselves as to what being Christian in America really means.

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