DEFEAT FASCISM

One observer of the American experience believed that the “… the main reason for the quiet sway of religion over [America] was the complete separation of church and state.” This was Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1800s.

A modern writer believes that the current instability of our government derives from the meddling of a powerful religious cult—right wing evangelicals—into politics. This author, Tim Alberta, examines the cult thoroughly in “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism."

The book details the movement of vast numbers of so-called “Christians” who moved their emphasis from spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to spreading the power of a political party. It was not the Democratic Party.

No, in fact Alberta points out that one of the results of the right-wing evangelicals was to make the Galilean the “mascot of the Republican Party.’

Another delicious observation rests on how the cult achieved “The Christianization of Donald Trump.”

That was the trick of all political tricks. It rested on the mythology of “the flawed messenger.” They are quick to use King David as an example citing that even though he sent his best friend to die in battle because he, King David, could hook up with his friend’s wife, he nonetheless became a famous religious icon.

We should overlook the flaws of one who achieves  the goals that we seek.

Oh, so that would apply to President Bill Clinton as well, considering his dalliance in office while balancing the national budget and reducing the national debt.

“Oh no,” the evangelicals cry,” the flawed messenger” tribute only applies to Donald Trump among our presidents. Others can go to hell.

This is not the first book written about “the scorched-earth spirituality” of modern evangelicals. What makes it different is that the author is, himself, a born again evangelical. He mourns about what the right wingers have done to his church, crediting them with doing more than any group in making some Americans distrust Christianity and others despise it.

America is not the only institution in danger these days.

Passions

 We don’t celebrate meekness in our culture these days. We celebrate assertiveness, except on occasion in children and always in women. Even in these cases, we don’t seek meekness as much as blind obedience. We prefer our men on the prideful side. Why then, did the Galilean place the following early in the Sermon on the Mount?

 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 Was he advocating legions of zombie-like followers, bland and obedient, willing, and malleable? Perhaps, instead, he realized that true meekness more closely resembled the reining in of a wild horse, a situation in which power, true power, was harnessed and passions lay under control, to be guided to some good end. Didn’t the law that he claimed to have come to fulfill already offer a guide? Proverbs 16:32 states "Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city."

 Well there we go. To be meek is not to be weak. Leave assertive bravado to those who would pattern their lives, and leadership, after a professional wrestling star on a television show. Leave obsession with greatness to actors, athletes, and politicians. The Galilean would tell his followers later, in Matthew 11:29. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (NIV) If that is not a call to meekness, what is?

Perhaps the Galilean realized that the power of restraining passions in favor of meekness lay in the effect that power might have when released while under control. Hence the lasting power of his own sermon on that lonely hill. Abraham Lincoln knew that. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that. The late John Lewis knew that. Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks knew it.,

 Their world struggled, still does, against the believers of pure power. At stake is not only the fate of our country, but likely the fate of the entire planet. The Galilean says that the meek shall inherit the earth. But will that earth be a charred, smoking ruble, or a new Garden of Eden? I think the Galilean left it up to his followers to decide. I think he left the gift of the Sermon on the Mount as a guide, hoping that some leader would, at some distant time, would hold it high while leading the world out of darkness.