"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." - 2 Timothy 3:1-2, 5 There really was a limitless array of verses I could have chosen to introduce this topic. But before I begin, let me say that the next few entries will tackle other subjects of some import to me than politics. The following writing is a good bridge between subjects, and it is one very important to me.
Most of my life has been spent in a loving, nurturing, Christian family; with good friends and a good community, it was an upbringing one could only hope for. Part of my experience growing up was to be deeply immersed in the sub-culture of Evangelicalism. Let me say at the outset that there are things about the Evangelical sub-culture that I admire, but there is one point especially that troubles me about modern Evangelicalism: the politicization of Faith. I could write for days on this subject, but I wish only to address one aspect of this disastrous tendency in modern Evangelicalism: this absurd assumption that President Bush and his administration are in any way “Christian.”
I understand that the campaign Public Relations machine produced hundreds of photos of Bush in prayer and speaking to Evangelical leaders. I also understand the Bush PR machine worked hard in 2000 to mobilize conservative Evangelical groups like Focus on the Family, though the results were not satisfactory to Karl Rove who declared there were at least four million evangelicals who didn’t vote in 2000, something he would remedy in 2004. [
For their part, Focus on the Family finally came out in force in 2004 in favor of the Bush campaign. I personally heard Dobson (during the Dobson Family Minute on my local Christian music radio station) call voters to go out and vote Republican (anti-gay, anti-abortion) with no mention of any other quality one should demand of a Presidential candidate. And why did Focus on the Family rise up in arms in 2004?
“ Officials inside Focus on the Family's public policy shop argued that they had been much less gung-ho about mobilizing evangelical voters in 2000 than in 2004 because candidate Bush was something of an unknown quantity; he promoted ‘compassionate conservatism’ and a ‘big tent’ GOP rather than play up antiabortion and antigay rights themes. ‘We didn't really know George Bush till he was inaugurated,’ said Focus on the Family public policy director Tom Minnery. ‘At that inauguration, he had Franklin Graham ... there were church hymns being sung. It was a Christian service was what it was.’” [ibed.]
Well, amen. So I guess the trappings of Evangelical Christianity is all it takes in the modern world to bring out millions of Christian/”Family Values”/”The Moral Vote” voters in favor of God’s very own candidate, George W. Bush. Does it matter that Bush didn’t touch either of the “Moral Vote” issues his first four years? Despite a blank check congress, Bush didn’t touch either of those issues. So how can we possibly address whether Bush (his PR campaign aside) acted even remotely Christ-like? Well, I may be a bit biased, but I'd like to think that when it comes to determining whether something is Christ-like or not, the Bible is a good place to start.
“Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. (Proverbs 20:11-12)
Let us then look and hear. The Bible explicitly condemns homosexuality in three places (Leviticus
I know how thorough the sub-culture of Evangelicalism can be, but it takes only a moment to look at the last six years of the Bush administration to see that Bush has made the wealthy far wealthier and the poor far poorer. He has embraced a policy of foolish pride since his first days in office, pride that has led to disasters of all kinds. He has started two major wars that have led to thousands upon thousands of deaths (only one of those wars is even remotely “just” by any standard). He nurtures incompetence, zero accountability amongst leaders, policies of deceit against the population he serves, and championing policies and lifestyles of ignorance, fear, and hatred of those who are different. He mocks those who seek peace and abuses horribly those who are truly helpless, enemies though they may be. If Christ were immersed in his mission today, he would most certainly be labeled by the Bush machine as anti-American, pro-terrorist, anti-troops, and weak-willed. Despite all this effort given to war mongering, perhaps Bush would reserve some effort to aid the helpless, give relief to the poor, care for the widows, etc. Well, Hurricane Katrina and Walter Reed sure cleared that up for us.
Again, I could write for days citing well-acknowledged cases of Bush’s actions clearly making him the least Christ-like president I’ve ever heard of. Rather than waste time doing that, I'd like to finish with a remark or two concerning the "moral vote." It amazes me that the PR whitewash by groups like Dr. Dobson’s can embrace such false Christianity and rally those people who only seek to do God’s will behind this truly puzzling “Moral Vote,” while what the Bible actually has to say is going largely ignored by the “Christian Right.” The reason for my passion in this writing is that I am a Christian, and it saddens me to think that the majority of the world now thinks of Christianity as this absurd parody of the Faith that is trumpeted by groups like Focus on the Family when it comes to politics.
Only a week ago I was speaking with a co-worker (who happened to belong to the Assemblies of God denomination) who learned that I was a Christian. He said with a conspiratorial wink, “Then can I safely assume that you’re a Republican?” I said I wasn’t specifically a member of any political party, so he went on, “But you’re looking for a good, moral, Christian man to be the next president, right?” The emphasis was on the word moral, and I knew exactly what he meant by it. I can’t tell you how sad it made me that he thought of Christianity in terms of depriving homosexual Americans of legal rights and projecting an opinion against abortion but having absolutely no intention of doing anything about it. That, apparently, is the "moral vote" he and others have been duped into supporting based on their faith.
I have often had occasion in the past to wonder why Republicans never actually do anything in terms of “family values” unless it is guaranteed to fail and the G.O.P. needs to energize its base. For all its lip service, why does the G.O.P. , Bush in particular, never actually do a thing about homosexuality/abortion? I think the answer is quite simple. If Roe v. Wade were overturned or legislated into irrelevance, and if homosexual marriage were banned under the constitution, then the Republicans would lose the “moral vote.” They would actually have to look at real moral issues; issues Jesus truly cared about. Suddenly making the rich richer and the poor poorer would be at the forefront. Destroying the environment that we are stewards of in the name of making more money might be frowned upon. One might be forced to ask some tough questions about how the lone superpower in the world should act in the face of terrorism. The danger is that the “moral vote” might actually become a moral vote. And there is no way this modern "form of godliness" could stand up to that standard.
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