The politics of religion

“I just now came back from a visit with my pastor. Bottom line, which Pastor Joanie nailed, is that those folks read the Bible as fact….literal, inerrant and infallible. We read the Bible as evolving truth awaiting to be discovered in the pages. It is the “living Word”. It is the compassion and the passion of Jesus in print. I am again comfortable with the label Christian because I know we are all broken. The difference is that you and I are looking to be fixed. They (Roy Moore and advocates) want to legislate their intolerance and hatred because they are not willing to evolve to the predestined enlightenment of humanity as presented by all the great religions.” – Larry Paul Brown

In Marcus J. Borg’s book, Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most he writes that “the Bible is a human product: it tells us how our religious ancestors saw things, not how God sees things.” Or put another way by the wise sage Larry Paul Brown, “We read the Bible as evolving truth awaiting to be discovered in the pages.”

I am not one of the brethren who believes the Bible is the infallible word of God. I know enough about the Bible’s history to know that it has been stained by the fingertips and edits of man. Pomp men. Egotistical men. Selfish and greedy men. And sadly, even today, centuries later, the human interpretation of this supposed flawless document continues to be blemished by institutions composed of pomp, egotistical and selfish and greedy men.

The Christian community and more specifically the Evangelical Christian community has themselves in a real damned if you, damned if you don’t pickle right now. You see they have chosen a man to lead them that does not embody their core beliefs, a man who represents everything they find revolting and unholy in their King James version of the world. A man who worships the idols of this earthly world. A man filled with pride, spite and hate but he is the star they have hooked their wagon too and when he implodes, which he will, how will that justify their decision? With a Supreme Court pick?

It is a safe bet that men like Donald Trump and Roy Moore will be instrumental in the continuing decline of the white evangelical population. Certainly there will be those that dig their aging and arthritic heels in but they won’t be able to escape the national glare their actions and words have focused on their archaic system of beliefs. Add to the equation the demographic changes this country is experiencing, as well as religious disaffiliation among younger adults who find themselves at odds with conservative Christian churches on issues like climate change and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and we may well find that, like Donald Trump, the Evangelical movement was but a sad footnote in our political and social history.

“The political vision of the religious right is for the most part an individualistic politics of righteousness, not a communal politics of compassion.” –  Marcus J. Borg