Indecent Exposure

Christian "values" no longer have a place in our government

I’ve been revising and revising this post for weeks because I know how the Republican party has weaponized a “they’re coming after you” call to battle among Christians, and Christianity has a sordid history of extreme violence when they’re not getting their way. I kept thinking I should soften my approach, but as I have observed the enthusiasm of Christians stampeding to embrace the cruelest positions on abortion, LGBTQ issues, immigration and fellow citizens who happen to have different viewpoints I can’t restrain myself. I am not a “person of faith,” whatever that’s really means these days, but I know what Christianity is supposed to be and this is not “it.” I think 2024 is the perfect time for our country to take an objective look at this relationship between Christianity and the United States of America.

Christianity enjoys a prominent and dominant place in our society, and that’s been the story in varying degrees for our entire history. But the extent to which Christianity has infused our government should have been a concern from the beginning. Leaning on the adage that it’s never too late, shouldn’t we all ask ourselves now, particularly in light of this recent decade, why this one religion has constantly pushed and tunneled to insert itself into controlling the subject and scope of government policies and functions here in the United States of America? The 1st Amendment to the constitution, after all, explicitly forbids Congress from prohibiting the “free exercise” of Christianity, making this country a perfectly “safe place” for Christian religious practices. And like every other constitutional right, this “freedom of religion” is restricted only by a limitation not to infringe upon the constitutional rights of others. So, if Christians are free to observe and practice their religion openly with virtually no limitation then the only logical answer to my question about its pressing desire to control government policies and functions is that Christianity is unwilling to extend the “free exercise” freedom to those who do not wish to observe or accept Christian doctrine. Christianity consistently stands, in other words, in opposition to the secular government established by our constitution. Notably, the false claim that this country was established as a “Christian” nation is the very sand upon which Christians build their eternal push to dominate every issue.

The doorway to freedom has really never swung both directions for Christianity, and our government has always been saturated with Christian influences like “blue laws” forbidding free business practices on the Christian sabbath (Sunday) or Christian holidays (Easter). But it’s obviously never been enough, and the past decade’s mix between Christianity and radical Republican politics should have us questioning this long-time cozy relationship between our government and this particular religion’s favored status. The defense for Christianity in government has always fallen back on the fuzzy concept of Christian “values” and that maybe doesn’t seem so bad in the abstract where “peace on earth and goodwill to men” is a favored saying and the compassionate teachings of Jesus is the ultimate focus. But how is that working in practice? What intrinsic value has this special treatment of Christianity and its franchised “values” added in practical terms to our collective society?

How about this extremely important one? The United States is a world leader in science research, science innovation and science education, but Christian “values” since at least the days of Galileo have consistently collided with the advancement of science and today in the United States of America is no different. There are few better examples than the abortion-related “life begins at conception” Christian “value” which will result in misery and unnecessary deaths of Christian and non-Christian women, is not consistent with the views of other religions, is currently sparking efforts to ban even contraception and most importantly for this discussion, is a scientific absurdity. It is literally equivalent to saying an apple seed is actually an apple tree. Anti-science Christian “values” in today’s cultural environment also contributed to excess COVID deaths and are the source of untold misery for LGBTQ individuals every day. Christian “values” clearly have added no practical value to this very important American focus on science — the opposite is, in fact, true.

But I find Christians don’t really like to talk about those “worldly” things — science, economics, civic responsibilities, justice. Instead, they would argue that the “real” positive and practical contribution of Christian “values” in our society would be in influencing the less tangible tenets of an open and free democracy — honesty, empathy, civility, fairness, inclusion, ethics, acceptance, peace — in short, morality. That’s always been a good story, and is, in fact, how Christian “values” have managed to permeate our government — as a guide to morality. So now what?

Like it or not, Christianity’s embrace of Donald Trump and the Republican party has exposed the ugly underbelly of both. If Christians themselves are willing to embrace Donald Trump, who is a consummate liar, a life-long cheat, an adulterer, a molester, a convicted felon, tried to overthrow a free and fair election with lies, is completely surrounded by criminal facilitators and is constantly spewing hatred and violence against innocents — and a sizable portion of Christians are all in considering more than 60% support his reelection — doesn’t that show for all to see that Christian “values” as a guide to morality is just a long-running scam angling for more power? Even a most basic “value” — truth — is rejected outright with most Christians willing to wager their moral credibility on a life-long con man and an adjudicated- libelous media company about the 2020 “stolen” election against any of thousands of actually credible and easy-to-find sources of truth on this issue. It seems Christian “values” are extraordinarily elastic when the opportunity to impose their most radical ideas even more forcefully is within reach.

It’s impossible to say whether this collapsed Republican Party has corrupted Christianity, or a perverted, power-hungry Christianity is finally sinking the once respected Republican ship. It doesn’t really matter except one might have expected Christians to be slightly more resistant to worshiping two starkly different messiahs at the same time. Either way, history will eventually brutalize this Gordian knot (or hangman’s noose) welding together underhanded Republican politics with some heavily edited version of Jesus, and the only remaining question in 2024 as these two institutions sink lower and lower is how much damage will be done to the rest of us, and to our system of government, before this road runs out. And when the “faithful” self-justify their rabid hatred by claiming that those of a different opinion are literally demons all bets are off as to how this will end.

Given that our historical assumptions about the societal benefit of Christian “values” have crashed and burned, should the rest of us continue to passively allow Christain “values” to infiltrate even a single one of our society’s many standards and laws? Why this “in God we trust” mumbo jumbo, or the “one nation under God” thing, both of which were pushed into our society by Christianity politics in the 1950’s by the way? Why should being a man or woman “of faith” automatically be seen as a positive attribute anymore? Could anyone now actually believe that uttering “so help me God” in an oath accurately predicts fealty to truthfulness or morality or constitutional principles after what we’ve seen from Republican politicians, most of the Supreme Court Justices and prominent Christian leaders over the past decade? Who could possibly put any faith in a “Christian” plan for morals and ethics in trying to maintain a peaceful and prosperous society in this third decade of the 21st century?

Is it possible that Christianity’s constant push to conform others to its political positions is leading people to reject Christianity altogether?

I am, of course, painting Christianity with a “broad brush” since polling leaves something around 40% of Christians who have not fallen into the Trump cult. But so what? This is not persecution or anti-Christian. All I’m saying Christianity should be treated like every other religion. It’s clear at this point that our society has been hypnotized over many decades into accepting that Christian “values” are a suitable set of standards in the realm of ethics and morality in government. We fooled ourselves into thinking Christianity in toto would go to great lengths to protect the image of Jesus and exercise great caution in their political decisions to preserve the credibility of their eternal message. We have been strikingly wrong. Now, in this third decade of the 21st century too many Christians are showing us that they cannot be trusted to walk their own talk — that walk they seek to force on everyone else, by the way. Their “system” of thought is apparently incapable of resisting the lure of absolute power, and they have proved perfectly willing to abandon their own standards when absolute power seems in reach, fabricating intricate and fantastical excuses to justify their monumental hypocrisy. The short version is that anything justifies the opportunity to impose “our” moral standards on everyone — making the country “Godlier” one hypocrisy at a time.

Christianity has benefited from centuries of dominance for morality- setting in our society through government favoritism, but any credibility as an arbiter of morality is gone in my view. Christians will always be free in this country to practice their religion with the same limitations binding us all, but there is no compelling reason the rest of us should accept that an organized system promoting cruelty, lies, cowardice and hate is worthy of setting the standard. When one sets oneself up as the mediator of all things moral it’s a long “fall from grace.” It may be a sad story for Christianity, but our country and our citizens deserve a better moral compass than this — any alternative option could hardly be worse.