Conservative Faith Can Never Bring Peace

"'People kill for money or for power,' DeMello's Holy One teaches. 'But the most ruthless murderers are those who kill for their ideas.' It is not belief that causes war, it is believers who refuse to allow others to hold ideas other than their own." - Joan Chittister

This is why when you look through history, there are not examples of successful conservative religious societies.  They cannot tolerate other religions.  There is no peaceful coexistence.  Even if all are converted to the same faith, the orthodox will discover heretics.  Conservative religion despises, yet needs, the 'other'.

In my last years as a Christian, I had taken to announcing questions and conclusions I was coming to regarding my faith.  On one occasion, I got a retort on FB from one of my pastors.

Me: I believe Christianity competes with other religions, and that is a mistake.

Pastor:  REALLY? Jesus said, “go and make disciples of every nation.” Guess what his disciples did. They went out and made disciples of Jews, Gentiles, Idol worshippers, and people of all religions. That’s not competition, that’s obedience to Jesus. We Christians still follow Jesus’ commands, whether you think that is a mistake or not.

Our church was not a particularly heavy-handed conservative fellowship but showing an aversion to conversion was enough to categorize me outside the faith.  

There is no peace in conservative faith while unbelievers and folks of other religions remain.  Presently, "obedience to Jesus" when converting others is not violent but it has not always been so.  We can look around the world at conservative religions and see that they don't play well with others.  

I don't suspect America's conservative faithful would fare any better should they acquire real power.  Remember this, moderate believer, when you assume that voting for a conservative Christian is a good thing.  History and present-day global examples tell us otherwise.  There are legions of Christians in America who would use the force of law to make you obedient to their vision of 'Jesus'.

Playing the Odds

"Never tell me the odds." ~ Han Solo

Lots of our positions on issues are based on anecdotes.  This or that happened to myself or a friend... and therefore I feel such and so.

Someone demonstrated this on a Facebook post of mine recently.  What I and an article I posted said negatively regarding Evangelicals wasn't true because... he knows Evangelicals who aren't that way.  Of course, if most Evangelicals were like the ones he knows... we wouldn't have Trump.

I don't own a gun.  A gun enthusiast friend of mine told me, "If someone breaks into your house, you are gonna wish you had a gun!"

He's right.  In such a moment, I will wish I had a gun.

But that does change the reality of the odds... therefore, it does not change my decision regarding gun ownership.  The odds say that a gun in my home will hurt or kill an innocent person loooong before it ever protects me from a criminal.

If someone tells me, "I will give you a thousand dollars if you roll 1-4 on a die or I will give you a thousand for a 5-6 roll, but you can only choose one option" - I would choose the 1-4.  Yes, if I roll a six I will have a pang of regret.  But, given another opportunity, I would still choose the 1-4.  Someone telling me that when they rolled they got a 5 would not change my decision.

Humans often ignore hard math due to anecdotes.  This is a bug, not a feature.

The Triggers Triggered Me

I recently left a Facebook group.

I am in a few on various topics.

This one was about having deconverted from Evangelicalism.

This group was highly into trigger warnings. Lots of posts were just listing the triggers... and then what the post actually was about was nested down in the comments... which usually had to be sifted through to find the original post.

Anyway, after having been scolded a 2nd time for not having the proper trigger warnings listed for what I wanted to talk about... I just decided I was too lazy and this was too much work. So I left.

Not one of those big dramatic leavings where you post about all the reasons you are leaving and give everyone a piece of your mind.

I just clicked the button.

I enjoyed hearing people's exit stories and I like talking about similar experiences in some of the crazy church life that we all lived through.

But...

My goal has always been to make that stuff a memory. Something to talk about... that happened in the past. Get a good laugh and an eyeroll.

However, I started to notice that a lot of people like to keep this stuff present. If some believer isn't being overtly insensitive, they will contrive ways to imagine they were insensitive. Their identity is caught up in the trama that they experienced. They almost don't seem to want to make it their past.

Which is where some people are at... and you do what you need... but it isn't where I am at.

I am a walking trigger. I want to talk about everything and anything. And I am old now, so if I have to list all the topics I want to talk about before I talk about them and then scroll down and put my funny meme in the comments section... that is just too much for me to keep straight... so I am going to go talk somewhere else now.

Why Empathy Will Not Work

A good number of people were surprised at the lack of feeling many Americans seemed to have regarding ripping children from their mother’s arms at the border.  Some felt this maneuver by Trump and his administration would finally activate the empathy of their fellow citizens.

I knew it would do no such thing.

I regularly hear pundits talk about our need for conversation with those with whom we disagree.  We need to hear them.  We need to find common ground.

Nice sentiments.  Reasonable sentiments.

But it won’t work.

The bulk of Trump support comes from Christian Evangelicals… and people who have never traveled in those circles cannot imagine how far gone these folks really are.

Because people hear the word Christian before Evangelical, they assume Evangelicals have at least some concern for the poor, the downtrodden, the outcast.

That assumption is wrong.

I spent most of my life as an Evangelical.  Evangelicals have one goal… turn them into us.  Everything is about conversion.

Jesus went to the poor, downtrodden, and the outcast because they were poor, downtrodden, and outcast.  Evangelicals go there because they are the easiest to convert.

Behind every bit of Evangelical help is a sales pitch.  And the pictures taken while helping play great at fundraisers.

But surely, they must have some empathy.  How can any mother watch children ripped from their parents and not feel something?

Again, we are dealing with Evangelicals.  They are taught that everyone outside their group is an enemy.  Enemies who deserve what is coming to them.

I was on a thread at John Piper’s Facebook page.  He is a prominent conservative evangelical preacher and author.  There was a debate going on about John Piper’s comment that if his kids turned from God, God would be justified in sending them to Hell.

One woman in the conversation said (I paraphrase from memory),

“My son became an atheist.  He has this life to turn back to Jesus.  I don’t resent God if He sends my son to Hell, I blame my son for leaving God!”

When pressed further on this point, she said,

“On the day God condemns my son to Hell, I will stand up and declare God righteous in His judgment!”

Don’t be surprised if you can’t get a woman like this to shed a tear for a child at the border.

Evangelicals have been trained since their youth to look for someone to save them.  They do not blink at the thought that everyone outside their group will be tortured for eternity.  Others are the enemy.  Others deserve this.

So, no, what has been going on at the border has not affected them.  Listen to Evangelicals talk.  They will say that those crossing the border deserve this.

And if you think taking children at the border is as bad as it is going to get, buckle up.

There is no reasoning with an Evangelical Trump supporter.  There is no argument that will work.  There is no empathy string to pull.  They have been waiting for this moment their whole lives, nothing will dissuade them.

Our only hope is to get out there in record numbers and stir up the vote.