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'.

A Constitution Without Error

A couple years back, a friend of mine was pleased to hear that they read the Constitution on the floor of Congress. This friend waves and wears the flag a lot while trumpeting our need to be Constitutional.

I agreed that it was a good move... except that they literally skipped over the bad stuff like it wasn't there.

"Bad stuff?! What bad stuff?!!!" She was offended. I might have well as said The Bible had bad parts. 

I told her that they skipped the part in article one section two where the three-fifths clause is discussed. This condoned slavery and stated that some humans are inherently inferior (as opposed to all being created equal).

The conversation stopped there and I was defriended not long after. 🙂

Her way of viewing politics is similar to how many Evangelicals process their faith - strong loyalty to ideas on which they have sketchy knowledge.

There is nothing wrong with having sketchy knowledge. We all have areas where we lack depth of information. However, there is something in certain believers and "patriots" that cause them to form rather large and loud belief structures on foundations of sand.

Many Evangelicals will get angry/offended if anyone insinuates the Bible is not perfect - yet, they have never actually entirely read it (often only a mere fraction). They have never learned HOW the Bible came about. They just KNOW it is perfect.

In the end, these steadfast declarations are not made to demonstrate knowledge but to display loyalty. All the Bible and flag-waving is like cheering for one's team in a stadium. And similar to that crowd behavior, every call made for our team is good. Anything called against "us" is booed.

When You Pray, Go Into Your Closet...

A lot is being said about the loss of religion in America. I suspect there is not so much "loss" as folks are no longer faking it or going along just to appease the social fabric. In reality, there are probably the same amount of believers and "nones" as there were fifty years ago... people just have more freedom to say "no thank you" than they did in the past.

When you look at what the conservative Christian Right is bemoaning, it tends to reflect things like in the meme - an inability to pressure people to do as they do. If you track the behavior of fundamentalist religion around the world, considerable effort is put into establishing the religious practices of certain sects into law and to apply pressure culturally where legal means fail.

I really like Marvel movies, but if you don't that is ok. I won't try to change local laws to make you go see Marvel movies.

Last fall I went to see GHOST in concert. No one I know is into them, so I went by myself. It was great and none of my friends felt any pressure to go with me.

If you are a religious person who feels that religion is treated less friendly in America today, I would ask that you consider that maybe it is simply your attitude and perception that need adjustment.

When did America become Fredo?

Fredo Corleone: I'm your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over!

Michael Corleone: That's the way Pop wanted it.

Fredo Corleone: It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says...like dumb...I'm smart and I want respect!

If you haven't seen The Godfather, Fredo is the eldest son of the "Godfather". Fredo is not the sharpest guy but he is sharp enough to realize it - and this makes him resentful. He is caught in a cycle of making bad decisions, hating everyone for noticing, which drives him to double-down on even worse decisions.

While the rest of the world is pulling itself out of the Covid pit, America is enthusiastically digging further down. We walked into this fight emaciated by the choices of our past and we further the damage presently with bad leadership and collective idiocy.

But, like Fredo, we demand respect. I watch the anti-mask crowd shake their fists in anger, resenting the world for looking on them as stupid. Talking heads like Limbaugh and Carlson fuel the Fredos of America and give them cohesion. Unlike the Godfather, in America's story, Fredo is taking over.

The American Fredo is now on the world stage making bad decisions while everyone else looks on in horror. And, like Fredo, we double down, frustrated that we are not getting the respect we believe we deserve. In our anger and desperation, we shout, "I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says...like dumb...I'm smart and I want respect!"

Christianity in America

I wrote an article back in 2012 about a conversation where I found myself defending the teachings of Jesus to a bunch of Christians.  I had recently started identifying as an atheist so this was a surprising turnabout.

Nowadays, I am no longer surprised. American Christianity is drowning in members who have little interest in the Way of Jesus. They want the team membership that comes with name association, they want an imparted sense of morality (while eschewing the work of adhering to an ethical code), they want a Hell escape route; but they find the actual Way of Jesus (if they even know it) to lack the control they desire, the power they crave, or the practicality they believe they need.

I watch Christian after Christian defend taking screaming children from their mothers. When asked if they could really picture Jesus doing that, they happily admit that Jesus wouldn't... but Jesus lives in heaven and we live here. If we follow the Way of Jesus, we'll be taken advantage of. Let's leave Jesus at the church building and Bible study so WE can get done what needs to be done.

These Christians have taken their walk in the desert and were offered the same bargain as the Nazarene.

The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

I don't believe in the supernatural. There is no Devil. However, this is a poignant allegory for our time.

Christians have weighed the offer and have chosen the kingdoms of the world.  They rally behind the name of Jesus but want nothing to do with his Way.