Saturday, November 25, 2017

A Dark Revelation on Thanksgiving Day

   By Rudy Barnes, Jr.

            On Thanksgiving morning I ran across an article from the National Review captioned This Thanksgiving, Thank Donald J. Trump.  I thought it must be satire, but soon discovered it was not.  It begins: “This Thanksgiving, Americans in general — and free-market conservatives in particular — have plenty for which to be grateful.  And much of it would be absent had the White House’s current occupant not become president on November 8, 2016.”

            The article contends that Trump should be given credit for improving economic conditions and that his deplorable personal behavior can be ignored as irrelevant to U.S. politics.  The opposite is true.  Favorable economic conditions are tenuous.  Without renewed moral underpinnings for American politics they will degrade further to reveal their fundamental weakness.  America the Beautiful will become America the Ugly—if it isn’t already.      

            I was stunned that a publication I once considered the jewel of political conservatism would publish an article praising Donald Trump.  It precipitated a dark revelation of ontological proportions for me, and brought to mind a recent article by Garrison Keillor: I’m a Conservative.  It reminded me that traditional terms describing political views such as conservative, liberal, libertarian and socialist have become muddled, and left me wondering how to describe myself.

            I’ve always considered myself a conservative and Garrison Keillor a liberal, but his article resonated with me.  It seems that we both share reverence for traditional values related to family, community and culture, and are also open to progressive change.  I always thought that most sensible Southerners shared my moderate free-market conservatism, but I was proved wrong on November 8, 2016, when most white Southerners voted for Donald Trump.

            Southerners have traditionally been libertarian conservatives who favor individual freedom and limited government.  They oppose socialism, but as people of faith they understand the need to balance individual rights with providing for the common good.  They have a healthy skepticism of both Tea-Party neo-libertarians who seek to eviscerate government, and socialist liberals who seek to eviscerate traditional values.  Occasionally they have supported populist demagogues like “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman and Donald Trump, but that has not been the norm. 

            Since Trump’s election commentators have described his supporters as undereducated white voters motivated by their eroding political power and their distorted Christian beliefs.  But the National Review article blew the cover of Trump’s more quiescent but formidable rich and powerful allies.  It is eerily reminiscent of the Antebellum South, when aristocrats exacerbated the fear of poor white dirt farmers to support secession and fight a terrible Civil War.

            My dark revelation was of an unholy alliance between white evangelical Christians who follow a distorted prosperity gospel and rich and powerful Randian objectivists on Wall Street who are the primary beneficiaries of Trump’s economic policies.  It will take a moral revival to convince Trump’s less affluent evangelical supporters that they have been exploited by Trump’s Wall Street allies and convince them to promote a new standard of morality in politics.

            A moral revival in politics must be led by the church.  Christians provided Trump with his margin of victory and will likely determine the outcome of the next election.  To counter the corrosive influence of wealth in politics, the church must restore the primacy of the teachings of Jesus over distorted evangelical beliefs that have supported radical right politics and that are closer to the self-centered objectivism of Ayn Rand than to the altruistic teachings of Jesus.

            The teachings of Jesus are summarized in the greatest commandment to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and that includes our neighbors of other races and religions.  It is a common word of faith and a moral imperative for Jews, Christians and Muslims that can provide the foundation for a moral revival in religion and politics; but such a revival will require a new spiritual Awakening to unite a fragmented church that has lost its moral compass.

            America is polarized by partisan politics defined by the radical right and radical left, with moderate voters left on the sidelines.  Trump and his Republican supporters are more than a passing political aberration.  The rich and powerful are in control, but they are just 1% of Americans and rely on exploiting others to maintain their grip on power.  Most of the remaining 99% are people of faith whose moral values—if revived—can save America from itself.              


Notes:

For the National Review article This Thanksgiving, Thank Donald J. Trump, see http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454028/donald-trump-accomplishments-thanksgiving.


On evangelicals having to choose between morality and the corrupt radical right politics of Donald Trump and Roy Moore, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-some-evangelicals-a-choice-between-moore-and-morality/2017/11/16/27a28a16-cadc-11e7-b0cf-7689a9f2d84e_story.html?wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1.

Ilya Somin has taken issue with the assertion of Will Wilkinson that “libertarian skepticism about democracy is a major cause of the current pathologies of the political right in the U.S,” and has argued that libertarianism may be a remedy rather than the cause of radical right politics. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/11/05/will-wilkinson-on-libertarian-democracy-skepticism/?wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1.
 
Jim Wallis has suggested that Christians are facing a spiritual reckoning a year into Trump’s presidency on the corruption of standards of morality in the areas of sex, money and power.  See       https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/a-year-into-trumps-presidency-christians-are-facing-a-spiritual-reckoning/2017/11/17/551dc318-cafd-11e7-b0cf-7689a9f2d84e_story.html?undefined=&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.



Related commentary:

(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice
(3/22/15): The Power of Humility and the Arrogance of Power
(7/5/15): Reconciliation as a Remedy for Racism and Religious Exclusivism
(8/2/15): Freedom and Fundamentalism
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/freedom-and-fundamentalism.html (8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(10/18/15): God, Money and Politics
(3/26/16): Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery
(4/23/16): Standards of Legitimacy in Morality, Manners and Political Correctness
(4/30/16): The Relevance of Religion to Politics
(5/7/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(5/14/16): The Arrogance of Power, Humility and a Politics of Reconciliation
(6/4/16): Christianity and Capitalism: Strange Bedfellows in Politics
(6/18/16): A Politics of Reconciliation with Liberty and Justice for All
(6/28/15): Confronting the Evil Among Us
(10/18/15): God, Money and Politics
(8/5/16): How Religion Can Bridge Our Political and Cultural Divide
(9/17/16): A Moral Revival to Restore Legitimacy to Our Politics
(11/19/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation Based on Shared Values
(11/26/16): Irreconcilable Differences and the Demise of Democracy
(2/11/17): The Mega-Merger of Wall Street, Politics and Religion
(2/25/17): The Need for a Revolution in Religion and Politics
(3/4/17): Ignorance and Reason in Religion and Politics
(3/18/17): Moral Ambiguity in Religion and Politics
(4/22/17): The Relevance of Jesus and the Irrelevance of the Church in Today’s World
(6/3/17): When Winning Trumps Mercy and Losing is Evil
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(7/15/17) Religion and Progressive Politics
(7/29/17): Speaking God’s Truth to Man’s Power
(9/23/17): Tribalism and the American Civil Religion 
(11/4/17): What to Believe? Truth or Consequences in Religion and Politics http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/11/what-to-believe-truth-or-consequences.html.
(11/11/17): A Politics of Reconciliation that Should Begin in the Church
(11/18/17): Radical Religion and the Demise of Democracy

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Radical Religion and the Demise of Democracy

  By Rudy Barnes, Jr.

            Radical religion is fundamentalist religion.    Jewish, Christian and Islamic forms of fundamentalism are reactions to advances in knowledge and reason that have become threats to libertarian democracy, human rights and the secular rule of law.  Fundamentalism seeks to reverse the libertarian politics of the Enlightenment and restore the theocratic politics reflected in ancient scriptures and holy laws.  Radical religion could well be the demise of democracy. 

            Roy Moore and the evangelical Christians who support Donald Trump represent a Christian version of radical religious fundamentalism that seems pervasive among Republicans.  The Islamic version of radical religion (Islamism) is prevalent in the Middle East and Africa, while Jewish fundamentalism is gaining strength and threatening democracy in Israel. 

            The current controversy over Roy Moore’s candidacy for the U.S. Senate goes beyond allegations of sexual harassment.  It has revealed radical religious beliefs held by Republican conservatives who seek to restore ancient Biblical values that are remarkably similar to those of radical Islamism.  That’s because the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an share a common Semitic cultural background and an emphasis on obedience to holy law as a standard of legitimacy.

            The ancient religious laws in the Bible and Qur’an are authoritarian standards of legitimacy and incompatible with democracy, human rights or the secular rule of law.  Religious fundamentalism is a relatively recent phenomenon that did not become a formidable force in Judaism, Christianity or Islam until the early 20th century; but since then religious fundamentalism has grown to be a threat to libertarian democracy in religious nations.

            American politics are polarized by a radical right Republican Party supported by fundamentalist Christians and a radical left Democrat Party defined by identity politics.  There is no longer a moderate center to preserve a stable democracy.  A politics of reconciliation is needed, and since 70% of people in the U.S. claim to be Christians, reconciliation must begin within the churches that shape U.S. standards of political legitimacy.

            A politics of reconciliation should be based on the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors—including our neighbors of other races and religions—as we love ourselves.  That’s a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims that is needed to prevent the further demise of democracy.

            Radical Christian fundamentalism undermines democracy with ancient values that legitimize bigotry and hatred.  It promotes “family values” and a prosperity gospel that contradict the altruistic teachings of Jesus; and it promotes extending the individual right to the free exercise of religion at the expense of providing for the common good.

            In Islamic nations, radical Islamism denies the fundamental freedoms of religion and speech with apostasy and blasphemy laws, and denies women and non-Muslims equal justice under law.  Radical Islamism is on the rise.  It promotes authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and Africa, and is undermining libertarian democracy in Indonesia and Turkey.

            There is a symbiotic relationship between religion and politics, and radical religion has undermined American democracy.  A politics of reconciliation is needed to prevent the further demise of democracy, and it should be based on the altruistic teachings of Jesus summarized in the greatest commandment.  It is a common word of faith that can oppose the threat of radical religion to democracy in America and around the world. 
   

Notes:


Michael Gerson has commented on the role of religion in democracy in describing how America can overcome its egotism, citing Jacques Maritain: “Right political experience,” he said, “cannot develop in people unless passions and reason are oriented by a solid basis of collective virtues, by faith and honor and thirst for justice.” In particular, it is the “urge of love” that allows us “to surmount the closed borders of the natural social groups — family group and national group — and extended it to the entire human race.”  In the absence of a “democratic state of mind,” Maritain warned, “nothing is easier for political counterfeiters than to exploit good principles for purposes of deception.” “And moreover,” he said, “nothing is easier for human weakness than to merge religion with prejudices of race, family or class, collective hatreds, passions of a clan.”

On how Trump gets religion, evangelicals say, and now wants to broaden his reach, see    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-gets-religion-evangelicals-say-and-now-wants-to-broaden-his-reach/2017/11/12/b33e8e88-bf3f-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html

         

Related Commentary:
          
(12/8/14): Religion and Reason
(12/15/14): Faith and Freedom
(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(5/3/15): A Fundamental Problem with Religion
(8/2/15): Freedom and Fundamentalism
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/27/16): Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy in Faith, Freedom and Politics
(4/30/16): The Relevance of Religion to Politics
(5/7/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(5/21/16): Religious Fundamentalism and a Politics of Reconciliation
(6/18/16): A Politics of Reconciliation with Liberty and Justice for All
(8/5/16): How Religion Can Bridge Our Political and Cultural Divide
(9/10/16): Liberty in Law: A Matter of Man’s Law, not God’s Law
(9/17/16): A Moral Revival to Restore Legitimacy to Our Politics
(11/19/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation Based on Shared Values
(11/26/16): Irreconcilable Differences and the Demise of Democracy
(1/21/17): Religion and Reason Redux: Religion Is Ridiculous
(2/25/17): The Need for a Revolution in Religion and Politics
(3/4/17): Ignorance and Reason in Religion and Politics
(3/18/17): Moral Ambiguity in Religion and Politics
(4/22/17): The Relevance of Jesus and the Irrelevance of the Church in Today’s World
(6/24/17): The Evolution of Religion, Politics and Law: Back to the Future? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/06/the-evolution-of-religion-politics-and.html.
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(7/15/17): Religion and Progressive Politics
(9/2/17): The Evolution of the American Civil Religion and Habits of the Heart http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/09/the-evolution-of-american-civil.html
(10/21/17): The Symbiotic Relationship between Freedom and Religion
(10/28/17): The Moral Decline of Religion and the Seven Woes of Jesus

(11/4/17): What to Believe? Truth or Consequences in Religion and Politics http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/11/what-to-believe-truth-or-consequences.html.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

A Politics of Reconciliation that Should Begin in the Church

  By Rudy Barnes, Jr.

            Not since the Civil War has America been so divided.  It has become balkanized by race and religion, as evidenced in our partisan gridlock, gerrymandered congressional districts, and divergent doctrines of Christianity.  To avoid further polarization we need to promote a politics of reconciliation that can provide functional pluralism for an increasingly diverse population.

            Where to begin?  Over 70% of Americans claim to be Christians, so that a politics of reconciliation should begin in the church.  The first step is for Christians to acknowledge that the altruistic moral teachings of Jesus should be applied to their politics.  Otherwise their Christian religion is as spiritually dead as a body without the spirit. (see James 2:26)

            Every Christian in America has the moral duty to be a steward of our democracy.  That requires applying the moral imperatives taught by Jesus in our democratic processes, especially in electing our leaders.  When Christians ignore their duties of discipleship in politics, they not only undermine U.S. democracy, but also the moral legitimacy of the Christian religion.

            Black Christians and evangelical Christians have long related their religion to their politics, but mainline white denominations have avoided mixing religion and politics.  Even so, partisan politics have become defined by race, and gerrymandered voting districts have institutionalized partisan politics along racial lines, resulting in dangerous political polarization.

              The greatest commandment to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves is a common word of faith that can break the religious and political gridlock.  When Jesus was asked, Who is my neighbor? he answered with the story of a good Samaritan who stopped to help a wounded Jew. (Luke 10:25-37)  That was a radical message for Jews who detested Samaritans as apostates.

            With partisan politics polarized along racial lines and more political animosity than ever, Christians need to be reminded that loving their neighbors of other races, religions and even those they detest is a moral imperative of their faith.  Christians who exempt politics from their faith are hypocrites—and while Jesus taught love for others, he condemned hypocrites.

            Christians need to make their faith relevant to their politics with the stewardship of democracy.  They should consider the values of candidates and political issues without making political endorsements.  In the past churches have considered issues of slavery, temperance, civil rights—even the lottery.  Today they are facing contentious issues of sexual preference that are polarizing religion and politics, but regrettably these issues are not being discussed in church.    

            In promoting a politics of reconciliation, there will always be contentious issues.  That’s the nature of a pluralistic democracy.  Christians need to learn to disagree agreeably as they discuss how to relate their Christian values to candidates and political issues such as tax reform, health care, immigration and foreign policy; and prior to elections they should invite candidates to church hall meetings, where a church venue should promote more enlightened political views.   

            The church offers a big tent for all legitimate political preferences, from libertarian politics that emphasize individual rights to socialistic politics that emphasize the common good, but populist demagoguery must be opposed.  Unfortunately, white South Carolina Christians have supported populist demagogues from “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman to Donald Trump. 

            The greatest challenge for democracy today is to balance individual rights with providing for the common good; but achieving that balance will be difficult with America polarized by a two-party duopoly that is split along racial lines.  A moral revival is needed to promote a politics of reconciliation, and that revival should begin in the church.  Its purpose should not be to promote political unity, but to make Christians better stewards of their pluralistic democracy.    


Notes:             

Michael Gerson has lamented the deplorable state of morality in politics, “With two very sick political parties that have a monopoly on political power and little prospect for reform and recovery.”  Gerson has pessimistically predicted that our two political parties cannot save themselves (and us) from a political earthquake that will make America’s future “uncertain, maybe unknowable.”  See  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-political-parties-cant-save-themselves/2017/11/06/0304c3f8-c321-11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?undefined=&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.

David Brooks has noted that 2017 is the centennial of the Bolshevik Revolution, when Lenin and Trotsky took over Russia with a new authoritarian moral order under communism.  That was possible because Russian democrats and the Russian Orthodox Church failed to assert their moral authority.  A similar moral default may be undermining democracy in the U.S. today.  See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/opinion/the-week-trump-won.html.

David Bentley Hart has asked, Are Christians supposed to be Communists? based on a teaching of Jesus in Luke 14:33 that requires giving up everything as a condition of discipleship. See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/opinion/sunday/christianity-communism.html.

Mitchell T. Rozanski has opined that reconciliation among Christians may be closer than we think.  He promotes a Christian unity, or reconciliation, among Christian denominations that respects diversity but eliminates acrimony over religious and political differences.  See     


On President Trump praising Robert Jeffress as a wonderful pastor who says Satan founded the Catholic Church, see  https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-trump-promotes-book-by-wonderful-pastor-who-says-satan-founded-the-catholic-church.


Related Commentary:

(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
 (6/18/16): A Politics of Reconciliation with Liberty and Justice for All
(6/28/15): Confronting the Evil Among Us
(7/5/15): Reconciliation as a Remedy for Racism and Religious Exclusivism
(8/2/15): Freedom and Fundamentalism
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/freedom-and-fundamentalism.html (8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/18/17): Gerrymandering, Race and Polarized Partisan Politics
(2/27/16): Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy in Faith, Freedom and Politics
(4/23/16): Standards of Legitimacy in Morality, Manners and Political Correctness
(4/30/16): The Relevance of Religion to Politics
(5/7/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(8/5/16): How Religion Can Bridge Our Political and Cultural Divide
(9/17/16): A Moral Revival to Restore Legitimacy to Our Politics
(11/19/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation Based on Shared Values
(11/26/16): Irreconcilable Differences and the Demise of Democracy
(2/25/17): The Need for a Revolution in Religion and Politics
(3/18/17): Moral Ambiguity in Religion and Politics
(4/22/17): The Relevance of Jesus and the Irrelevance of the Church in Today’s World
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(7/15/17) Religion and Progressive Politics
 (8/19/17) Hate, History and the Need for a Politics of Reconciliation
(9/23/17): Tribalism and the American Civil Religion
(9/30/17): The 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation: What Does It Mean Today?   http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/09/the-500th-anniversary-of-protestant.html.
(10/7/17): A 21st Century Reformation to Restore Reason to American Civil Religion http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/10/a-21st-century-reformation-to-restore.html.
(10/28/17): The Moral Decline of Religion and the Seven Woes of Jesus
(11/4/17): What to Believe? Truth or Consequences in Religion and Politics http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/11/what-to-believe-truth-or-consequences.html.