By Rudy
Barnes, Jr.
Civil
religion is where religion and politics meet to shape the concepts of
legitimacy that define a nation’s values.
The libertarian values of the Enlightenment have been the traditional political
component of the American civil religion, with Christianity its dominant
religious component; but capitalism and its progeny, materialism and hedonism, have
challenged both faith and freedom as priorities of the American dream and the American civil religion.
American
democracy must balance individual rights, which are not mentioned in scripture,
with providing for the common good or public welfare, which is a moral mandate in
scripture. Donald Trump was elected by evangelical
Christians who are followers of the growing prosperity gospel. It is a self-centered gospel that conflicts
with the altruistic gospel of Jesus, and it emphasizes individual rights at the
expense of providing for the common good.
The
prosperity gospel has its roots in pseudo Old Testament theology that assures the
faithful that if they obey God’s law they will be rewarded with prosperity and
health, while the disobedient will be punished with suffering—all in this
world, not the next. Jesus challenged that
deontological standard of righteousness with the concept of love over law expressed in the greatest commandment to love God and
your neighbors as you love yourself.
The American civil religion has ceded the
moral high-ground it once held as a model of liberty and justice for all and
become a symbol of materialism and hedonism, exemplified by Donald Trump. Christianity in America has evolved from the
altruistic gospel taught by Jesus into a self-centered gospel promoted by
high-flying evangelists like Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jr., Paula White,
Joel Osteen and Robert Jeffress, who all ignore the danger of riches.
Jesus
did not teach that riches were evil, only that the love of riches corrupted the
soul. (e.g. the story of a rich man at Mark 10:17-27; parable of the rich fool at Luke 12:15-21; treasures and the heart at Luke 12:33,34; and you cannot serve two masters at Luke 16:13). And St. Paul confirmed this, warning Timothy:
People who want to get rich fall into
temptation and a trap…For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
(1 Timothy 6:9-10).
In
18th century England John Wesley often preached on the danger of
riches. When it came to money, Wesley
taught his Methodists to “make all you can, save all you can, and give all you
can.” That’s not only a good policy for
individuals, but also for wealthy nations like the U.S. Both individuals and nations have a duty of
stewardship to protect and promote individual rights and to provide for the
common good.
A
related challenge for American democracy is to avoid disparities in wealth that
threaten political stability. While middle-class
income in the U.S. has increased since 2008, so has the disparity in wealth
between the middle class and the rich, with the top fifth of earners receiving over
half of America’s income. That disparity
should be reduced, but the rich have been able to protect their wealth from tax
reforms that would make taxes more equitable.
America
is a rich and powerful nation, but its very soul—the American civil religion—is
threatened by the danger of riches. Self-centered
materialism and hedonism have displaced the altruistic faith and collective
civic responsibilities that are needed to provide for the common good, and
polarized partisan politics are exacerbating that danger to democracy.
Perhaps
it’s an idealistic illusion to believe that the American civil religion ever emphasized
liberty and justice for all. If it never
did, then it should have—and America can still claim that ideal as the heart of
its civil religion. But that will
require a revival in both American religion and politics that can balance
individual rights with providing for the common good.
Notes:
On materialism eclipsing faith
and freedom in the American dream
(and civil religion), see https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/upshot/the-transformation-of-the-american-dream.html.
Alan Wolfe has quoted Max Weber,
who once quoted John Wesley on the danger
of riches:
A
hundred years ago, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber
quoted the great evangelical John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church:
I
do not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any revival of true
religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry
and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so
will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches. See https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/03/and-the-winner-is/306654/.
On the cheap prosperity gospel of Donald Trump and [Joel] Osteen, see https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/opinion/trump-osteen-harvey-church.html.
On increasing middle-lass incomes
along with increasing disparities in the incomes of the rich and the middle
class, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/us-middle-class-incomes-reached-highest-ever-level-in-2016-census-bureau-says/2017/09/12/7226905e-97de-11e7-b569-3360011663b4_story.html?undefined=&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
On The “progressives” [Democrats]
are to blame, too [along with Republicans], for mismanaging our government, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-progressives-are-to-blame-too-for-mismanaging-our-government/2017/09/10/df232ff4-94a6-11e7-8754-d478688d23b4_story.html?undefined=&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
Related
Commentary:
(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
(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(10/18/15): God, Money and Politics
(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
(6/4/16): Christianity and Capitalism: Strange Bedfellows in Politics
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/06/christianity-and-capitalism-strange.html (6/18/16): A Politics of Reconciliation with Liberty
and Justice for All
(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
(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
(9/10/16): 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
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/11/religion-and-politics-of-reconciliation_19.html
(11/26/16): Irreconcilable Differences and the Demise of Democracy
(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
(8/5/17): Does Religion Seek to Reconcile and Redeem or to Divide and Conquer?
(8/19/17) Hate, History and the Need for a Politics of Reconciliation
(9/9/17): The Evolution of the American Civil Religion and Habits of the Heart
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/09/the-evolution-of-american-civil.html.
