By Rudy Barnes, Jr.
Biblical politics began with a theocracy headed by Moses, who brought God’s law to the Hebrews. When the Hebrew people wanted a king, God gave them David, who brought power and glory to the Jewish nation of Israel. It was a precedent for thousands of years of the divine right to rule until democracy finally liberated humankind from oppression. Or did it?
Before democracy became a viable alternative to monarchy, God sent Jesus to the Jews who were expecting a messiah like David to liberate them from Roman oppression and restore the power and glory of ancient Israel. But Jesus put love over law and made it clear that he was not a worldly king. He told his disciples, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.” (Mark 10:42-44)
We all know the rest of the story. Jesus was crucified, but God would not let him die. The teachings of Jesus on sacrificial love were never popular, so the church emphasized belief in Jesus as a Trinitarian God rather than following his moral teachings as the word of God. It was a form of cheap grace that allowed Christianity to become a popular and powerful religion.
John Locke and Thomas Jefferson were children of the Enlightenment who championed democracy based on reason, advances in knowledge, and the altruistic morality taught by Jesus. But in 2016 white Christians refuted the moral relevance of Jesus to democracy when they elected a man as president whose morality was antithetical to that taught by Jesus.
Can the altruistic morality of Jesus enable the common good to prevail in a democracy of competing identity groups? Edmund Burke may have been right when he told Americans that in a democracy we would “forge our own shackles”? Just as a body without the Spirit is dead, so Christianity (and democracy) without the moral relevance of Jesus is dead. (see James 2:26)
In America’s materialistic and hedonistic culture, a demagogue like Trump can mobilize a winning political coalition based on the fear and loathing of voters. God’s will is to reconcile and redeem humanity, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer; and in the cosmic battle between good and evil, Satan is winning the popularity contest. That’s bad news for democracy.
Despite a major decline in church membership, most Americans still claim to be Christians. While they believe in Jesus as their personal savior and as the mystical alter ego of God, most white Christians have refuted the teachings of Jesus by embracing distorted partisan doctrines of “family values” and a prosperity gospel that contradict the teachings of Jesus.
For the church to reclaim its legitimacy and restore altruism to American politics, it must make following Jesus (discipleship) a moral imperative of faith that takes priority over worshiping Jesus. Only then can the church effectively promote the stewardship of democracy and a politics of reconciliation based on the moral relevance of Jesus.
Christians should affirm the moral imperatives of Jesus to follow me and to love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves, including those of other races and religions. The greatest commandment is a common word of faith and politics for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and it can promote a politics of reconciliation in America’s increasingly diverse democracy.
Thomas Jefferson was a hypocrite on political freedom as a slaveholder, but he was right to consider the teachings of Jesus “the most sublime moral code ever designed by man.” While the church was hostile to Jefferson--and the feeling was mutual--Jefferson’s enlightened view of the moral relevance of Jesus to democracy is as valid today as it was 200 years ago.
Notes:
Derek Thompson has speculated on the reasons why America lost its religion three decades ago based on moral deficiencies in religion and politics. Had the church promoted the moral relevance of Jesus, it would not have supported radical right politics and would not have been a powerful political force. See https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/atheism-fastest-growing-religion-us/598843/.
Michael Wear has asked, Why are Democrats embracing those with no religion? after the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution on August 24 recognizing the “value” of “religiously unaffiliated” Americans and describing them as “largest religious group in the Democratic Party.” It seems to be a reaction to the image evangelical charlatans have created of the Christianity of Trump supporters. See
Judy Zausmer has noted that the circuit preacher was an idea of the frontier past, Now it’s the cutting edge response to shrinking churches. Bishop Kenneth H. Carter Jr., president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops said, “To cope with the loss of members the United Methodist Church has to decide whether to shutter a church or have churches start sharing a pastor. Many laity feel their traditions and cultures are lost when two local churches merge into one. Rather than mergers, therefore, bishops are turning more often to a circuit-preacher model.” Carter said, “The UMC has a history of circuits. The practice of a pastor serving more than one church dates back more than two hundred years.” See
Robin R. Meyers is the author of Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Following Jesus (Harper One, 2009). The title says it all. Meyers recently spoke at the University of South Carolina on How I became a Heretic with the Help of Jesus. For a review of American Heretics: The Politics of the Gospel, a movie featuring Meyers and his Mayflower Congregational Church. https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2019/07/11/review-not-every-christian-oklahoma-republican-its-close?utm_source=Newsletters&utm_campaign=1e70b9e47e-ARTS_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0fe8ed70be-1e70b9e47e-58692321.
Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas celebrated the decadence of the American dream in the 1970s. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Loathing_in_Las_Vegas.
Alexis DeTocqueville was a French aristocrat who visited the U.S. in 1831 and observed that in America “...partisans of liberty...invoke the assistance of religion, for they must know that liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith. The sects which exist in the U.S. are innumerable. They all differ in respect to the worship which is due from man to his Creator, but they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man. Each sect adores the Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all the sects preach the same moral law in the name of God. Moreover, almost all the sects of the U.S. are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and Christian morality is everywhere the same.
DeTocquevile, Democracy in America, Vol. 1, The Cooperative Publication Society, The Colonial Press, N.Y. and London, 1900 at pages 12 and 308.
Thomas Jefferson embraced the moral teachings of Jesus but expressed contempt for the distortions and misuse of those teachings by Christian religious leaders. Jefferson wrote Henry Fry on June 17, 1804: "I consider the doctrines of Jesus as delivered by himself to contain the outlines of the sublimest morality that has ever been taught; but I hold in the utmost profound detestation and execration the corruptions of it which have been invested by priestcraft and kingcraft, constituting a conspiracy of church and state against the civil and religious liberties of man." Thomas Jefferson, The Jefferson Bible, edited by O. I. A. Roche, Clarkson H. Potter, Inc., New York, 1964, at p 378. While many Christians considered Jefferson a heretic, he wrote “I am a Christian in the only sense in which he [Jesus] wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrine in preference to all others and ascribing to him every human excellence, believing he never claimed any other.” (p 334) The moral teachings of Jesus are used in an interfaith study guide, The Teachings of Jesus and Muhammad on Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy, that’s posted in the Resources of Religion, Legitimacy and Politics at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/.
Related commentary on the greatest commandment and love over law:
(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(3/31/18): Altruism: The Missing Ingredient in American Christianity and Democracy
(10/13/18): Musings on a Common Word of Faith and Politics for Christians and Muslims
(2/23/19): Musings on Loving Your Enemy, Including the Enemy Within
(7/20/19): Musings on Diversity in Democracy: Who Are Our Neighbors?
(7/27/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Love Over Law and Social Justice
(8/31/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Politics of Christian Zionism
(9/21/19): An Afterword on Religion, Legitimacy and Politics from 2014-2019
On Christian universalism:
(12/8/14): Religion and Reason
(1/4/15): Religion and New Beginnings: Salvation and Reconciliation in the Family of God http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/religion-and-new-beginnings-salvation.html
(2/8/15): Promoting Religion Through Evangelism: Bringing Light or Darkness?
(2/15/15): Is Religion Good or Evil?
(4/5/15): Seeing the Resurrection in a New Light
(4/19/15): Jesus: A Prophet, God’s Only Son, or the Logos? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/04/jesus-prophet-god-only-son-or-logos.html
(1/2/16): God in Three Concepts
(1/21/17): Religion and Reason Redux: Religion Is Ridiculous
(1/28/17): Saving America from the Church
(4/22/17): The Relevance of Jesus and the Irrelevance of the Church in Today’s World
(6/17/17): Religious Exclusivity: Does It Matter? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/06/religious-exclusivity-does-it-matter.html.
(8/5/17): Does Religion Seek to Reconcile and Redeem or to Divide and Conquer?
(8/12/17): The Universalist Teachings of Jesus as a Remedy for Religious Exclusivism
(9/29/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Resurrection of Christian Universalism
(10/6/18): Musings on Moral Universalism in Religion and Politics http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/10/musings-on-moral-universalism-in.html.
(10/13/18): Musings on a Common Word of Faith and Politics for Christians and Muslims
(12/1/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Mystical Logos
(12/15/18): Musings on the Great Commission and Religious and Political Tribalism
(12/22/18): Musings on Faith and Works: The Unity of All Believers and The Last Judgment
(3/2/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Post-Christian America
(3/9/19): Musings on the Degradation of Democracy in a Post-Christian America
(3/16/19): Musings on the Evolution of Christian Exclusivism to Universalism
(4/20/19): Musings on the Resurrection of Altruistic Morality in Dying Democracies
(5/11/19): Musings on the Relevance of Jefferson’s Jesus in the 21st Century
(5/25/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Divinity and Moral Teachings of Jesus
(6/8/19): The Moral Failure of the Church to Promote Altruism in Politics
(6/15/19): Back to the Future: A 21st Century Pentecost for the Church
(6/22/19): The Universal Family of God: Where Inclusivity Trumps Exclusivity
(6/29/19): Musings on a Politics of Reconciliation: An Impossible Dream?
(7/20/19): Musings on Diversity in Democracy: Who Are Our Neighbors?
(8/3/19): Musings on the Dismal Future of the Church and Democracy in America
(8/31/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Politics of Christian Zionism
(9/7/19): Musings on the Self-Destruction of Christianity and American Democracy
(9/21/19): An Afterword on Religion, Legitimacy and Politics from 2014-2019
(9/28/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Polarized Politics of Climate Change
On religion, morality and politics:
(12/29/14): Religion, Violence and Military Legitimacy
(2/8/15): Promoting Religion Through Evangelism: Bringing Light or Darkness?
(2/15/15): Is Religion Good or Evil?
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(6/28/15): Confronting the Evil Among Us
(7/12/15): Reconciliation in Race and Religion: The Need for Compatibility, not Conformity http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/07/reconciliation-in-race-and-religion.html
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(8/23/15): Legitimacy as a Context and Paradigm to Resolve Religious Conflict
(8/30/15): What Is Truth? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/what-is-truth.html
(11/15/15): American Exceptionalism: The Power of Persuasion or Coercion?
(1/16/16): Religion, Politics and Public Expectations
(3/26/16): Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery
4/30/16): The Relevance of Religion to Politics
(5/7/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(5/28/16): Nihilism as a Threat to Politics, Religion and Morality
(7/2/16): The Need for a Politics of Reconciliation in the Wake of Globalization
(8/5/16): How Religion Can Bridge Our Political and Cultural Divide http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/08/how-religion-can-bridge-our-political.html
(9/24/16): The Evolution of Religion and Politics from Oppression to Freedom
(11/5/16): Religion, Liberty and Justice at Home and Abroad
(12/31/16): E Pluribus Unum, Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(1/7/17): Religion and Reason as Sources of Political Legitimacy, and Why They Matter
(1/21/17): Religion and Reason Redux: Religion Is Ridiculous
(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
(6/17/17): Religious Exclusivity: Does It Matter? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/06/religious-exclusivity-does-it-matter.html.
(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
(8/5/17): Does Religion Seek to Reconcile and Redeem or to Divide and Conquer?
(8/12/17): The Universalist Teachings of Jesus as a Remedy for Religious Exclusivism
(8/19/17): Hate, History and the Need for a Politics of Reconciliation
(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.
(10/21/17): The Symbiotic Relationship between Freedom and Religion
(11/18/17): Radical Religion and the Demise of Democracy
(12/2/17): How Religious Standards of Legitimacy Shape Politics, for Good or Bad
(12/16/17): Can Democracy Survive the Trump Era?
(12/23/17): If Democracy Survives the Trump Era, Can the Church Survive Democracy? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/12/if-democracy-survives-trump-era-can.html.
(1/6/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Diversity in Democracy
(1/13/18): Nationalist Politics and Exclusivist Religion: Obstacles to Reconciliation and Peace
(1/27/18): Musings on Conflicting Concepts of Christian Morality in Politics
(2/24/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Religion, Freedom and Legitimacy
(3/17/18): Jefferson’s Jesus and Moral Standards in Religion and Politics
(3/31/18): Altruism: The Missing Ingredient in American Christianity and Democracy
(4/7/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Need for a Moral Reformation
(4/28/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Virtues and Vices of Christian Morality
(5/12/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Christianity and Making America Great Again
(5/19/18): Musings on Morality and Law as Symbiotic but Conflicting Standards of Legitimacy
(7/21/18): Musings on America’s Moral and Political Mess and Who Should Clean It Up
(8/4/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Religious Problems and Solutions in Politics
(8/11/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Changing Morality in Religion and Politics
(8/25/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Moral Priorities in Religion and Politics
(9/1/18): Musings on the American Civil Religion and Christianity at a Crossroads
(9/29/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Resurrection of Christian Universalism
(10/6/18): Musings on Moral Universalism in Religion and Politics http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/10/musings-on-moral-universalism-in.html.
(10/27/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Migrant Tidal Wave
(11/24/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Christianity and the Legitimacy of Democracy http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/11/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.
(1/5/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Building Political Walls or Bridges
(2/16/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on America the Blessed and Beautiful--or is it?
(3/30/19): Musings on What the Mueller Report Doesn’t Say About Trump’s Wrongdoing
(4/12/19): Musings on Religion, Nationalism and Libertarian Democracy
(4/20/19): Musings on the Resurrection of Altruistic Morality in Dying Democracies
(4/27/19): Musings on the Legitimacy of Crony Capitalism and Progressive Capitalism
(5/4/19): Musings on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
(5/11/19): Musings on the Relevance of Jefferson’s Jesus in the 21st Century
(5/18/19): Outsiders Versus Insiders in Religion, Legitimacy and Politics
(5/25/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Divinity and Moral Teachings of Jesus
(6/8/19): The Moral Failure of the Church to Promote Altruism in Politics
(6/22/19): The Universal Family of God: Where Inclusivity Trumps Exclusivity
(6/29/19): Musings on a Politics of Reconciliation: An Impossible Dream?
(7/6/19): Musings on Democrats, Busing and Racism: It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
(7/13/19): Musings on Sovereignty and Conflicting Loyalties to God and Country
(7/20/19): Musings on Diversity in Democracy: Who Are Our Neighbors?
(7/27/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Love Over Law and Social Justice
(8/3/19): Musings on the Dismal Future of the Church and Democracy in America
(8/10/19): Musings on Christian Nationalism: A Plague on the Church and Democracy
(8/17/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Shame in Religion and Politics
(9/7/19): Musings on the Self-Destruction of Christianity and American Democracy
(9/14/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Chaos as a Prelude to a New Creation
(9/21/19): An Afterword on Religion, Legitimacy and Politics from 2014-2019
No comments:
Post a Comment