Saturday, April 4, 2020

Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Resurrection of America's Values


    By Rudy Barnes, Jr.    

America is looking for a resurrection of its values but is divided over whether wealth or health should be a priority.  When President Trump vowed to reopen America for business and fill church pews on Easter he set the stage for a classic conflict of values.  He has since agreed to follow the advice of health experts on social distancing, but the conflict in values remains.

The stock market is considered a barometer of America’s materialistic and hedonistic culture, and its recent crash came when the requirement of social distancing forced many businesses to close.  America’s conflicting values are derived from its culture and Christian morality, and they pit selfishness against altruism and wealth against public health.

President Trump politicized the coronavirus threat as a “Democratic hoax” and belittled the advice of medical experts that it was a major threat; then he praised himself in daily briefings on how well he was handling the crisis.  Last week Trump fired the skipper of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt for making it public that his ship had been contaminated by the virus.  

America needs to resurrect the altruistic and universal values taught by Jesus.  The resurrection of Jesus affirmed his teachings to be the living word of God. Jesus taught that we are all children of God, but the church teaches that only Christians go to heaven and the rest go to hell.  Hell is real, but it’s in Satan’s worldly domain and is not part of God’s eternal kingdom.

God’s will is to reconcile and redeem people of all religions into the universal family of God, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer.  Unfortunately, Satan does a convincing imitation of God in the church and politics; and in the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, Satan is winning the popularity contest in America’s democracy.

The church lost its moral compass when it was divided and conquered by charlaton white evangelicals who promote distorted “family values” and a prosperity gospel that conflicts with the teachings of Jesus on God’s will and wealth.  In 2016 white Christians elected a man as president whose immorality represents the antithesis of the altruistic moral teachings of Jesus.

The moral teachings of Jesus are summed up in the greatest commandment to love God and to love our neighbors, including those of other races and religions, as we love ourselves.  It provides a universal moral imperative that’s taken from the Hebrew Bible, was taught by Jesus, and that has been promoted by Islamic scholars as a common word of faith.

Jesus addressed our conflicting values on wealth and public welfare.  He said, blessed are you who are poor, and woe to you who are rich (Luke 6:10-26); and said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:34)  Jesus made it clear that altruistic concern for the least, the last and the lost took precedence over the selfish desire to accumulate wealth.

Easter is a time for Americans to reflect on their values and to resurrect the altruistic values taught by Jesus in their politics.  In a democracy any resurrection of the altruistic moral imperative to provide for the common good must come from voters. God doesn’t have a vote.  That means that any resurrection in America’s political values will have to wait until November.

Most Americans still claim to be Christians.  We can only hope that most will be good moral stewards of democracy in November and reject the divisive politics they legitimized in 2016.  But Satan is ahead in the polls. To restore political legitimacy in America, voters must promote a politics of reconciliation based on the altruistic moral values taught by Jesus.


Notes:  

Trump’s dramatic turnaround on the coronavirus, from it being a Democratic hoax to a major threat to America, illustrates his proclivity to dramatically reverse directions and claim victory and then deny any inconsistencies.  What’s truly amazing is that his base buys his radical duplicity. See https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/31/trump-coronavirus-claims-victory-mean-somebody-else-loses-156657.

Tara Isabella Burton has asserted that “America’s civil religion is capitalism.  Trump’s coronavirus response proves it. Facing a plague, he wants us to sacrifice at the altar of commerce.
...Americans — traditionally faithful and religious “nones” alike — are more than willing to link financial success with visions of divine favor. It’s a tendency that unites practitioners of New Age-tinged spirituality, such as Marianne Williamson and “The Secret” author Rhonda Byrne, and evangelical Christians, as many as 40 percent of whom subscribe to the “prosperity gospel”: the notion that God rewards his most faithful with material success.  Prosperity gospel preachers like Creflo Dollar and Trump’s current spiritual adviser, Paula White, regularly teach that Christian faith (and, more often than not, generous tithing) will bring believers untold riches. “No bank in the world offers this kind of return,” prosperity gospel preacher Kenneth Copeland writes of the church in his book “The Laws of Prosperity.” Financial success is proof not just that you’re working hard enough, but that you’re believing hard enough: that God, personally, has chosen to bless you.  ...When the language of buying and selling, product and profit, so dominates our discourse about our identities, our society and our metaphysics, capitalism becomes indistinguishable from religious faith. Once we made human sacrifices to appease the gods; now, we’re told, we must do the same to appease the markets.
...Even Americans who don’t explicitly subscribe to the prosperity gospel accept its tenets: Financial success, and how we deploy it, are integral parts of our moral worth.  ...In imagining an economic resurrection, Trump is sending a message that America values material thriving more than public health. Should he get his way and the pews fill up on Easter, the god worshiped that day won’t be that of any church, synagogue or mosque, but of the marketplace.”

John Pavlovitch has said, “Some people adore capitalism so much, they’re willing to sell their souls to support it.”  He described the recent stimulus and relief bill promoted by Trump’s Republican Party and supported by acquiescent Democrats as “a slush fund trojan horse disguised as economic crisis aid...that pads the already heavily buffered nest eggs of corporations and does little for day laborers and the working poor.  This is the repugnant sham of pro-life Christianity revealed in all its grotesque ugliness. This is what the Religious Right really thinks about human life: if the price is right, it is all expendable. This is the economy of soul capitalism: their money is worth your life. Other’s supply can meet their greedy demand. For all their tearful, showy displays of phony religion, all their impassioned pleas about embryos in the womb being sacred—they will let sentient human beings with grandchildren and spouses and decades of wisdom, die on the altar of their 401Ks.” See  https://johnpavlovitz.com/2020/03/24/their-money-or-your-life-the-fraudulence-of-pro-life-christian-capitalism/.

In arguing for universal salvation, David Bentley Hart debunks the concept of hell in That All Shall Be Saved.  “The ‘infernalists,’ as he calls those committed to belief in the eternity of hell, take a position that is unnecessary, unbiblical, incoherent, and above all, he insists again and again, morally repugnant.” See  https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/against-infernalists?utm_source=Main+Reader+List&utm_campaign=dd7924c215-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_03_16_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_407bf353a2-dd7924c215-92511949.

Katherine Steward has asserted that the road to coronavirus hell was paved by evangelicals. “Religious nationalism has brought to American politics the conviction that our political differences are a battle between absolute evil and absolute good. ...Only a heroic leader, free from the scruples of political correctness, can save the righteous from the damned. Fealty to the cause is everything; fidelity to the facts means nothing. ...For decades, Christian nationalist leaders have lined up with the anti-government, anti-tax agenda not just as a matter of politics but also as a matter of theology. ...Limited government, according to this line of thinking, is “godly government.”  ...When a strong centralized response is needed from the federal government, it doesn’t help to have an administration that has never believed in a federal government serving the public good. Ordinarily, the consequences of this kind of behavior don’t show up for some time. In the case of a pandemic, the consequences are too obvious to ignore.  See
  
Brian Klaas has related our economic values to our politics, advising voters who choose their wallets over their values in 2020 are taking a big risk.  Klaas asks: “Do you vote according to your wallet, or your values?  Voters face some disturbingly straightforward questions as they head to the ballot box this November.  What’s the price of your values? Would you sell our democracy? And what abuses are you willing to accept as long as your stock portfolio grows?  ...As never before in American history, voters face some disturbingly straightforward questions as they head to the ballot box this November. What’s the price of your values? Would you sell our democracy? And what abuses are you willing to accept so long as your stock portfolio grows? So far, the answers aren’t reassuring.  ...If all Americans were actually willing to vote according to their values, Trump’s candidacy would already be dead. But here’s the unfortunate truth: We are a country full of millions of people who are willing to look the other way and abandon our values so long as the stock market goes up, our 401(k)s soar and the economy shows no sign of slowing down.  ...Nonetheless, we can no longer ignore an unsettling fact. Many American voters simultaneously believe Trump is a dangerous bigot unfit for office and that he should be reelected so long as the economy stays on track. Those voters will likely cast the deciding votes. ...Those voters who fixated on their 401(k)s may live to regret the consequences of their choice. By making a Faustian bargain in the short term, they’re sealing a far worse long-term fate for both their wallets and our values. 

Max Boot has described the firing of Capt Brett Crozier, skipper of the USS Theodore Roosevelt:
“The U.S. government was fatally ill-prepared for the spread of a pandemic that has killed more Americans over the past month than died in Iraq over the past 17 years. The military could have done more to help but, like other government agencies, it was slow to act. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has come under fire for failing to cancel business as usual even as the virus spreads through the ranks.
...The only official in the entire government who has been publicly disciplined to date for mishandling the coronavirus is a Navy officer who acted to save his crew from an outbreak. This makes no sense save in the upside-down moral universe inhabited by the Trump administration.  Crozier sent an urgent letter to his chain of command on Monday, making clear that 90 percent of his crew needed to be evacuated immediately. Already more than 100 sailors out of a crew of nearly 5,000 have been diagnosed with covid-19 — and the disease was sure to spread fast in the close confines of the ship. “We are not at war,” Crozier wrote. “Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.”  Because Crozier raised the alarm, most of the crew is finally being evacuated from the ship in Guam. But an article on Crozier’s letter in the San Francisco Chronicle (and then other newspapers) embarrassed the Defense Department leadership. 
...About a month ago, when Trump was still calling concern about the coronavirus a “hoax,” the New York Times reported that Esper had “urged American military commanders overseas not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House or run afoul of President Trump’s messaging on the growing health challenge.” This was a dismaying directive that seemed to put politics above force protection. Now Crozier’s firing will be seen, rightly or wrongly, as another step in the politicization of the military.  Trump has already done a great deal to undermine the military’s good order and discipline by pardoning personnel who have been accused, and even convicted, of war crimes. Trump even feted disgraced Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was denounced by his own platoon mates as “evil” and “toxic,” at Mar-a-Lago. The message that the administration is sending to the armed forces is that committing war crimes is acceptable but telling the truth and protecting the personnel under your command is not.
At least Crozier can take solace in the cheers and applause of his crew as he left the Theodore Roosevelt. They realize he was a great leader — “one of the greatest captains you ever had,” as one sailor said — even if the acting Navy secretary does not. Every cheer was an indictment of a Pentagon leadership that seems to have lost its moral bearings." See


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
(10/5/19): Musings on the Moral Relevance of Jesus to Democracy
(10/12/19): Musings on Impeachment and Elections as Measures of Political Legitimacy
(10/26/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Discipleship in a Democracy
(11/9/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Virtual Alternative to a Failing Church
(11/16/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Irrelevance of Morality in Politics
(11/23/19): Musings on Jesus and Christ as Conflicting Concepts in Christianity
(12/14/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Prophets, Scripture and God’s Truth
(12/21/19): Musings on Advent and a Not-so-Merry Christmas for American Democracy
(1/25/20): Musings on the Legal and Moral Standards of Political Legitimacy in Impeachment
(2/1/20): Musings on the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Altar of Partisan Politics
(2/22/20): Musings on Why All Politics and Religion Are Local (and not Universal)
(3/7/20): Musings on America’s Need for a Politics of Reconciliation, not Revolution

On Christianity and capitalism:     
(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(10/18/15): God, Money and Politics
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(6/4/16): Christianity and Capitalism: Strange Bedfellows in Politics
(10/1/16): The Federal Reserve, Wall Street and Congress on Monetary Policy
(2/11/17): The Mega-Merger of Wall Street, Politics and Religion
(3/11/17): Accountability and the Stewardship of Democracy
(9/9/17): The Evolution of the American Civil Religion and Habits of the Heart http://www.religion
(9/16/17): The American Civil Religion and the Danger of Riches
(12/16/17): Can Democracy Survive the Trump Era?
(1/20/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Morality and Religion in Politics
(1/27/18): Musings on Conflicting Concepts of Christian Morality in Politics
(2/17/18): Musings of a Maverick on Money, Wall Street, Greed and Politics
(6/15/18): The Prosperity Gospel: Where Culture Trumps Religion in Legitimacy and Politics
(4/27/19): Musings on the Legitimacy of Crony Capitalism and Progressive Capitalism
(6/29/19): Musings on a Politics of Reconciliation: An Impossible Dream?
(8/24/19): Musings on How a Recession Could Transform Religion and Politics in 2020
(9/28/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Polarized Politics of Climate Change
(12/28/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the End as a New Beginning
(1/4/20): Musings on How a Depression (or a War) Could Make America Great Again
(2/8/20): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on America’s Love of Money and Lack of Virtue
(3/28/20): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Quick and Dirty Economic Revolution

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 Logoshttp://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
(7/22/17): Hell No! 
(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
(10/26/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Discipleship in a Democracy
(11/9/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Virtual Alternative to a Failing Church
(11/16/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Irrelevance of Morality in Politics
(11/23/19): Musings on Jesus and Christ as Conflicting Concepts in Christianity
(1/11/20): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Christians as a Moral Minority
(2/22/20): Musings on Why All Politics and Religion Are Local (and not Universal)



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