by Robert Crux | March 7, 2024 |
Politicians should not have the power to determine who Jesus loves.
Yet millions of Americans have asked these leaders to use their political power to realize an exclusionary and discriminatory vision of Jesus. The idea that Jesus loves borders, guns, unborn babies, and economic prosperity, but hates homosexuality, immigrants, taxes, and universal health care, paints a picture of how politicians in right-wing and evangelical church leaders rewrote the gospels. A certain group of Americans portray a Jesus who tolerates power and privilege and legitimizes hatred.
They confuse religious message and political message.
Christianity distorted
Committing to politicians to use, abuse, and misinterpret the Bible to suit their agenda, followers of Christian nationalism focus on passing laws that reflect their authoritarian and privileged view of Christianity. Evangelical and other mainline Protestant churches should be opponents of white Christian nationalism; rather, they are their most powerful ally.
Jim Powers, in his opinion column for East Texas Newswriting :
In recent years, the rise of Christian nationalism has been a source of major concern, not only for religious scholars, but also for all those who value the principles of inclusion, tolerance and respect.…Christian nationalists are engaged in the transformation of a faith based on love. and compassion into a tool of political and social exclusion.
Christian nationalists are supported by politicians who embrace the Gospels with a secular twist, while charlatan theologians give politicians religious cover to say that Jesus would vote Republican, that he likes guns, that he wants you to be rich and that he does not care about the idea of forcing prayer. public schools.
John Pavlovitz, writing for the Milwaukee Independentsays that people no longer recognize the Jesus of Matthew 25:44-45 in this kind of American Christianity:
They are rightly incredulous at the cruelty of so many American Christians toward migrants, their insensitivity toward foreigners, and their resistance to helping those who have less than they have—whether food, health insurance or opportunity. They recognize the deep divide between the so-called followers of this hospitable and generously generous Jesus, treating those in need as lazy, viewing strangers as a threat, blaming the poor for their plight.
Patriot Jesus
The popular “God and country” sentiment made Jesus a patriot, while downplaying the kingdom of God as a multinational.
Ameen Hudson writes for The Gospel Coalition (TGC) explains this in practical terms:
Such a mentality tends to confuse the interests of God with those of a political party. This makes the United States the center of God’s affection, above any other nation. Criticizing this sentiment is seen not only as an attack on the principles of American democracy, but also on God himself.
For many American faithful, the biblical Jesus has been replaced by the Americanized Jesus who supports white evangelicalism and Christian nationalism. The gentle, gentle and kind Jesus became the “warrior Jesus”.
The book Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez is an in-depth account of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism. The author notes in the introduction to the book:
Evangelicals claim to regard the Bible as the highest authority in the Christian life, but there are more than 31,000 verses in the Bible. Which are considered essential guides to faithful Christian practice, and which are easily ignored or explained away? Likewise, when evangelicals define themselves in terms of the atonement of Christ or disciples of a resurrected Christ, what kind of Jesus do they imagine? Is their savior a conquering warrior, a man who takes no prisoners and wages holy war? Or is He a sacrificial lamb who offers Himself for the restoration of all things? How one answers these questions will determine what it looks like to follow Jesus.
The American Bible
The American Patriot’s Bible, edited by Dr. Richard G. Lee. with the subtitle “The Word of God and the Making of America”, attempts to
marrying the United States to a divine plan ordained by God to succeed and exist as the nation of God on earth. In this extremely unique Bible, American history is skillfully woven into the teachings of the Bible and Jesus takes on the role of an American patriot..
One of the most disturbing aspects of The Patriot’s Bible It is the way in which it unabashedly glorifies nationalist violence that has been associated in the past with pagan religions.
Another Bible licensed under the name “God bless the American Bible»– is billed as “the ultimate American Bible.” Between its covers, in addition to the Holy Scriptures, are the American Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as the handwritten chorus of “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. It presents the nation’s founding documents as if they were an extension of God’s word and that Jesus is an American patriot who affirms that America is God’s new nation and chosen people. Write for Christianity today, Jamie Aten and Kent Annan refer to the new God bless the American Bible by writing that
Bringing together the Word of God and the founding political documents of a single nation in a single volume signals divine approval of what we have no evidence of God’s approval.
Matthew Teutsch, writing for AVERAGE, Describes the Bible of the Patriots as a book that promotes a civic religion rather than a democracy:
Before even opening the book, we know that the Patriot Bible serves to foster and promote Christian nationalism“an ideology,” as Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead define it, “that idealizes a fusion of Christianity with American civic belonging and participation.”.’
Those whom Jesus hates
Megan Bailey, author of Beliefnet NewsNote that
In the New Testament, Jesus welcomes strangers, children, the uneducated, prostitutes, the disabled, and many other imperfect people.
She says that unfortunately,
Many politicians use God as support for their policies and beliefs, which end up being hateful and hurtful towards certain groups of people. Many Americans like to fit their own ideals into what Christianity is supposed to be. An example of an argument made by many is, “God hates homosexuals.”
Craig M. Watts in his article “Trump Christianity and the Abandonment of Jesus”» underlines the hypocrisy of the American Jesus who writes:
Only an Americanized Jesus could lead church members to support heartless policies that endanger the environment for profit, reduce access to health care for those who are less wealthy, and separate children from their parents who come to the borders of the United States to seek refuge from threats. Only an Americanized Jesus could lead those who call themselves Christians to believe that “America first” is a motto consistent with faith in the God who “loved the world so much” that he sent Jesus.
Politicizing Jesus
A nation’s culture can have a huge impact on how Jesus is presented to its citizens. The American Jesus aims to preserve and protect the temporal earthly kingdom of the United States of America, while the biblical Jesus aims to advance and build. his own kingdom from every nation, tribe and tongue.
The political Jesus was given the power to do things that the biblical Jesus could not do. There is now a considerable amount credible evidence that significant segments of Christianity – and not just a tiny fringe – support violence to achieve their political goals. When the horrific violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, made people wonder if it wasn’t just a political uprising. Samuel L. Perry and Andrew Whitehead in their article for Time review underlines:
We forget that January 6 was primarily a religious event: white Christian nationalism was on display. We must remember this fact. Because the evidence is piling up white Christian nationalism could provide theological cover for other events like this.
Since 2016, right-wing politicians have been trying to get people to see violence differently…that it is patriotic and necessary to deconstruct what is described as the “deep state.”
The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) 2023 American Values Surveyasked the Americans if things had gone so far off the rails that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save our country.» A third of Republicans agreed with this statement, compared to 22% of independents and 13% of Democrats.
Joash Thomas, in his article for AVERAGEsays that cultural context is now assumed to be part of our Christian faith:
If your Jesus cares more about the Second Amendment than the Second Commandment, your Jesus is not the biblical Jesus. If your Jesus cares more about “fighting for our rights” than defending the rights of immigrants, marginalized ethnic groups, orphans, and women, your Jesus is not the biblical Jesus. If your Jesus cares more about fighting CRT and Marxism than taking down the systems that perpetuate the sins of racism and sexual abuse, your Jesus is not the biblical Jesus.
Make decisions for God
Christianity in America has been ravaged by the dominant teaching that we can make decisions for God, that we can decide who God loves and hates, and which political party he supports. If you subscribe to any of these beliefs, your Christianity might be more political than religious. Joash Thomas, again: “Christian nationalism…says, ‘If a person disagrees with me, that person disagrees with God.’ »
In practice, the growing movement of Christian nationalism turns out to be a way of talking about Jesus so that no one, including Him, can stop us from committing the evils we think we must do to save our “American way of life.” .
Followers of Jesus do not seek privilege or exclusivity, but willingly serve others with the goodness, grace, and mercy of Jesus. We can only trust the voice of God when that voice leads us to love and serve the least among us.
Robert D. Crux, Ed.S, worked as a teacher, principal and superintendent of schools for 35 years in Adventist education before retiring in 2016 to Lawton, Michigan, where he enjoys writing, reading, cycling , model railways, and especially his grandchildren.
