THIS IS ELECTION DAY in the US of A. So I dipped into the Bible, looking for tips on how to show some responsible citizenship.
Acting responsibly isn’t easy in these irresponsible days reminiscent of the McCarthy Red Scare, when a politician accused everyone and his brother of being a Communist—and in the process destroyed careers and lives.
Today, we’ve got Scares Galore.
- We’re afraid of refugees, so we call them illegal immigrants, invaders, and terrorists.
- We’re afraid of socialists, without recognizing that we already practice socialism to varying degrees. We walk our dogs in parks paid for by the Collective. We drive on roads paid for by our shared costs…shared by those who pay taxes, and not shared by notable rich tightwads reportedly employing loopholes legal and illegal. Lock ‘em up?
- We’re afraid of minorities…because we crackers are about to become one.
- We’re afraid of Muslims doing the checkout at our grocery store because we…you get the point.
We’re running scared because we’ve allowed ourselves to be fed the fear.
Roy Cohn was a strongman behind the Red Scare, helping Joseph McCarthy terrorize the country. Cohn died in 1986. He was the attorney for a Mr. Donald Trump for dozen years, from 1973-85. Just a little history.
Advice from St. Paul
“I want you to get in the habit of praying. Pray for everybody. Ask God to help them. . . . Pray for kings and all people in authority. That way maybe we’ll be able to live in peace, with our dignity and spiritual integrity” (1 Timothy 2:1-2 Casual English Bible).
If Paul were writing today, I suspect he would add that if we want to live in peace, with our dignity and integrity, we should vote.
He’d probably tell us how to vote, too. But the minds of many people have become tragically twisted by news pornography. Many are so thoroughly brainwashed and corrupted by lies that I’m not sure that more than 60 percent of the Christians would take his advice.
I expect he’d tell them to vote anyhow, perhaps hoping the Holy Spirit would knock some spiritual sense into them while they’re standing in line.
Paul was an optimist. So am I.
For the record, I hate feeling compelled on rare occasions like this to write about religion mixed with politics. But these are remarkable (in a bad way) times. And I’d like to think that if I had lived in Europe during the early 1940’s that I would not have been among the majority of Christians who sided with hatred and stayed hidden and silent.
**You left out those who would hire false witnesses during a confirmation process for political purposes to destroy a Justice.
**Mob mentality to intimidate citizens while they eat and destroying property.
I just can’t figure out which side – since I see no evidence of why I should support the alternative which is just as godless! Mom, who is on Hospice, and I voted a month ago (absentee ballot). Whatever the turnout — we will pray for our elected leaders. If the results are not what people want (apparently the wrong choices were made as we are told day and night on cable news) — will the people support the outcome? All the evil in the world is because of Sin and the fallen nature of humanity — the President is also a fallen individual — no ballot box can fix the human condition only the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit!
It’s true that God alone can fix the condition of the human heart. We Christians teach that. But votes can turn a nation away from despicable propaganda and lies, and toward compassion and transparency.
The choice, I believe, isn’t as hard for people who feed on information from conventional print media sources instead of opinion-driven broadcast news, and most sadly, Fox News. I’m speaking now as a former newspaper journalist. I know the difference between news and propaganda. Well, usually.
Fox sells fear to the former Republican Party, now assimilated, it seems, into the Trump Party. Or maybe they’re hibernating until this is over. This is a stretch of time that will go down in American history as tragic. It doesn’t take a prophet to see that.
Peace to you and your mom. I hope the hospice people are taking as good care of her as they did for my dad.
I would like to think that I, too, would have opposed Fascism in the 1930s and 40s. I would hope I would have been able to stand with Deitrich Bohnhoffer. I think we have a couple of things in common. I was once quite comfortable being called an Evangelical, using that term in the normal theological sense. But, I can no longer use the term in that manner. It has taken on a political color that in nearly all things is contrary to the way Christians were and are traditionally expected to live. I watch while atheism grows and Christianity falters, I watch while the numbers swell for those who have given up on the church, and my heart breaks. And I believe American Evangelicals, Political Evangelicals in this unholy regime have caused many to leave the faith. Best wishes to you and yours.
Amen and amen.
Thank you for posting these sentiments on mixing religion and politics. This was a challenge out the voting booth today.
I would hope that if I had lived in Europe during the 1930-1940s I too would have had the courage to stand up against hatred, instead of keeping safe and silent, despite the repercussions of doing so.
There are a lot of safe and silent Christians in hiding at the moment, afraid to speak up. But we’re at a point in American history when the time for silence is over. Something is about to happen, for better or worse. I’m hoping, voting, and praying for better.