It shows how democracy is under siege in Europe, Britain and
America from nationalism and autocracy. She shows how authoritarian political
movements use the news media, social media, conspiracy theories, political
polarization, and an appeal to an idealized past, to undermine individual freedoms.
It is all done in the in the name of patriotism, God and morality.
An article in the most recent issue of Time magazine shows how this has played out in Hungary under the
rule of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who took office in 2010. The article
says, “In the decade since, Hungarians have seen judges and bureaucrats
appointed for their political fealty, the media transformed into pro-government
propaganda and civil-society groups starved of resources.” The Washington-based
human rights group Freedom House says
that Hungary no longer qualifies as a full democracy.
During the pandemic in Hungary, “COVID-19 data was to be
strictly controlled, with doctors telling inquiring politicians and journalists
that they were forbidden to talk publicly about the crisis. Those who
criticized the government online faced arrest.”
“Orban has brazenly flouted Europe’s rules ensuring press freedom and an
independent judiciary.”
If that sounds like 2020 in America, it is no accident.
These are the same forces at work in our country. Americans could lose our
freedoms if the right wing in our country gets its way. If this happens, much of the fault will rest
on the shoulders of white evangelical Christianity. It is no accident that they
are cheering President Trump while he undermines confidence in the integrity of
our election.
For the last four years I have been scratching my head
trying to understand why Christians would support Donald Trump. Why would they
believe conspiracy theories? Why would they accept the demonization of Democrats,
the election process and the press? Then it dawned on me. They see these people
and institutions as the enemies of God and Christian values, in much the same
way that radical Muslims sees them as enemies of Allah and Islam.
For Christians, God is King. Anyone who opposes Godly values
is the enemy. They believe that God has the absolute right to enforce his will
on human society. Even though Jesus insisted that his kingdom was not of this
world, for 2000 years Christians have been praying: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will
be done on earth and it is in heaven.” And gosh darn it, as the people of God, Christians
have the obligation to advance God’s will on earth in these United States!
That is why evangelicals can unabashedly advocate outlawing
abortion in the United States, even if it means stacking the Supreme Court and
legislating from the bench. They see it as a moral crusade. It does not matter
that the majority of Americans believe this moral choice should be left to
individuals and not given over to the state. Individual rights and freedoms are
expendable when God’s law is concerned. For them it is proper to use the power
of the state to force people to adhere to their understanding of divine moral law.
It is not that we Christians should compromise our moral
principles. I also am pro-life. But I do not have the right to impose my
morality on people who do not share my religious values. We give that up to
live in a democracy. That is what it means to be an American. Let each person
decide according to their own conscience and faith. That is what individual
freedom, religious liberty and human rights are about.
But the Religious Right does not share my commitment to those
democratic values. That is why they love strongmen like Donald Trump. He will
do the job that career politicians trained in the values of western democracy
will not. He has no qualms about trampling on his enemies rights. Trump is willing
to force his will on the country, regardless of whether it violates the rights
of people who disagree with him. They see Trump as an instrument of Almighty
God, who has the power and the divine right to impose moral and religious
values on society. Democracy is useful if it advances God’s Kingdom. If democracy
gets in the way of God’s will, democracy be damned.
This theocratic worldview is the problem. Politicized
Christianity is the problem. A weaponized gospel that hates enemies, rather
than loving them, is the problem. Such a Christianity has no room for democracy.
It believes the fictional narrative that the United States is a Christian
nation founded on Christian values, and that these values must be maintained at
all costs - even if they go against the will of the people. People are sinners,
after all ... miserable depraved sinners. They need to be reined in. If elections
oppose the will of God, then election results are wrong. As the song says, “Our God Reigns.”
If people’s rights get in the way of the exercise of Godly values,
then rights are expendable. God’s will be done. In this worldview, Christians
have the right to discriminate against anyone who disobeys God’s will – whether
that be gays wanting to get a marriage license or buy a wedding cake, or Muslims
wanting to wear a head scarf or build a mosque in our neighborhood. This is a
“Christian nation” after all. Christian America first – under a Christian God!
This theocratic understanding of American history and identity
is one of the greatest threats to our country today. It is far more dangerous
than Central American immigrants or Islamic extremists, because right-wing
Christians have influence that those groups do not have. I never thought I would see the day when
fellow Christians would be a threat to the nation I love. But that day has come.
So are Christians the problem? We don’t have to be. We can be the solution! We can champion our Christian values within the broader framework of democratic values upon which our nation is built. We can be unapologetically Christian, but let others live according to their own faith and values. We can choose to bring in the Kingdom through moral persuasion, not government coercion. People from all religious and political perspectives can live together in freedom and peace, if we respect each other’s rights. As history teaches us, that is better for both the church and the state.
