By Rudy Barnes, Jr., November 10, 2018
Are we approaching the end times--a cataclysmic event that will end our culture as we know it? If so, will it be God’s one-time rapture or another of Satan’s man-made ruptures? Edmund Burke once warned Americans that in a democracy “we would forge our own shackles.” We did it 158 years ago, and it appears that we’re on the verge of doing it again.
The passages in the Gospels that describe the end times most likely refer to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It was precipitated by a Jewish insurrection that invited the Roman reprisals that brought the end times to ancient Judaism. Christian America suffered an end times from 1860-1865, and Christian Europe suffered a similar fate from 1937-1945; and in 9/11 an Islamist Jihad was initiated to replace Western democracy with an Islamic caliphate.
One thing is certain. God was not the cause of those apocalyptic and self-destructive attempts at end times, and while Satan may have motivated those who caused them, it’s a cop-out to blame those horrors on Satan. We are fully responsible for our own violent acts of self-destruction, even when they are motivated by Satan and done in the name of God.
Those apocalyptic and cataclysmic end times events shared one salient factor: They were all initiated by religious zealots and pit one tribe against others for political dominance. It brings to mind the folk ballads, Where Have All the Flowers Gone? and Blowin’ In the Wind. When will we ever learn? After the 2018 election, the answer is still blowin’ in the wind.
Today as in the past, most Jews, Christians and Muslims interpret cataclysmic events in terms of their faith. Jesus warned us to keep watch for the end times, and when facing his own end times in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus urged his disciples to watch and pray. That’s the message on the stained glass window above our altar.
But are we keeping watch? God’s will is to reconcile and redeem humanity, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer, using fear and hatred to defeat the reconciling power of God’s love; and Satan does a convincing imitation of God in the church and in politics, as evidenced in last week’s election. Americans remain as polarized as ever by partisan politics.
The irony is that Christians elected a man who is the antithesis of Christian morality as their president in 2016, and most continued to support his fear-mongering and divisive politics in 2018. With partisan anger dominating politics, America needs moderates to promote a politics of reconciliation, or intractable political hatreds will lead to the end times of our democracy.
The American civil religion has lost its moral compass, and that’s because the church, in its myriad forms, has neglected the moral stewardship of democracy. The altruistic standards of Christian morality no longer guide American politics. We need to restore those moral standards of legitimacy and promote a politics of reconciliation to avoid the end times for our democracy.
A healthy democracy requires balancing individual wants and rights with providing for the common good. That’s the moral imperative of the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves, including those of other races and religions. It’s a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims that we have failed to apply to our politics.
The end times are described in the scriptures of both Christians and Muslims. They can be understood as the end of life, the end of an era, or the end of the world. Is American democracy approaching its end times? We haven’t yet seen God’s Rapture, but we have seen Satan’s ruptures of justice in the radical right politics promoted by evangelical Christians.
If we ignore the warning signs, we do so at our peril. Do we have a prayer? Yes, but since we must save our democracy from ourselves it will take more than a prayer. So long as a majority of Americans claim to be Christians, they must promote a moral reformation of their religion and politics to avoid the end times of their democracy--and it must begin in the church.
Notes:
Scriptural references to the end times, or eschatological discourse, are found in Matthew chapter 24 and Mark chapter 13. The Qur’an and Hadith also include references to a return of Jesus on the Last Day. For the scriptures and commentary, see End Times: the eschatological discourse in The Teachings of Jesus and Muhammad on Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy, at pp 183-190, posted in Resources at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/.
A split America reasserted its divisions in the 2018 midterm elections. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-split-america-reassert-its-divisions-in-the-midterm-elections/2018/11/06/31475b7c-dfa9-11e8-b3f0-62607289efee_story.html?utm_term=.61a1c5451cb3&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
President Trump used apocalyptic language and falsehoods leading up to the 2018 elections. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/full-trumpism-the-presidents-apocalyptic-attacks-reach-a-new-level-of-falsity/2018/11/04/8e4fb87e-e043-11e8-b759-3d88a5ce9e19_story.html?utm_term=.858c7e66a7fb&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1.
On November 4, Robert Samuelson said, We already know who the lost the midterms. We all did. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-already-know-who-lost-the-midterms-we-all-did/2018/11/04/fbdc2680-decb-11e8-b732-3c72cbf131f2_story.html?utm_term=.02e285d953be&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1.
David Brooks has described the crisis of America’s polarized partisan politics and the central challenge of the age: “...Republicans have flocked to Trump’s cramped nationalism and abandoned their creedal story. That’s left the Democrats with a remarkable opportunity. They could. provide a coherent, unifying vehicle to celebrate the American dream.” Brooks lamented that the Democrats have squandered that opportunity. “...After 30 years of multiculturalism, the bonds of racial solidarity trump the bonds of national solidarity. Democrats have a very strong story to tell about what we owe the victims of racism and oppression. They do not have a strong story to tell about what we owe to other Americans, how we define our national borders and what binds us as Americans.
Here’s the central challenge of our age: Over the next few decades, America will become a majority-minority country. ...Republicans have rendered themselves irrelevant to the great generational challenge before us. But if the Democrats are going to lead this transition, they’ll need not just a mind-set that celebrates diversity, but also a mind-set that creates unity. They’ll need policies that integrate different groups into a coherent nation, with shared projects, a common language and culture and clear borders.” See https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/opinion/democrats-midterms-immigration-nation.html.
David Frum has argued the case for liberal Republicanism, asserting that the Republican Party should open its doors to moderate conservatives; but that seems unlikely with Trump and his Republican minions committed to the purity of their radical right politics. It’s the same on the other side. President Obama acknowledged that partisan politics are “a hostile competition between tribes and races and religions.”
After the election Frum noted that “The midterm elections delivered a less than a fully satisfying result for Democratic voters, but an ideal outcome for the Democratic Party.” It gave Democrats control of the House, but strengthened Republican control of the Senate; and it checked Democrats “self-destructive tendencies” to promote a liberal candidate like Beto O’Rourke to run for president, since there is “no progressive majority in America.” ...Finally, the vote reminded all concerned Americans how very, very difficult will be the struggle to preserve and restore liberal democracy after Trumpocracy.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/why-democrats-won-2018-midterms/575179/
Related Commentary:
(12/8/14): Religion and Reason
(1/4/15): Religion and New Beginnings: Salvation and Reconciliation in the Family of God
(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(6/28/15): Confronting the Evil Among Us
(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?
(11/22/15): Dualism: Satan’s Evil Versus God’s Goodness
(1/2/16): God in Three Concepts
(1/16/16): Religion, Politics and Public Expectations
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(4/30/16): The Relevance of Religion to Politics
(5/7/16): Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(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
(9/17/16): A Moral Revival to Restore Legitimacy to Our Politics
(9/24/16): The Evolution of Religion and Politics from Oppression to Freedom
(11/5/16): Religion, Liberty and Justice at Home and Abroad
(12/17/16): Discipleship in a Democracy: A Test of Faith, Legitimacy and Politics
(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
(7/22/17): Hell No!
(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.
(12/2/17): How Religious Standards of Legitimacy Shape Politics, for Good or Bad
(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
(1/20/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Morality and Religion in Politics
(1/27/18): Musings on Conflicting Concepts of Christian Morality in Politics
(2/24/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Religion, Freedom and Legitimacy
(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
(5/26/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Mysticism and Morality in Religion and Politics
(7/14/18): Musings on Why Christians Should Put Moral Standards Over Mystical Beliefs
(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
(8/25/18): 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
(10/13/18): Musings on a Common Word of Faith and Politics for Christians and Muslims
(10/20/18): Lamentations of an Old White Male Maverick Methodist in a Tribal Culture
(10/27/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Migrant Tidal Wave
(11/3/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist: Has God Blessed Us or Damned Us?
