Saturday, January 12, 2019

Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Authenticity and Political Legitimacy

 By Rudy Barnes, Jr.
Authenticity has become a political buzzword in America.  It’s the flip-side of fake news. Reality is another word for authenticity, and reality TV has sanctified vulgar but popular concepts of reality, no matter how false or absurd they may be by objective criteria.  Fake authenticity now challenges Christian morality as the source of America’s standards of political legitimacy.

Donald Trump has distorted authenticity to promote the lies of populist nationalism, but he’s not the first.  Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin all did the same. They were authentic bad guys, but most people in their nations accepted them as legitimate leaders.  Likewise American democracy has bestowed legitimacy on the immoral leadership of Donald Trump.

Christianity bears considerable responsibility for America’s moral malaise.  Over 70% of Americans claim to be Christians, and 80% of white Christians elected Donald Trump as their president.  The church has its focus on popularity and has been a sanctimonious sideshow to Trump’s populist politics by either supporting them as God’s will or ignoring their immorality.

Jesus taught that it is God’s will to reconcile and redeem humanity, and that Satan’s will is to divide and conquer; but Satan does a convincing imitation of God and promotes his authenticity in the church and politics.  In the cosmic battle of good versus evil, it’s obvious which side most politicians support, and which side is winning the popularity contest.        

America’s politics are polarized by identity groups that put their own special interests ahead of providing for the common good.  America’s two-party duopoly lacks any centrist component to mitigate its partisan polarization, and both parties use the rhetoric of authenticity to promote divisive partisan objectives that ignore the common good.      

Republicans include an unlikely mix of upper income whites motivated by Ayn Rand objectivism who exploit others to promote their wealth and power, and lower income whites who fear that their white supremacy in politics is eroding (it is).  Democrats include a number of minority identity groups that subordinate the common good to their parochial political priorities.

There is little indication that America’s polarized politics can be reconciled.  They are increasingly paralyzed by divisive identity groups whose leaders motivate and further polarize voters by defining authenticity in their own narrow interests, and they consider compromise a sign of weakness.  If politics is the art of compromise, it has become a lost art in America.

American Christianity suffers from the same malaise as its politics.  For most white Christians, Jesus and his disciples are no longer the authentic Christians.  They have been replaced by Donald Trump and his evangelical disciples, who include Jerry Falwell, Jr., Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Paula White and Tony Perkins.  Their Republican gospel is one of popularity and prosperity in America’s politically polarized materialistic and hedonistic culture.

Jesus taught an altruistic gospel of reconciliation and redemption based on serving the common good.  America has sacrificed that altruistic ideal to the parochial interests of identity groups led by so-called authentic leaders who discourage compromise and reconciliation.  It will take a moral revival in America to preserve the legitimacy of American religion and politics from the corruption of populist politicians who promote their power with the false virtue of authenticity.
              

Notes:
 
Michael Gerson has described Trump’s “authenticity” as merely moral laziness and cruelty.  He also criticized newly-elected Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) for the same offense. “She explained her use of the mf-word against President Trump as the expression of her “very passionate” nature. The same argument is more familiar from Trump defenders, who explain away his endless vulgarity and malice as quirks of an oversize personality. Isn’t it refreshing when politicians speak what is really on their mind?”
“Trump is seen as an authentic communicator [by his supporters], even when he lies  — because the author of those lies is somehow true to himself. That is not the way a president should act. That is not the way a man should act. That is not the way a human being should act. This form of authenticity is just the refusal to master the self. It is really moral laziness, and cruelty, and deception, and decadence. And the repetition of these failures should not numb us. It should serve to reinforce our conviction that Trump is a man of bad character, unworthy of respect, unworthy of trust and unworthy of high office.”

Based on an interview of Jerry Falwell, Jr., Christine Emba described the evangelicals’ infallible new faith: The gospel of Trump.  Falwell “defended his unwavering support of President Trump” claim “that it was a distortion of Christ’s teachings to suggest that because He taught love and forgiveness, ‘the United States as a nation should be loving and forgiving.’ According to Falwell’s creative theology, Christ ‘went out of his way to say that’s the earthly kingdom, I’m about the heavenly kingdom,’ and loving your neighbor as yourself only applies to the latter.  Falwell “then meditated on the uselessness of the poor--’A poor person never gave anyone a job. A poor person never gave anybody charity, not of any real volume. It’s just common sense to me.’ He then suggested that it might be immoral for Christians not to support Trump.”
“While the Liberty University president purports to be an evangelical leader, his statements are in total contradiction to Christian truth. This isn’t just benign confusion: This is heresy. And, like many heretics, Falwell and his fellow evangelical Trump apologists are on their way to founding a new religion, one in direct conflict with the old. This new religion doesn’t have much to do with Christ at all. Instead, it centers Trump as savior above any other god. ...A disconcerting number of self-professed Christians have transitioned...to spreading the gospel of wealth creation and fighting the ‘radical left.’ National identity is what ties this body of believers together, and ‘the wall’ has become its icon of hope, pushing the cross to the side. Near the end of his interview, Falwell was asked if there was anything that Trump could do to endanger his support from evangelical leaders. His confident answer? “No.”

Related commentary:

(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
(2/8/15): Promoting Religion Through Evangelism: Bringing Light or Darkness?
(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(4/19/15): Jesus: A Prophet, God’s Only Son, or the Logos?  http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/04/jesus-prophet-god-only-son-or-logos.html
(5/24/15): De Oppresso Liber: Where Religion and Politics Intersect
(6/28/15): Confronting the Evil Among Us
(7/12/15): Reconciliation in Race and Religion: The Need for Compatibility, not Conformity   http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/07/reconciliation-in-race-and-religion.html
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(8/30/15): What Is Truth?
(9/20/15): Politics and Religious Polarization
(11/22/15): Dualism: Satan’s Evil Versus God’s Goodness
(12/26/15): Resettling Refugees: Multiculturalism versus Assimilation
(1/2/16): God in Three Concepts
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/7/16): Jesus Meets Muhammad on Issues of Religion and Politics
(2/27/16): Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy in Faith, Freedom and Politics
(3/12/16): Religion, Race and the Deterioration of Democracy in America
(3/19/16): Religion, Democracy and Human Depravity
(3/26/16): Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery
(5/14/16): The Arrogance of Power, Humility and a Politics of Reconciliation
(7/9/16): Back to the Future: Race, Religion, Rights and a Politics of Reconciliation
(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
(10/22/16): The Need for a Politics of Reconciliation in a Polarized Democracy
(11/26/16): Irreconcilable Differences and the Demise of Democracy
(12/31/16): E Pluribus Unum, Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(3/4/17): Ignorance and Reason in Religion and Politics
(3/11/17): Accountability and the Stewardship of Democracy
(3/18/17): Moral Ambiguity in Religion and Politics
(4/8/17): Politics as a Religion and Religion in 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?
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(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
(9/23/17): Tribalism and the American Civil Religion  
(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
(12/9/17): Religion, Race and Identity Politics     
(12/16/17): Can Democracy Survive the Trump Era?
(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
(6/15/18): The Prosperity Gospel: Where Culture Trumps Religion in Legitimacy and Politics
(7/7/18): Whose America Is This? Musings on Conflicting Standards of Legitimacy in Religion and Politics http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/07/whose-america-is-this-musings-on.html.
(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
(8/11/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Changing Morality in Religion and 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
(10/27/18): 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?
(11/17/18): Christianity and Clashing Identities in Politics and Religion
(11/24/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Christianity and the Legitimacy of Democracy http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/11/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.
(12/1/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Mystical Logos
(12/8/18): Trump and the Apostles’ Creed: Is It a Prayer or a Profession of Faith?
(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
(12/29/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Justice in Religion and Politics
(1/5/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Building Political Walls or Bridges
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/01/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.


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Saturday, January 5, 2019

Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Building Political Walls or Bridges

 By Rudy Barnes, Jr.
America is caught up in a timeless conflict on whether to build political walls or bridges for immigrants.  Over 500 years before the coming of Jesus, King Cyrus of Persia/Babylon liberated Jews from exile, and when they returned to Israel they expelled all non-Jews.  They built walls, but later Jesus taught that we should build bridges rather than walls for others.

The 45th chapter of Isaiah chronicles Cyrus’ liberating the Jews from exile in Babylon, and the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah chronicle the actions of the Jews afterward cleansing their homeland of non-Jews.  The Hebrew Bible emphasizes Jewish ethnic exclusivity in the Holy Land, sometimes with violence, from the time of Joshua at Jericho to Ezra and Nehemiah.

Jesus was a maverick Jew who opposed religious and ethnic exclusivity by emphasizing universal altruism with love over law in the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors--including our neighbors of other races and religions--as we love ourselves.  But to gain popularity and power, the church has promoted worshiping Jesus as the alter ego of God in the Trinity rather than following Jesus as the word of God.

That misplaced emphasis allowed Christianity to become the world’s most popular and powerful religion, and the history of Christianity is replete with stories of religious exclusivity, sometimes with violence, from the Crusades to the Inquisitions and beyond.  In fact, Christians may have outdone their Jewish forbears in religious exclusivity, despite the teachings of Jesus.

Religious history has a way of returning to haunt its devout descendants.  The story of Cyrus, a non-Jew, as God’s chosen liberator of the Jews, has been embraced by evangelical Christians like Lance Wallnau, who acknowledge that Donald Trump is immoral, but believe that he was chosen by God “to restore the crumbling walls that separate us from cultural collapse.”

It’s not hard to extrapolate an anti-immigration bias of Christian fundamentalists based on Old Testament stories that preempt the teachings of Jesus.  Such fundamentalist religious beliefs undermine the foundations of democracy in a pluralistic world. Ironically, modern Jews are more likely to embrace the universal altruism taught of Jesus than most white Christians.

Over 70% of Americans consider themselves Christians, but what kind of Christians?  Are they wall builders like the ancient Jews who returned to Israel after their captivity in Babylon, or are they liberators of the oppressed (de oppresso  liber) like Cyrus, and as Jesus saw himself when he spoke in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21; see also Isaiah 61:1)?

Over 154 years ago, Abraham Lincoln challenged Americans who had endured a terrible Civil War to build bridges of political reconciliation and peace, not walls of hate and violence.  ““With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds . . . and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

In the years that followed, the walls of racial hatred persisted in America and once again have polarized American politics and threaten to unravel the fabric of American democracy.  That’s evident in the immigration policies of Donald Trump and his evangelical supporters. The future of democracy depends on whether Christians choose to build political walls or bridges.


Notes:

Katherine Stewart of the NY Times has opined on Why Trump Reigns as King Cyrus and the nature of the Christian nationalists who support Donald Trump as their own God-sent liberator: Today’s Christian nationalists talk a good game about respecting the Constitution and America’s founders, but at bottom they sound as if they prefer autocrats to democrats. In fact, what they really want is a king. “It is God that raises up a king,” according to Paula White, a prosperity gospel preacher who has advised Mr. Trump.  The great thing about kings like Cyrus, as far as today’s Christian nationalists are concerned, is that they don’t have to follow rules. They are the law. This makes them ideal leaders in paranoid times. ...Of course, there are those on the Christian right who have made a show of holding their noses while supporting Mr. Trump to advance their aims of stacking the Supreme Court or ending abortion. But we are kidding ourselves if we think their continuing support for him is purely transactional.  ...This isn’t the religious right we thought we knew. The Christian nationalist movement today is authoritarian, paranoid and patriarchal at its core. They aren’t fighting a culture war. They’re making a direct attack on democracy itself. See https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/opinion/trump-evangelicals-cyrus-king.html.

Jesus taught that leaders should be servants, in contrast to conventional political wisdom that expects leaders to be forceful and authoritative; Christians need to decide which model they support in politics:
Mark 9: 33-35 (NIV): 33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.  35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
Mark 10:42-44 (NIV): 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”
:     
On why the words of Abraham Lincoln 154 years ago are so appropriate at the beginning of 2019, see          

   
Related Commentary:

(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
(2/8/15): Promoting Religion Through Evangelism: Bringing Light or Darkness?
(3/8/15): Wealth, Politics, Religion and Economic Justice
(4/12/15): Faith as a Source of Morality and Law: The Heart of Legitimacy
(4/19/15): Jesus: A Prophet, God’s Only Son, or the Logos? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/04/jesus-prophet-god-only-son-or-logos.html
(5/24/15): De Oppresso Liber: Where Religion and Politics Intersect
(5/31/15): Liberation from Economic Oppression: A Human Right or Obligation of Faith? http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/05/liberation-from-economic-oppression.html
(6/28/15): Confronting the Evil Among Us
(7/12/15): Reconciliation in Race and Religion: The Need for Compatibility, not Conformity http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/07/reconciliation-in-race-and-religion.html
(8/9/15): Balancing Individual Rights with Collective Responsibilities
(9/20/15): Politics and Religious Polarization
(10/4/15): Faith and Religion: The Same but Different
(11/22/15): Dualism: Satan’s Evil Versus God’s Goodness
(12/26/15): Resettling Refugees: Multiculturalism versus Assimilation
(1/2/16): God in Three Concepts
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
(2/7/16): Jesus Meets Muhammad on Issues of Religion and Politics
(2/27/16): Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy in Faith, Freedom and Politics
(3/12/16): Religion, Race and the Deterioration of Democracy in America
(3/19/16): Religion, Democracy and Human Depravity
(3/26/16): Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery
(5/14/16): The Arrogance of Power, Humility and a Politics of Reconciliation
(7/9/16): Back to the Future: Race, Religion, Rights and a Politics of Reconciliation
(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
(10/22/16): The Need for a Politics of Reconciliation in a Polarized Democracy
(11/26/16): Irreconcilable Differences and the Demise of Democracy
(12/31/16): E Pluribus Unum, Religion and a Politics of Reconciliation
(3/4/17): Ignorance and Reason in Religion and Politics
(3/11/17): Accountability and the Stewardship of Democracy
(3/18/17): Moral Ambiguity in Religion and Politics
(4/8/17): Politics as a Religion and Religion in 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?
(7/1/17): Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy
(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
(9/23/17): Tribalism and the American Civil Religion  
(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
(12/9/17): Religion, Race and Identity Politics
(12/16/17): Can Democracy Survive the Trump Era?
(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
(6/15/18): The Prosperity Gospel: Where Culture Trumps Religion in Legitimacy and Politics
(7/7/18): Whose America Is This? Musings on Conflicting Standards of Legitimacy in Religion and Politics http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/07/whose-america-is-this-musings-on.html.
(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
(8/11/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Changing Morality in Religion and 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
(10/27/18): 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?
(11/17/18): Christianity and Clashing Identities in Politics and Religion
(11/24/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Christianity and the Legitimacy of Democracy http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/11/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.
(12/1/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Mystical Logos
(12/8/18): Trump and the Apostles’ Creed: Is It a Prayer or a Profession of Faith?
(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
(12/29/18): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Justice in Religion and Politics

          

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