In the Elizabeth Dias New York Times article I'm taking as conventional wisdom about the religious implications of the Biden transition, she summarizes:
... His arrival comes after four years in which conservative Christianity has reigned in America’s highest halls of power, embodied in white evangelicals laser-focused on ending abortion and guarding against what they saw as encroachments on their freedoms. Their devotion to former President Donald J. Trump was so fervent that many showed up in Washington on Jan. 6 to protest the election results.
But looking backward and forward, I wonder if we can't learn more from Christy Thomas, a former evangelical who eventually liberated herself to become an United Methodist minister and a consistent voice for a generous Jesus. She pulls no punches:
Who are they, these decent people who still remain as true believers in Mr. Trump, insisting that he won the election and that the Jan. 6 protestors were really Antifa adherents? What motivates them? What makes them tick?
For the most part, they tend to be avid readers of the Bible. They do so with this much pre-determined: The Bible is without error and therefore trustworthy. The commands therein are to be believed and acted upon. And it was written with the 21st century U.S. in mind and in a direct line with prophetic words in the ancient texts. ...
As a rule, these good people belong to a church with a charismatic male pastor with a gift for teaching and explaining the Bible. God is male, and God’s spokesperson must also be male.
Furthermore, and this is key, these believers operate under the understanding that they should not question or in any way hinder the person who is in leadership, whether it be in the church or in the nation. ...
She goes on to explain the extremely convenient (and authoritarian) reading these people draw from the story in the first book of Samuel, 24th chapter, about ancient Israel's kings: King Saul (a bad dude) and David (an obedient subject and hero).
Apparently these folks don't read the earlier passage in the same book (1 Samuel 8) in which God warns that the Israelites won't like having a king who will conscript their sons to wars and seize their flocks and fields for the king's own.
Christy Thomas found no remedy for white Christian evangelicalism than to get out. Her conclusion is poignant:
... when their leaders tell them that God has chosen Mr. Trump for at least another four years, they have one job: make sure that it happens, so God’s will is indeed done on earth as it is in heaven.
... I lived and breathed this world for years. By being so sure God is indeed in charge and busy choosing my leaders, my job became amazingly simple: do everything possible to support those leaders, no matter the personal cost I may need to pay. ...I spent years and years, twisting my mind into knots, trying to make it work. I also endured significant horrors in my private life before I finally could no longer deal with the discordance. Eventually, I was both kicked out and also walked out voluntarily.
• • •
The Pew Forum Religious Landscape Study counts 25 percent of the U.S. population as white evangelical. It also shows that most are Boomers or older; the 18-29 cohort isn't buying it. This particular perversion of the religious impulse may be waning in post-Trump time, though such authors as Posner insist we should never underestimate the profitable political infrastructure which the authoritarian Christian right thrives on on.
• • •
U.S. religious landscape 2021:
Evangelical Christians: but how can they?
White Christian insurrectionists and fellow travelers
A coming out for liberal religion
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