It is interesting that the goals of democratic political systems and religious systems have some similarities. They both establish rules of conduct to support their members or constituents. Religions accomplish it through faith-based tenets. Democratic governments do it through civil laws passed by legislative assemblies. However, there is one huge difference between these systems that many of our country’s citizens seem to forget.
The goal of each church or religious organization is to provide a clear and fixed set of beliefs that will attract as many people of like mind to join in its assemblies and activities. Religions have specific dogma and provide a discipline that supports their basic beliefs. What makes a religion develop is membership conformity to its central religious tenets. This establishes criteria for excluding those who do not agree.
The goal of civil governments, however, is based on a different premise. Civil, democratic governments try to find ways to include its citizens of all different religions and cultures in the making of laws for that jurisdiction. In fact, a primary purpose of parliamentary procedures is to guarantee full consideration of minority opinions before a vote is taken. What makes a democracy work, is broad cultural knowledge, a sense of acceptance, fairness, and flexibility.
In recent decades evangelical Christians have become politically active with the goal of making our state and national civil governments reflect their conservative religious beliefs. Their goal is to elect representatives and appoint judges at all levels, to enact and interpret law according to their evangelical beliefs. Other perspectives are not important, because evangelicals believe they know what God wants.
When inflexible religious faith gains political power the core of our democracy weakens. Dissenters are treated as heretics and every maneuver is used to label such opponents as un-American extremists and to silence them.
In my opinion, one’s spirituality can and should be consistent with scientific knowledge, human experience, reason, and a perspective of unconditional love and justice towards all. Anything else is a populist faith based on hearsay that requires relentless propaganda and retribution.
It is my belief that God has no favorites. We are all to treat one another with equal love and respect. This message is the point of Great Commandments as well as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story Jesus used to interpret the commandments, according to the author of the Gospel of Luke.
Evangelical Christianity is a theology created by human thinking at the lowest level of human understanding. It appeals to the human mind’s tendency toward the superstitious, and replaces reason with fear, guilt, and magical solutions. Worst of all it is held as absolute truth so believers can absolve themselves of any sense of personal responsibility for what they say or do. It is an unethical approach to life that reverses the point of Jesus’ actual teachings.
Many evangelicals behave like cult members with a magical, mystical Jesus as their central idol. Biblical scholars have known for centuries that the historical Jesus did not teach doctrine consistent with fundamentalist Christian dogma. Despite this, many churches do not educate their lay members about these findings. In fact, fundamentalists have done the opposite. They have opened their own schools and universities to perpetuate in young minds fundamentalist dogma unfettered by Biblical, historical, or scientific truth.
Evangelicals can teach whatever they wish to each other in their homes and institutions. However, because they are attempting to inject our national political system with their untenable theology, it is important that more of us express our metaphysical (non-literal) Christian faith, to balance the public discussion. It is also important we respect and maintain our country's traditional separation of church and state.
