Election 2020 (Part 3): An Appeal to Christians on Both Sides of the Political Aisle–Political Idolatry and the Beast (and what Christians need to do to resist it)

Here we are, a day before the 2020 presidential election, and I want to give a few final thoughts to wrap up my two previous posts. Call it a “Christian response to our politics,” if you will. In particular, this post really is addressed to Christians more than anyone else.

I want to first say that it should be no surprise that true Christians can differ in their political views. Throughout my entire life, I’ve known Christians who are more liberal and Christians who are more conservative—Christians who usually vote Democrat and Christians who usually vote Republican. I grew up within the Evangelicalism of the 80s-90s, and even though my family tended to be more politically conservative, it was always disturbing to see that throughout that time of the rise of the “Moral Majority” and the “Religious Right” that much of conservative Evangelicalism committed the sin of mistaking the GOP party platform for the Kingdom of God. It always came down to one issue, and one issue alone—abortion. Thus, the result was that for many conservative Evangelicals, presidential elections took on the trappings of a religious crusade, where all Democrats were godless, immoral secularists. I mean, how on earth could a Christian vote for Bill Clinton? A presidential candidate’s personal morality, along with his commitment to end abortion—were the only things that mattered, it seemed, in the Evangelical world.

That was essentially how Evangelicalism got radically politicized. To be a “true Christian” was to vote Republican—at least that was the strong implication. But there is something inherently wrong with that kind of thinking, and over time, when that sort of politicization happens, the Christian faith becomes indistinguishable from partisan party politics. Needless to say, it eventually turns people off. That is one reason why so many people have left Evangelicalism and have become so disgusted and disillusioned with it. Like I said, even though I grew up in Evangelicalism and have always been more conservative in my political views, I never liked it when Evangelicals blurred the line between Christianity and politics.

Sadly, though, especially over these past few years, I’ve seen this exact same mentality and politicization happening among many ex-Evangelicals who now consider themselves Christian progressives. They have the exact same mindset but are just one the opposite end of the political spectrum. Instead of saying, “How can a real Christian vote for a Democrat?” it is now, “How can a real Christian vote for a Republican?” And if you disagree with them politically, they seek to slander you in the same kind of way “Moral Majority” Evangelicals slandered any Christian who voted for a Democrat in the 80s-90s. Ex-Evangelicals have accused me of having “fascist sympathies” because I have said Antifa’s rioting is a bad thing. I’ve been accused of being racist and “praising Robert E. Lee” because, even though I said I would like Confederate monuments taken down in a proper, legal way, I was not for vigilante mobs just ripping them down. I’ve been accused of being a woman-hating sexist because I joked about the fact that Elizabeth Warren really isn’t native American.

That kind of mentality, whether it comes from Christian conservatives, Christian progressives, or ex-Evangelicals is poison, plain and simple. Now, I want to see Christians in both parties, not only being the conscience of each party, but also being examples on how to conduct oneself and bear Christ’s image within an imperfect country and imperfect political system that, for all its faults, has done a pretty good job over the past 250 years. I want to see Christians in both parties be the ones who will make principled stances on Christian values, even if they disagree with other Christians on the precise way to best reflect those values. I want to see Christians be honest enough to call out the sins and the sleaze that happen within their preferred party. And I want to see Christians, regardless of their political leanings and choices, be the ones to stand up and insist that one still respect people who differ in their political views.

Sadly, though, I don’t see that kind of thing happening in our public discourse. In I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul chastised the Corinthian believers because they were aligning with different leaders and forgetting that Christ was Lord of all. The result was that there were deep divisions arising in that church, and so Paul had to address it, rather harshly at times. Although the situation and culture has changed, I think a lot of similarities can be seen between that first century Corinthian church and the modern American political climate so many Christians find themselves in. Why is that?

To get right to the point, I think modern American politics has effectively become the real religion of most people—and sadly, this includes many Christians. It is political idolatry, plain and simple. And, with all kinds of idolatry (or ideology), any deviation from the cult is seen as a threat that must be attacked and crushed. And why? Because deep down, we know idols are false. Idols are all image with no life in them. Idols crumble and fail. We know this deep down, but man, they look so pretty, they give us the illusion of safety and security. They tell us we are the ones who are right and everyone else is wrong—and that kind of bigotry makes us feel good.

But the fact is the worshipping of idols—those images that have eyes and ears and mouths, but that cannot really see or hear or speak the truth—inevitably turns their worshippers into like the things they worship. You become like the thing you worship. Worship God, in whose image you are made, and you become a true human being who can see, hear, and speak God’s truth. Worship and idol—in this case a political image—and you become a political animal that is blind and deaf to the truth, and that is ruled by its beast-like instincts and that can’t speak an intelligible word, only snarls, grunts, and howls against anything you deem a threat.

Christians shouldn’t conduct themselves in that way. But politics are seductive and play upon our biases and fears—and therefore it is really easy to get sucked into that kind of political idolatry that is nothing more than a cult of personality reinforced by propaganda from any array of talking heads on social media. Don’t kid yourself, though, it is ultimately nothing short of beast-like, and Christians are called to resist that kind of beast.

Of course, the beast of Revelation was seen as the Roman emperor, the monarch of the known world. His identity was clear. Here in America, though, there is no monarchy. Our republic has set up a system where the people vote for their chief executive every four years, which, along with our three branches of government, acts as a safeguard against any kind of authoritarian, beast-like ruler from gaining total power. To continue my allusion to Revelation, though, I’m convinced that the dragon, the power behind the beast, is a pretty crafty himself, and, if he can’t call a solitary beast-like ruler from the sea, he can certainly corrupt things so that even a system set up to prevent the rise of a beast can, in and of itself, become a beast-like system.

This calls for wisdom, especially on the part of Christians. We should realize that there is always the danger, no matter the political system, of that system becoming corrupted and devolving into some sort of totalitarianism. Not necessarily a hard totalitarianism of an authoritarian dictator (like Hitler, Stalin, or Mao), but more of a soft totalitarianism, where, for the sake off feeling safe, voters just accept the status quo, where politicians play the election game, say the right things to get elected, but then once in office never really get anything done. That kind of political charade can take on the characteristics of the beast in its own way.

We should always vote for the politicians we think best, but we should always retain a certain amount of suspicion and demand accountability at all times. Bill Belichick, the coach of the New England Patriots, is famous for a certain mantra he always hammers into his players: “Do your job.” If each player does his job, then the team works together, and they succeed. If a player doesn’t, though, that player won’t be around for too long. That, I propose, is how we should view our politicians, be it the president, a senator, or a congressman. We should view them as our employees, and we should constantly demand that they do their job.

But those who succumb to the temptation of political idolatry—something that the very political system and political propaganda are constantly tempting us to do—their chosen candidates are elevated to something more that the employees of America. We just want them to look good and say the right things in their speeches so that we feel safe. If they do that, we as a voting public will keep voting the same people in time after time, even though they don’t do their jobs. And because of their inaction, the bureaucracy becomes yet another incarnation of the beast—a lazy and gluttonous beast whom we feed with our votes and whose inaction results in the crushed lives of the poor and needy. This isn’t a “GOP vs. Democrat” thing by the way. For decades the middle class, working class, minority communities have been decimated because of the lazy political actions of politicians—GOP and Democrats alike. Yet nothing of substance really ever gets addressed.

As shocked as I was at the 2016 election, I was even more shocked to see just how “beast-like” our government bureaucracy was. Again, I had no love for Trump, but (as I laid out in Part 2) the actions that have unfolded over the past four years have shocked me even more. The beast doesn’t like to be poked, and let’s face it, the only one brazen enough to poke a beast is bound to be somewhat of a $%#$@%. In any case, I came to see that the beast isn’t really just the government bureaucracy—it is us, the voting public. We are the ones who keep voting in politicians who prove to be spineless and ineffective. It is no wonder that Trump is such an offense, not just to Washington DC, but to so many Americans. We as a body politic are suffering from a political cancer and have taken on some of the characteristics of the beast because we have allowed ourselves to become political idolaters. We have started to be come like the partisan politics we worship. We are wild elephants and wild asses. It is obvious to everyone on social media.

Now, it is true that there are political idolaters on “the Right” who think Trump is the messiah. By the same token, there are political idolaters on “the Left” who are convinced he is the anti-Christ who is a threat to their own political messiah. They’re both wrong. The way I see it, Trump is chemotherapy and our body politic is suffering from cancer. Nobody likes chemo—chemo kills all the cells it touches. But the hope is that in the process, it gets all the cancer, so that the surviving good cells can recover. Sadly, I don’t think the cancer is gone. I think more rounds of chemo are necessary. At least, that is how I see things at the present time.

And that brings me back (in a roundabout way) to my original point. Don’t be fooled into thinking electing Trump OR Biden is going to be the magic pill that makes everything better. There are bigger societal and cultural challenges that cannot be fixed by politics. They will only be able to be solved if we stop our political idolatry, take a look at ourselves, and realize that we are much of the problem. Poisonous and hateful rhetoric isn’t just coming from Trump’s Twitter-feed. It’s everywhere…and Christians, both conservatives and progressives, have let their tongues become a raging fire (James 3:1-12). We need to set an example to everyone by taming our own tongues, especially in light of the inevitable post-election madness that is bound to happen.

It begins by making a point to respect the decisions of people who don’t vote the way you do. Yes, that can be a challenge, especially when people don’t show that respect to you. Here’s how I see it though: If you honestly agree with Joe Biden’s proposals and if you just do not agree with (or like!) Trump, then vote for Biden—I’m not going to think any less of you. That is how our democracy works. And if I make the decision to vote for Trump (and I’ve given my reasons in these posts), I expect you to not think any less of me. If either one of us starts calling the other person a Commie, a Socialist-loving baby-killer, or a fascist, misogynistic racist—let’s take that as a clear sign that the one who utters that garbage is a political idolater who is reflecting the image of the beast.

At the same time, we all know that there will be some who vote for Biden because they really do think Trump is worse than Joseph Stalin, and there will be some who vote for Trump because they are convinced that Biden is involved in the Satanic pedophilia ring that QAnon is helping to expose. Let’s not engage with such nutjobs. Let’s not project the worst and most insane of the other side of the political aisle onto honest, sincere voters who simply don’t vote the same way we do. Let’s vote our conscience, let’s be able to articulate clear reasons for our decisions, and let’s then hold whomever we vote for accountable by insisting that they do their job.

I’m sorry if this post was a bit rambling, but it’s been tumbling around in my mind this election season. I just wanted to share it. Now, hold onto your hats…chances are the rest of November is going to get bumpy, so steer clear of any stampeding beasts.