Jesus and Foxholes: Political Idolatry, and the Hate it Brings

I haven’t been writing on my blog much for the past month. In fact, I think this is only the second post in the past 4-5 weeks. Part of the reason for that is because I’ve been busy with the courses I am currently teaching. Another reason is that I’ve been busy editing my Worldview book—it is tedious and time-consuming. And still another reason, quite frankly, is that the Kavanaugh hearings and the subsequent fall-out from those hearings have been on my mind quite a bit. In fact, my last post—two weeks ago—was devoted to the question, “What does justice look like”? in regard to the Kavanaugh hearings.

Since I wrote that, the Senate committee had another FBI background check/investigation into Ms. Ford’s allegations, the findings turned up no new corroboration, the Senate voted to confirm Kavanaugh, and, if not all of hell broke loose, certainly a few outer precincts of hell certainly did.

Conservative Evangelicals (at least some of them)
Now, on this blog, I largely try to stick to biblically-related issues. That being said, over the past three years, by virtue of doing a significant amount of writing about young earth creationism, it was inevitable that that topic bleed over into the challenges facing conservative Evangelicalism today. Simply put, I’ve said that the embrace of YECism by so many in conservative Evangelical circles has more to do with “fighting the culture war” by political means than it has to do with actual science or even proper biblical interpretation. For as soon as you say, “I don’t think Genesis 1-11 should be read as straightforward science or history,” or “Evolution is true, at least to some extent,” a YECist zealot will inevitably pepper you with questions like, “So are you for gay marriage? Are you pro-abortion? How can you call yourself a Christian if you don’t believe God’s Word?” etc.

People like that (whom I call ultra-right-wing-fundamentalists) have essentially twisted the historical Christian faith into a political ideology—or more properly, political idolatry: the GOP party platform is the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and if you don’t agree with them, then you are a “secular liberal,” and “atheist,” or a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” I should know—I’ve been burned, twice, in my career by such people: I dared to say I didn’t agree with YECist Ken Ham, and therefore I was a liberal who probably supported all those “liberal things” that are destroying our culture. Therefore, I had those right-wing Evangelical guns turned on me and my teaching career in Christian high school was blown up.

It didn’t matter that such a characterization was false (I consider myself conservative-leaning/moderate)—to far right-wing Evangelicals, any perceived deviation from their talking points and cultural sacred cows meant you are “other,” and possibly an enemy that needs to be stopped. Indeed, a legitimate criticism of much (not all) of modern-day Evangelicalism is that it has sold out to far-right politics. Because of this kind of political idolatry, many people my age and younger, who had grown up in such Evangelical environments, eventually felt frustrated and betrayed, and thus ended up rejecting the conservative Evangelical brand of Christianity of their youth in favor of either a more left-leaning, progressive brand of Christianity, or simply liberal progressivism, with no Christianity at all.

Let me be clear: rejecting a form of far-right Evangelicalism that is more political than it is Christ-centered, and that simply slaps “Jesus” and a few cherry-picked verses on to their political causes to justify them is the right thing to do. Indeed, there is possibly no greater example of blatant hypocrisy than to hear Evangelical leaders not only support Donald Trump in the 2016 election, but to actually excuse his past immoral behavior and to have the audacity to claim he was basically anointed by God. I totally get why so many of my liberal friends are so infuriated by that.

Christian Progressives (at least some of them)
But then for the past two years, culminating in the Kavanaugh hearings, I have witnessed many on the Left, and many leading Christian progressives, become positively unhinged in regard to Trump. It wasn’t just a dislike for him or a principled criticism of his policies. It was something different, and it was particularly disturbing to me.

Then about a week ago, after seeing something on a friend’s Facebook page, it hit me: many Christian progressives today have become exactly like the conservative Evangelicals that they rejected. The knock against right-wing Evangelicalism is that it had become politically-partisan, incredibly hypocritical, shockingly self-righteous, and positively hateful and intolerant toward anyone who didn’t line up perfectly with their selected political sacred cows. That is exactly what I see now with so many on within the Christian progressive camp. Not everyone, obviously, just like not everyone within Evangelicalism isn’t a far-right, self-righteous, hypocrite either. But the overall movement has certainly taken on those characteristics.

Political Idolatry
The problem isn’t in having political views or convictions. It is inevitable that everyone will have different political opinions—that’s to be expected. The problem is idolatry—political idolatry. It is when we take our political views and use them to construct our own political idols, and then slap “Jesus” or a few cherry-picked Bible verses on them. It’s the equivalent of what happened in the northern kingdom of Israel, when Jeroboam constructed two golden calf shrines in Israel and still claimed to be worshipping YHWH.

Take, for example, any one of the pressing political issues in America today—let’s say healthcare. How should the government work toward making sure everyone has access to affordable healthcare? If you are a progressive, chances are you want single-payer, universal healthcare, like that have in Canada or Sweden. If you are a conservative, you probably think the best way to go is, among other things, to let insurance companies compete across state lines, or something to that effect.

Now, it is good and necessary to have a debate over how to achieve the goal of having affordable healthcare. Have a political debate about the details, but realize that as soon as “your side” starts accusing the “other side” of either secretly planning to have death panels who will gleefully euthanize the elderly, or wanting to make sure that black and brown people die in the streets—when you step over that line, you’ve become a political idolater. Just stop calling yourself a Christian right then and there.

Or take abortion: just because someone says that at the very least there should be an element of choice in a few situations, or that he/she doesn’t feel the government should interfere with such a personal choice—that doesn’t make them “a baby-killer.” Conversely, if someone says that there should be certain restrictions, especially for the 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters—that doesn’t mean they are misogynist woman-haters who long to see women die in back-alleys. Stop calling yourself a Christian if you say either of those two things. In reality, you are a political idolater.

In this day and age, we don’t construct literal, physical idols of false gods and bow down to them, but we do construct idols of a different sort—in this case, political and ideological ones. Make no mistake, though, they still are false gods made by human hands. And since they are false gods, the reality is that they can’t defend themselves—instead, they need their followers to prop them up and defend them, and of course, then to go out and attack any other perceived threats to their false god/idol.

Back to the Left
And boy oh boy, do idol-worshipping followers of false gods defend their idols. They are positively vicious. There is no time for discussion or debate: either bow down to the idol of their god or they will wage holy war on you to end you. For the past three years, I’ve written plenty about the dangers of the growing ultra-fundamentalist movement within Evangelicalism—in this post, I’m taking aim at its far-left doppleganger. Quite frankly, I am fed up.

When I was growing up within Evangelicalism, there was always a fear to ask questions about the Evangelical “party line”—if you asked questions or expressed doubts, you tended to be labeled a backslider or a liberal. Your very faith was called into question. Nowadays, among the more militant Christian progressives, if you question or deviate in any way shape or form from the standard left-wing Democratic talking points, you will be called…sexist, racist, xenophobic, transphobic, homophobic. I should know, I’ve just been recently been accused of being all of them. Why? Because I dared post on Facebook my amusement that Elizabeth Warren isn’t native American, despite her claiming to be so for years, and that Harvard, when accused of not being diverse enough in their faculty hiring, actually pointed to her and claimed she was “a woman of color.” Really, who in their right mind would ever think Elizabeth Warren was a racial minority?

And because I made a joke about how she was basically guilty of cultural appropriation (something that the far-Left rails against), I was accused of not only being racist, but sexist and xenophobic…and yes, I was also somehow complicit in the murder of the Saudi journalist, and apparently, I support ripping babies from their immigrant mothers. And oh, my faith was called into question as well. I’m not kidding—those accusations were hurled at me because I dared laugh at Warren.

On social media, there are a whole range of former-Evangelicals-turned-Christian- progressives who take to Twitter and Facebook on a daily basis, who, in the name of Christ, simply parrot the standard far-Left talking points. They cherry-pick verses out of context to support their own views on immigration, transgenderism, gay marriage, etc. They demonize anyone who dares disagree with them. They are shamelessly trying to shape the Christian faith into the image of their own political ideology. They are the far-Left equivalent of the likes of Jerry Falwell Jr. and Franklin Graham, who contort themselves and twist the Scripture to justify their own political ideology.

And oh, how are they hypocritical. They accuse everyone who questions them as being sexist, racist, and homophobic, but then they turn around and call Lindsey Graham a “queen,” they attack Kelly Anne Conway for claiming she was a sexual assault victim, they call Kanye West a “house negro” and use the term “minstrel show.” I personally think Kanye West is a no talent moron—but racial slurs are racial slurs. They are outraged that Trump’s offensive rhetoric and tweets (and they’re right!), but then they tweet the most horrific and offensive things themselves, they applaud when celebrities scream, “F*** Trump!” and they shower a misogynist like Alec Baldwin (who screamed at his own teenage daughter and called her a “fat pig”) with accolades and Emmy nominations simply because he lampoons Trump. They look to late-night comedians (who are more partisan hacks than comedians anymore) for moral guidance. They look at the violence and rioting of Antifa and call it “peaceful protesting.” The examples can go on and on.

And if you don’t take part in their Orwellian practice of their own version of “Two minutes of hate” (which is, thanks to social media, now “Hatred for 24/7”) where they scream bloody murder at how Trump is Satan incarnate, then you are suspect; you are the enemy; you must secretly support Trump. You. Are. Evil. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t vote for Trump, or that you have repeatedly said you are disgusted with much of his rhetoric—if you don’t agree that Trump is the second coming of Hitler, if you dare say that he has done anything positive (you know, like getting political prisoners freed), then you are a traitor to humankind.

The Propaganda of Hell
That kind of mindset is straight from the pit of hell. It is Orwellian to the core. It is the violent doppleganger of the very kind of right-wing politically-partisan sin that has taken root within many segments of Evangelicalism. That kind of mentality is enslaved to the cosmic powers of darkness and it only longs to search and destroy anything and anyone who doesn’t bow down to the image of the political beast that has been erected. It is anti-Christ all the way down. Such political idolatry in the name of Christ is wrong when right-wing Evangelical leaders promote it, and it is wrong when left-wing progressives promote it. Look closely—it’s the same dragon, just with two heads.

Now, I do not believe all conservative Evangelicals are political idolaters, and I don’t believe all Christian progressives are political idolaters. I know extremely Christ-like, thoughtful, and loving Christians in both conservative and liberal camps. And it is certainly fine to have political convictions, be they conservative or liberal. Argue for your convictions; try to convince people of your position. But realize that these days it is far too easy to slip from expressing political views into political idolatry. Here’s a few questions that might help you determine whether or not you are starting to mistake a golden calf for Christ:

1. If you find that you never disagree with anything your preferred political party does, then…
2. If you find yourself condemning the sinful behavior of candidates in the other party, while making excuses for the clearly sinful behavior of candidates in your party, then…
3. If you find yourself simply parroting your party’s political talking points, much like the animals in Animal Farm would chant “Four legs good, two legs bad,” then…
4. If you are 100% convinced that Jesus is either (A) pro-all-GOP-values, or (B) pro-all Democratic-values, then…
5. If you think Trump is either the anointed Messiah chosen by God, or Hitler re-incarnated, ready to turn America into the Third Reich, then…
6. If you find yourself hurling the most insulting, hateful accusations at people, simply because they have a different political view than you, then…

…you might need to repent. That burning you feel in your chest isn’t righteous fervor…it is the flames of hell.

Jesus and Foxholes
In Matthew 8:20, after a scribe came to Jesus and told him he wanted to follow him wherever he went, Jesus said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have their nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” The fact is, Jesus didn’t fit in with the Jewish sects of his day: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots, the Herodians—all of them were gunning for Jesus because he refused to conform to their particular political agendas. He knew he had no place to lay his head, for he stood against all of them.

Truth be told, there were individuals from each of those sects who were followers of Jesus, but to have a place in the Kingdom of God, they had to follow him, and not insist that he conform to their political preferences. Still, it’s tempting to stay within a sect and to honker down in a foxhole—there are easy black and white answers there, and you get to feel self-righteous by hating everyone who isn’t like you, and you get to lob grenades into the battlefield to blow up any perceived threat that might come near.

But the Son of Man isn’t in the foxhole. He has no place to lay his head. That’s why the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Herodians were all gunning for him—he refused to be like them.

In many ways, Matthew 8:20 hits a little too close to home for me. I don’t feel I have any place to lay my head either. I’ve been betrayed by ultra-fundamentalist zealots and called a godless liberal because I didn’t subscribe to Ken Ham’s YECism; and theses days I’m called a sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynist by people I’ve known for years, simply because I refuse to buy into to the unhinged hysteria on the political Left.

It makes for a very lonely, isolated life…with a lot of bruises and scars to boot.

I know I’m not like Jesus…because there are some enemies I cannot love right now.