A few days ago, I was listening to an interview of a Methodist pastor on NPR. She said there were members of her congregation who no longer called themselves Christians. I was glad to hear that I wasn’t alone.
There is a bumper sticker that says, “There was a time when the church ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages.” A segment of the American church has modeled itself after the Medieval church; the “Church Triumphant.” This is Christian Nationalism.
The Medieval church persecuted anyone who suggested the church might be wrong or offered a different way of thinking. People like Galileo whose science suggested that the earth was not at the center of the universe. Or Meister Eckhart who suggested that we couldn’t know God, but we could experience God. Or Martin Luther who managed to escape with his life. People were jailed or convicted of heresy and burned at the stake. Different Christian groups went to war against each other. Whatever the Medieval church said was the law. Church and State were one.
There is a segment of the American church that has allied itself with government and is following the Medieval model. It does not welcome the stranger, it sends them away. Cruelty has supplanted love. Science is ignored. The poor and needy are ignored. Women become second class. Sex is defined by the church/government. Different ways of thinking or believing are viewed with suspicion. The wealthy become wealthier. We will become ruled by the church rather than the will of the people. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution; the rule of law as we know it will disappear. Law will be whatever the church/government says it is. Church and state will be one.
In the third creation story, at the beginning of John’s Gospel, the author tells us that Jesus has literally pitched his tent and dwells among us to show us the face of God. Jesus brought healing, hope and acceptance instead of hate and domination.
There is resistance. In small towns and cities across this country, citizens are stepping up to assist immigrants in extraordinary ways. They are being changed. They have come to realize that our liberties depend on vigilance. They are resisting. They may or may not be Christians, but in my mind, they are followers of Jesus.
— Roger Hull
Salisbury
