Practicing Heresy, the Evangelical Trumper Way

Mohandas Ghandi (Mohandas was his given name, he hated being called "Mahatma", which, roughly, means "reverend", or "revered one", which he thought too ostentatious and inappropriate) was once asked what he thought of Christians. He replied: I don't know. I have never met one". Meaning, of course, that although he may have met many people who labeled themselves "Christians", he had never met anybody who actually personified and practiced the essential teachings of the faith. He also said: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians". This, of course, means essentially the same thing.... Today at my local senior center we had our annual Thanksgiving dinner. It was, as always, delighful. I must have gained five pounds. I was, as always, in an exuberant mood; I could not give as many cheerful greetings to as many people, many my friends, as I wanted to, but I did my best. Just before lunch was servied I, bouyed with exuberant enthusiasm, was making my rounds, going from table to table, greeting the folks. I saw the lady who plays the piano for our Monday morning gospel singing group at a table with her husband, and two or three other couples, of the evangelical kind. Of the politically conservative Trump supporting evangelical kind, if I am not mistaken. Although I am not a Christian, I, like Chris Hedges, a well known minister and author, consider them heretics. Jesus did not preach a message anything resembling the apparent moral values of Donald Trump, or of the contemporary conservative movement. What he preached, dear reader, is pure socialism. He never told people to become wealthy, for instance. He told people to "go thy way, and sell whatsoever thou hast, and give unto the poor". But up to the table of our piano player I went, and suddenly inspired, said: "There is a gospel song I love even more, believe it or not, than "How Great Thou Art": Its "Holly Holy" by Neil Diamond. "How Great Thou Art" takes second place to "Holly Holy;". for me. Eboldened, but sensing tension, I proceeded to sing "Holly Holy", a brief, truncated version thereof, to the lady and her evangelical lunch table. "Call the sun in the dead of the night, and the sun gonna rise in the sky. Touch a man who can't walk upright, and that lame man, he gonna fly. Gonna fly!" I told her, them, that I think we ought to add that to our reportoire, and sing it at our weekly gospel group. She stared at me in disbelief, stone faced, as if I were crazy, or having a mental breakdown. So did the others, I think, as I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye. Stone cold amazement. disapproval. Well, I happen to be one of the best singers in the gosple group, a good baritione and bass, well liked by all, constant in my attendance. I have certainly earned the right to express my opinion, even though I shouldn't have to and indeed don't have to "earn" that basic human right. Indeed the piano player herself recently remarked that I seem to have emerged as the de facto leader of the group, and indeed I may have. But if she or anybody else, any evangelical Christian in the world thinks that "Holly Holy' by Neil Diamond is not a great and true gospel song, they have another thing coming. And if she, they, or any right wing political extremist thinks that there is any compatibility whatsoever between the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the moral values and agenda of the conservative Republican right, they have even more coming, much more. Mass deportation? Welcome the stranger. Lower taxes for billionaires? Render unto Caesar... Go thy way, and sell whatsoever thou hast, and give unto the poor... And just for the record, Jesus never uttered a word about abortion. But why should evangelical conservatives care at all about any of that? After all, they are, demonstrably, heretics.