Keeping the Faith

THE JESUS, GUNS, AND MONEY CROWD (aka conservative Christians) is widely dispersed in America. Because there are so many of them, they are bound, like cockroaches, to eventually scatter everywhere. Yes, they might be heavily concentrated in small southern towns, but you can find plenty in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and maybe one or two in Boulder, Madison, Berkely, and Cambridge. Most of them, you suspect, will be voting for Ted Cruz, who said that the United States should bomb the Islamic State until the desert glows. He also says that Christ is the way, the only way. last but not least, Senator Cruz claims that the key to economic prosperity is to get the government out of the way, and let the free market choose its own course. Again, Jesus, Guns, and Money. Can you even remotely imagine Jesus himself wanting to nuke the Islamic State, or encouraging people to accumulate as much personal wealth as they want? Only if you're a card carrying member of the conservative Christian cult can you ignore the obvious contradictions between conservatism and the message of Jesus. These people are dangerous, partly because they want the United States to be a "Christian nation", and these people are evil, because they want Americans to carry weapons and they want the United States to attack other countries, break things, and kill people. They are sinful hypocrites because they do not want to render unto Caesar or give unto the poor. And yet, conservative Christians are perhaps the single largest constituency in America. We must change that. There are hopeful signs. The percentage of Christian Americans is declining, down from eighty five percent ten years ago, to seventy three percent now. You don't hear much from the TEA Party anymore. Bernie Sanders is doing well. We the American people, acting through our government, haven't started any wars in the past few days, unless they snuck one in on us without media awareness. And best of all, the right wingers seem to be persecuting fewer gay people and shooting fewer African-Americans. All religions and social institutions eventually fade into history, ultimately replaced by better ones. But the process takes time, and hard work. That should give us a sense of hope, even if little else currently does.