I'm a Bible-believing, Jesus following, church-going, Matthew 25, "do unto others", "love your neighbor" Christian. About 10 years ago, I had the utmost faith in the Church and fellow Christians to do what it takes to help the poor.
I didn't think that we needed government to do the job of the church.
In short, I was following the GOP talking points on capitalism, free markets, small government, etc. I was a "compassionate conservative" before the term ever got co-opted by Bushco.
Today, I have have to be honest.
Christians - and the Church - have failed to follow the Law of Christ. We - me included - have failed to love our neighbor as ourselves. We have failed to "do for the least of these" in our culture and our neighborhoods.
And I'm reminded that the Church, like the government, is a human institution and therefore it is fallible, imperfect, and in need of reform and renewal.
In the early 1980s, Francis Schaeffer wrote A Christian Manifesto, a book designed to spur Christians into political and social action. The book came at a time when the Reagan Revolution was sweeping across the country. Schaeffer challenged Christians to stand against the godlessness in culture and to promote specifically Christian values and ideas (anti-abortion rights, pro-Creationism in schools, anti-euthanasia, etc.) in the public sphere.
I grew up in this environment, going to a Christian private school until heading off to public high school. I was taught (by my science teacher from Montana) that carbon dating was flawed. My biology teacher informed us, as a matter of incontrovertible fact, that life begins at conception (and that the unborn infant is fully human). We were taught to think, not critically, but Christianly. The Bible is the Word of God, fully trustworthy. These weren't matters of faith. They were fundamental facts, basic truths that were known beyond a doubt (in part because, as matters of faith, they couldn't be proved or disproved - just believed).
I also, thankfully, learned about the economic differences between American culture and the third world. I still remember sitting at lunch with a bowl of rice while two of my classmates got to eat a full 3-course meal with appetizers and dessert. This, we learned, was the difference between what the average kid in Asia gets to eat and a kid in America gets to eat. The basic lesson? "To whom much is given, much will be required."
As I grew into adulthood, I began to understand (partly through a family member who taught in public schools) how Christians frequently focus on "taking care of their own" before anyone else. Too many Christians focused on what they're saved from (i.e., worldly excesses, evil pleasures, mean people, atheists) rather than what they're saved for (i.e., loving as we've been loved, giving our lives for others, loving our enemies, being a light in a dark world). Many Christians hate paying taxes, because they don't want "government" (i.e., their neighbors and fellow citizens) telling them what to do. (I'm reminded of the Bill Moyers statement that a real patriot is someone who sends a valentine along with their income tax check.)
Too often, Christians want credit, as Christians, for making the world a better place. They believe that in order to show their bright light in a dark world, they must ensure that the world is as dark as possible. And this is why wingnut Christians like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, John Ensign, Marsha Blackburn, and Michele Bachmann are such popular leaders in the Republican Party. They know exactly what they're doing. They trumpet the "Judeo-Christian values" that are the basis of our great nation, and then proceed to tell everyone that government is evil and cannot do anything that looks remotely Judeo-Christian. Government can't promote the general welfare, because if it does, then government might show that it's more competent or capable than the Church, and then the Church wouldn't be a bright light in a dark world anymore.
As one Roosevelt Democrat in Tennessee said last spring, "Republicans complain about how awful and incompetent the government is, then they get into office and prove it." This utter incompetence is not a sad accident - it's a political strategy. If government is corrupt, hypocritical, unresponsive, cutthroat, and dishonest, then no one will want to participate. If votes aren't counted accurately, then people will just give up on voting, believing that it doesn't make a difference anyway. Christians aren't merely ignorant stooges in this game. They are, frequently, the driving force behind it.
And of course, the best current example of this is the healthcare debate. I'm still astonished sometimes that pastors would speak, from the pulpit, against President Obama and what he's trying to do by protecting vulnerable Americans from corporate greed. I'm astonished that the same right-wing Christians who railed against Jeremiah Wright are now espousing the same anti-government rhetoric that Wright delievered during the Bush Administration. Wright talks about killing innocent people? Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich (spurred on by the extremist Christianist Liberty Counsel) start railing against "death panels" in a public plan. But then I remember ... these pastors are afraid that Obama's going to take a cut from their pie.
Here's how it works - in the real world - today.
- Wealthy corporate execs donate hefty sums of money (perhaps 5-10% of their annual income) to the church. They tithe, because they're in the rare group of Americans who actually earn more than they have to spend each year to make ends meet.
- Pastors, delighted by this extraordinary generosity, put the corporate execs on the church board. They seek advice on the administration of the church, go out to nice restaurants, play a little golf, and enjoy a taste of the good life.
- Since the wealthy exec has now given the pastor (previously feeling pressed by the lack of giving in his church) confirmation that "God is blessing his ministry," the pastor stops preaching about the fact that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than to enter the Kingdom of God." Instead, the pastor starts talking about the Prayer of Jabez, promoting a Gospel in which God is a cosmic sugar daddy who is waiting to give us tremendous earthly blessings.
- The wealthy benefactor, now seeing that he's at a church where the pastor doesn't make him feel guilty for his exorbitant wealth or his contribution to economic injustice, begins to talk at church board meetings about the need to build a new facility to bring in more members. The pastor, seeing that God is blessing his ministry, faithfully responds by delivering a sermon series on the need for sacrificial giving. He might even offer a class on how to eliminate debt, since an obscure Proverb tells us that "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender."
- As the church embarks on a major capital campaign, they trumpet to the whole community that God is blessing their ministry. The talk in the community is that "This church is doing something right!" Because just as in the rest of our capitalistic, materialistic culture, our churches are driven by competition, envy, and a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses mentality. It's survival of the fittest - social Darwinism in service to American Christianity.
What pastors have learned, consequently, is that in order to keep the wealthiest members giving, they need to avoid making them uncomfortable by challenging their political positions or their "I've got mine, screw you" mentality. With the consumer-driven church mentality, a wealthy member can simply walk away or withhold contributions from a pastor who dares to challenge his financial decisions.
And so it is with healthcare.
We'll avoid talking about poverty in America, and focus on a missions trip to Haiti, where teenagers will see how the other half lives while engaging in a feel-good service project like ... building a new church!
Astonishing - truly - to see pastors attending (and even hosting) Tea Party rallies, railing against socialized healthcare, and telling parishioners to flee from government participation - except to vote for the candidate who opposes abortion rights. Astonishing, but understandable when you see that the very pastors who do this are guaranteeing themselves more "blessings from God" by preaching Freedom Works talking points.
And so, you've got the Family Research Council sending alerts to now-fearful church members about how the socialist Hitler-like President Obama is now going to create government-run healthcare and open the floodgates for government-sponsored euthanasia, government-funded abortions, and a whole host of other blatant falsehoods. And no matter how hard we try to combat this campaign of deception, we won't be able to break through to the Christians unless we can speak their language.
After all, their certainty is based on faith, not reality.