All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.- Acts 4:32-35.
Perhaps the best way to address the Religious Right would be to use their own arguments against them. In this above passage, we see evidence of the beginning of the Early Church, which used a multitude of elements that can be viewed as Christian Socialism. I’ve written here about some variation of these ideas, often pushing back against what many see as the supreme hypocrisy of today’s conservative Christianity. As we have seen since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, right-wing religious expression has sought to attempt to achieve its own self-serving goals through duplicitous ends. And it has been Reagan’s coalition that has reduced socialism to a curse word.
Differences of opinion are inevitable among human personalities and can actually be helpful if handled well. But spiritual unity unity is essential—loyalty, commitment, and love for God and his Word. Without spiritual unity, the church could not survive. The issue here is that the Religious Right has held itself together, hypocritical though it now is, and those of us on the Religious Left continue to struggle for greater unity. I know I’ve said that before, but as I say it once more, I have faith that we are making progress. Look below and you see evidence of one of our greatest leaders, who, when asked about his personal identity said only this: when asked at a press conference about the roots of his political philosophy, responded simply, “I am a Christian and a Democrat.”
It strikes me as deeply sad precisely how jaded Religious Leftists have become over the past forty years, ceding territory rather than staying riveted resolutely in place, which is where it has every right to be. The blessedly single Trump term led to even further disgust. While I can’t fault anyone for taking a similar approach, I recall a particular Worship where a man went so far as to remove all instances of God talk and religious references as he gave his vocal ministry before the gathered Meeting. There might have been a time where his skepticism was far less pronounced during the course of his life, but it certainly was not now.
To him, his disappointment in religion had led to a reductive approach. Rather than talk about God’s love before his people, or to use Scripture to bolster his point, he insisted instead that religion was only akin, in his view, to a parent encircling a child with warm affection. His gruff demeanor and skepticism, though it is clear he meant well, followed my own, a portion of the Worship where I had used Biblical passages with no fear of being misinterpreted or read wrongly. I’m used to being misunderstood. My favorite thinkers were frequently read wrongly by others and I suppose God feels he must use me to open a few eyes here and there,
I know I have made a few people uncomfortable over time, but I always felt that challenging them periodically would lead them towards greater growth. Not only that, I think that if we identify as people of faith, we deserve to be challenged on a routine basis. The Methodism of my boyhood actively avoided problematic parables of Jesus and supposed contradictions in the Bible, leaving me with a thoroughly mushy consistency that did not truly inspire anyone to seek greater growth within themselves. It is the growth within ourselves that, to me at least, matters most, not the outward sacraments that Quakers eschew, believing them to be hollow, insipid rituals that promise far more than they provide.
There is common ground available. I had a friendly conversation with two Southern Baptists about the Early Church, which then quickly led to a discussion and veneration of FDR. He remains a saint down here in the Deep South, despite all that we know about him now. The people I spoke to likely voted for Trump twice, and yet conceded that at least some socialist reforms had been needed at the time of the Great Depression. Whether they would concede that socialism was necessary in this day and age remained under debate, but I was quite surprised at the difference between the average rank and file Americans and the activists who frequent this site.
I think it’s a good thing for us to take breaks from places like this one, as they can foment powerful echo chambers. This is not meant to lash out at Daily Kos, but merely to note that sometimes we can get so tied up in persuasive arguments and the comment section that we fail to see that not everyone is our enemy. I happen to believe that President Biden is doing an excellent job, with a minimum of hiccups along the way that would happen to anyone in his position. But in the meantime, progressive Democrats and centrist Democrats can be united in heart and in mind.