Politics in Christianity, Is this New or Always Has Been


One of the things I get weary of in the political season is reporters going into coffee shops and asking people what they think of this candidate or that political party. "We went out on the backroads to find out what people are really thinking." Without exception, what people in the coffee shops say is what was in the news yesterday. It's a meaningless exercise. It allows the reporter or the management to conclude the public agrees with them, "People out there don't like candidate X."

The link delves into this interview technique when used to assess the state of Christianity in the U.S. He sites specifically an article in The Atlantic in which a Christian writer lamented the role of Trump in evangelical Christianity. The Atlantic author writes of how Christianity used to be the "true Christianity" but that wonderful religion has been hijacked and made into a false version. The Atlantic then interviews dozens of preachers and church members all of whom conclude the faith was harmed by Trump and his stalwarts, exactly the view of the Atlantic author. 

The link scoffs at the notion something, like a Trump, was introduced to the faith and made it swerve off of its original path. The truth is, the fault lies in the original faith. The faith today is no different than it has ever been. It seems unlikely Christianity would have survived through time without endorsement by the Dictator of Rome, Constantine. Kings and Popes danced together for centuries after that. In more recent history we've had Nixon, Reagan, Bush II and Trump all letting it be known, "You Christians be good to me and I'll be good to you," 

Trump did not find these pure Christians and corrupt them. They were already corrupt and found him. The lies Trump has demanded his Republicans to believe are no taller, not even as tall, and the lies the entire faith if based upon. If one can believe a stone dead person comes back to life after three or whatever days, floats into a heaven others will float into, etc., it takes no effort to believe Trump won the election. I repeat, Trump did not corrupt these Christian voters.

It would be so refreshing to see a high ranking Christian official or mega church preacher write a piece wondering if there might be something wrong with the faith itself that caused this love affair with Trump. We will not see this. Instead, we will see pundit after pundit blame forces outside the faith for pushing the faith away from where it was originally. The problem is where it came from, not where it is going.

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