Why Current Christian Conservatives Cannot Call Themselves "The Moral Majority"


The ongoing push and pull within Christianity goes on decade after decade. Martin Luther King wrote and preached about the morality of racial equality. This was in response to the doofuses who preached God did not want interracial marriage which meant segregation was holy. 

Out of the segregation swamp came Jerry Falwell. For several years after Roe he preached Roe was correct. Then he switched and along with anti abortion and anti gay he called his followers the Moral Majority. Neither position of Falwell's was moral and in many ways not the majority.

Along came Donald Trump, a person who openly and proudly crossed over the border between morality and immorality. More accurately, he stomped on the border so it no longer exists. Slowly, an argument is being advanced he and his followers can no longer be a "moral majority" because they lack good morals.

What would have been called the Moral Majority no longer talks of "family values," "marriage" and "Christian values." Now, it is about winning elections and power. It is that keeping the other side from winning elections is what Jesus would do. Preaching conservative politics from the pulpit is preaching from the Bible. Carrying the flag and the cross while breaking into the Capitol is being a soldier for Christ. 

To me, it doesn't seem like we are close to the end of this anti American politics. While the religious right becomes more bonkers about what Christianity is the number who leave Christianity keeps growing. While the Republican Party becomes more the Christian Party the Democratic Party focuses on attracting the secular voter. 

In recent decades the numbers have been about 40% of voters always Republican, 40% always Democrat. The 20% in between swayed elections. Now the 20% of swing voters is shrinking and is or soon will be none.

The Jan. 6th invasion of the Capital is the ultimate, almost inevitable, end to this polarization. "Jesus wants us to win. If we can't do it at the ballot box he wants us to invade." 

Better for the right, and for the country, if the right would return to its lofty view of itself as a party of high moral values. Even though they really did not have high moral values in the past at least they made the effort. They have given up on that.

Comments

  1. Bryan KNovember 4, 2021 at 5:58 PM

    I think you make some good points, but there are still points to be made.

    I used to be in that 20% in the middle, and I still consider myself a political moderate. The problem is, politics right now is all about preventing this lunacy from taking over the country because all too many times in history, it has succeeded.

    I also don't agree that the January 6th insurrection is an end to all of this. "Cult" is a word I've used sparingly, but that's exactly what we're dealing with here. And when a cult goes through a long period of time where their predictions don't come to fruition, they have a tendency to take things into their own hands.

    But the kicker here is that Donald Trump does not have control of these people. This is not a Donald Trump cult.

    Last night, I went down the wormhole of the internet trying to figure out how a couple hundred people ended up in Dallas to witness the return of JFK, Jr. Suddenly, the events of the last 4-5 years have started to make sense.

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