The United States Constitution wisely provides for the separation of church and state. That separation is there to protect all of us, religious and non-religious, from persecution, from having our rights and welfare jeopardized in the name of religion.
But, like children playing a brinkman game, various religious leaders in our country repeatedly test the boundaries. They justify their incursions into the separation of church and state protection by saying it’s for a good cause, a righteous cause. But it’s not. It’s a dangerous and often dishonest game they play.
History is full of examples of what happens when religious leaders become too powerful. But, you don’t have to go the past to see the dangers religious leaders are creating for us right now.
It’s easy to see the danger when someone else’s religious leaders have gained too much political power, not so easy sometimes to see how one’s own religious leaders are doing it. Americans need to take a hard, clear look at religion in the USA as well as religion in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran. We are on a dangerous path in the same direction, just not so far along it.
Now, lest readers think that I am an atheist who denounces all religious belief, or an excommunicated Catholic out for reprisal, or some other bitter and disaffected Christian (Evangelicals love to use the word ”bitter” to dismiss anyone not fitting in with the local Evangelical climate.) I’ll provide some credentials, if you want to call them that. I don’t think I need any credentials to share my observations and opinions but if someone wants to know where I’ve been, then I’ll share that too.
I am a Bible believing Baptist by conviction and background. I attended a fundamentalist Baptist college, and married into a fundamentalist Baptist ministerial family. My husband was a Baptist pastor for five years, making me a pastor’s wife. He then taught for eleven years at a well known Evangelical Bible Institute. I’ve written books that are based on the Bible. As a result of all this experience, I know the Evangelical, fundamentalist, and ministerial world from the inside.
Most upper level leadership positions in religion are political in nature. That would include the obvious, the Vatican, and not so obvious, the Evangelical leadership hierarchy. There are genuine servants of God among them, I believe, but, mostly, they got where they are by the same good old political maneuvers that we’ve seen elsewhere on the planet.
They like power. They worked to get it, and they always want more. It’s heady stuff, being on top of the heap, with thousands, sometimes millions, listening for direction, responding to fundraising drives, voting in concert at one’s insistence.
As Lord Action said, “Power corrupts...” Not that it corrupts everyone who has power, but it does tend to go down that road. The form the corruption takes can look deceptively like a good thing. After all, they are just trying to make America better, safer for Christians, and more righteous. But, pragmatic methods creep in, or more likely, they’ve been using them all along in smaller arenas. When a Big Christian Leader gets a “platform” then the stakes get higher, and the mistakes get bigger.
There are three main Evangelical king makers, media moguls to whose doors secular political leaders come humbly, hat in hand. They are: James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, and Pat Robertson, of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network). There are rising stars among the Christian star system, and minor players, but these are the big three. They hold in their hands the power to sway elections for those on whom they bestow favor.
What they intend, preach, and encourage their followers to do, and how likely many of their followers are to comply is my biggest concern in this election.
More tomorrow...
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