by Chris Swensen
I’m tired of conservatives abusing the word “Christian.” They cry for religious freedom, yet they only care about evangelical, conservative Christians. They claim to follow the Constitution yet fail to recognize the rights of non-Christians (especially those of Muslims and secular folks). They cry for the “good ol’ days” but forget that those days were only good for middle- and upper-class, heterosexual, cisgender white males. If you were a racial minority, a member of the LGBTQ+ community or a woman in the “good ol’ days,” you didn’t have the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
Too many conservatives claim Christian values will “make America great again,” but they never say why or how. What values are they talking about? Are they referring to love and tolerance? If so, they might want to consider that those virtues don’t appear to actually be an important part of their platform. When I listen to their addresses, I can only think of witch-hunts and holy wars, both of which had (and have) pretty dismal outcomes.
If they think Christian values will make America great again, how about they try the values that actually help people? Is it crazy to think if we showed immigrants love and acceptance instead of deportation they would be involved in less crime? If we were to actually help homeless people instead of deride them, the homeless might find the motivation and means to get a job. Why aren’t mainstream conservatives doing this?
Find me the Bible verse that promotes carpet-bombing. Show me where Christ said, “deport thy neighbor.” Every Christian I know adheres to their religion because of the teachings of love and kindness, not because they like kicking around minorities. Conservative political pundits, however, claim secularization is ruining our country, but there is no evidence for such a claim. Have these people ever talked to an atheist? Have they ever asked a humanist about what they believe? I guarantee that people of all beliefs have the same capacity for a strong moral compass as any Christian.
We’re at a point in history where being something other than Christian is acceptable. So many Americans live without religion in their lives and are perfectly happy, moral people. By trying to make America Jesus-land again, overenthusiastic conservatives are spitting in the face of every non-Christian in the nation.
The great thing about the separation of church and state is that it allows people to be Christian if they want to. “Freedom of religion” does not mean “freedom to be Christian, and not really anything else.” If they want to make America great again, make it great for everyone — not just conservative Christians. Let Christians be Christians, Muslims be Muslims, Jews be Jews and atheists be atheists. Running on a Christian platform shouldn’t mean a contest of “who can be the biggest bigot.”
Instead of building a completely Christian nation we should just be trying to build a better nation. We’re not going to get better by reverting back to the Gilded Age — the only way to improve is through progress. If somebody wants to be an intolerant warmonger, they shouldn’t try to use the teachings of Jesus (a classical-era, pacifistic Jewish socialist) to justify those views.