Embracing Everybody

Whatever else you may think of the political paroxysms jolting American culture right now, you cannot deny that we’re all getting a national civics lesson. I don’t think I have ever heard as much conversation about checks and balances, the Electoral College, or even the independence of the Department of Justice, as I have in the last six months.

I’ve also noticed a subtle but certain shift in the public perception of the Christian faith. I have lamented for most of my adult life how the term “Christian” has been captured by the hard right-wing American version of the faith. The term “Christian voter” has been associated with a political agenda mostly concerned with regulating sexuality and women’s bodies while devaluing people who do not fit within prescribed parameters of acceptability.

This version of Christianity increasingly became identified with one political party, and reached its high-water mark in the election of 2004, when Republican voter turnout was driven to record levels by ballot initiatives in several swing states that defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

But over the next decade, the electorate became younger (as the largest generation in American history reached voting age) and Americans generally became more open to diversity in general and same-sex marriage in particular. States began passing laws making marriage more inclusive, and in 2015, the Supreme Court declared that recognition of gay marriage was the law of the land. Except in the staunchest regions of the Bible belt, the decision was greeted with either celebration or quiet resignation. Most of the country had already made the shift that the high court was codifying.

This last Friday evening, Susan Arbetter, host of “The Capital Pressroom” on New York public radio, interviewed New York Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, the first openly gay women to serve in the state legislature. She was invited onto the

show to reflect on the sixth anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage in New York, but much of the conversation centered on President Trump’s announcement that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve in the military. The dialogue drifted into a discussion of the role of religion in politics. Rather than reflexively condemn the intolerance of “Christian” politicians (which is what I expected), Glick drew a distinction between “the early Christian ideal of embracing everybody” and a more modern version of the faith based on the idea that “these people are the chosen ones because God has shined a light on them.”

I think I let out an audible cheer.

Could it be that – maybe, just maybe – the message is finally breaking through? The loudest, most prominent spokespersons of the Christian faith over the last forty years do not represent all of Christianity, despite the fact that they have brazenly claimed to be the only “true” Christians. In fact, the emergence of the Christian Right followed a mid-century consensus of Catholics and mainline Protestants that championed civil rights and opposed the mindless stockpiling of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Earlier in American history, social causes like the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and temperance were also advanced as Christian movements.

It cannot be denied that the Christian church has at times given cultural conformity priority over the truth by squashing both free speech and scientific discovery. At its worst, Christianity has promoted violence and persecution against “heathens” and “heretics.” But all along the way, subversive movements within the church have called its leaders to account, demanding a return to the original principals of the faith. In its essence (as Assemblywoman Glick correctly understands), the gospel empowers the most vulnerable members of society. It lifts up the lowly and encourages God’s people to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit rather than become entrenched in dogmatic inertia. Since the earliest days of the church, when the Gentiles were welcomed into the covenant of Abraham, the gospel has been a message of inclusion. That essential proclamation has been obscured almost beyond recognition in the last generation, but maybe things are changing.

This is partly because many prominent leaders of the Christian Right have undermined their moral authority with a breathtaking display of hypocrisy. They have not only embraced political views that directly contradict the best of evangelical theology, particularly in the areas of immigration and protecting the environment, but also seem perfectly willing to accept reprehensible speech and behavior from officials who promote their views. (So far, Anthony Scaramucci’s on-the-record tirade of foul speech that, in both content and intent, was crude and repugnant has drawn only silence from prominent conservative evangelical leaders.)

The shift in perspective is also partially the result of a revolt from within the evangelical world, as young adults who have been raised in conservative evangelical churches are leaving in droves, and a growing number of high profile conservative megachurch pastors are rejecting the theology they once espoused in favor of a more compassionate understanding of the faith.

A third factor, I believe, is that community-minded churches more inclined to inclusion than exclusion (and who have been wandering in the wilderness for the last forty years) are now finding a voice and a renewed since of mission. They are greeting visitors to their worship services who have been offended by or even expelled from rigidly conformist congregations, but who still long to exercise their Christian faith. Tragically, many spiritually battered victims of abusive theology have left Christianity altogether. But some of them are refusing to give up their faith or the hope that communities exist where they can celebrate Christ and not feel ashamed of who they are. And as they enrich the churches that welcome them, that “early Christian ideal of embracing everybody” is reclaimed with joy.

©2017 by J. Mark Lawson

Comments

[Dave Rosenfeld]

My take on Christianity is simply this: put others before yourself, no matter what the race, religious affiliation, back story of a person which makes us different, sex affiliation, handicaps, etc.

Breaking the word Christianity down means for me to be "Christ-like". Imitation is the greatest form of flattery and if we can't see the big picture in this, can we really call ourselves Christian?

I agree with you that Christianity needs to be community based and to see it take advantage of others in instances is heartbreaking when we decide to be judge and jury and be in control of life. When denominationalism creeps in, I kind of get vocal on the subject. LOL!!!

Life is one huge choice as soon as we wake up in the morning and start out the day. I am not saying we are going to put others before ourselves all the time as we are humans and have short comings but it is something to strive for. Thank God for forgiveness!!!