A Democrat in a Republican World

(I posted this to my AOL site February 13, 2003. AOL has notified us that their hometown sites will be shut down October 31, 2008. I want to save the thoughts in this post, so I'm posting it here.)

A Democrat in a Republican World
February 13, 2003

Watching the piece on 60-Minutes Sunday night discussing the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins made we wonder if I was a Democrat in a Republican world. It might have been Gary Bauer, someone who lobbies for Christian issues in Washington, or another of the interviewees who said that 2/3 of Christians in churches are Republicans.

Whoever it was, the attitude portrayed by many of the interviewees disturbed me. The emphasis was on what we call the end times, not on the current times. It wasn't on how we live today or in whom we believe for our daily and eternal life. It smacked of saying believers are mostly Republicans, pre-tribs, and that the gospel is about the rapture. Way too much for this Democrat who happens to be a Christian no matter where she is.

This Christian doesn't believe Jesus' message was ever about how it's going to shake out and that we'd better focus on the end and make sure we're part of the crowd of end-time theologists. I believe Jesus' message was that we are to love God with everything we are and love our neighbors deeply -- today, tomorrow, and as long as we live. If we fail to do that, if we fail to even want to do that, then we need be concerned about our future.

Yes, fear of the end of things is a real motivator for us to clean up our lives. But I don't believe Jesus ever meant for us to hinge our whole focus on the "then" when there's so much he would have us do now.

For me, though, the issue isn't the Left Behind series, the focus on a pre-trib rapture, the thinking about end-times. It's the "Republican are Christians and therefore are right" flavor that came along with the 60-Minute piece, the same flavor I've seen here and there over the years with the religious right which comes mostly from the Republican party.

One speaker, when questioned, said that over 2/3 of people in churches are Republicans. I guess that means I am in the the minority and probably unacceptable, as both a Christian and a Democrat, to them. Although I am in church more often than most, making up part of the 1/3 non-Righteous non-Republicans, I would be defined as errant and second class, maybe even heathen, by the majority. But somehow, I don't think I am second class in God's eyes. I believe Jesus has seen to that for me.

Although I don't go out of my way to make noise, I do complain when someone brings "Vote Republican" literature into church and tells me I should vote for someone simply because he or she is a Christian. I take a stand and tell them I will not support it. I support strong moral values in our country (I may be on losing ground), but I do not equate strong moral values solely with Christianity and I don't believe having strong moral values makes one a Christian. I don't even believe that claiming the Christian faith equates to having strong moral values. I also believe God can use anyone for his purposes.

Truly, I have wondered a long time if the Pharisees of Jesus' time are the Christian-right Republicans of my time. This is such an offensive thought to me, but it is a thought which crosses my mind often when Christianity is touted politically. The Pharisees were so careful to do what was right; in fact, they were proud of it. Surely God must have been on their side, they thought. Today's political Christian right seems to smack of the same flavor.

Is sin disobeying the 10 commandments? Isn't sin, according to Christian standards, actually ignoring God? Isn't sin thinking of ourselves more than we think of others, wanting instant self-gratification, wanting our way, lacking compassion and understanding? Is this where our cultural divide is, the divide between Christians registered politically as Republicans and those not so registered? Is the divide actually a wall where on one side we do right and the other side we think about what right really means?

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, patriotism overwhelmed the churches. Patriotic fervor was equated to Christian fervor. I bulked at that, too. I don't believe loving our country is the same as loving God. I worried for my church friends as I saw more flags and fewer Bibles, as the talk about our magnificent country consumed our studies, about how September 11 was a message to us to turn back and become a Christian nation again so God wouldn't let something that terrible happen again. I was vocal at that time, too, hoping to persuade my friends that God doesn't do things like that. I believe we become confused very easily.

Was Jesus a Republican? I believe if Jesus was politically active in those days, he would have been an independent. He actually knew all the love and the intensity of God's desire to bring everyone to himself. He knew why the rules were written, why good is better than bad. I think this is something I desire for my Christian right (Republican) friends -- that other 2/3 in my church. I want them to know God didn't write the rules so we could follow them and be ok. He wrote the rules because he hoped they were simple enough for us to learn how to live in the blessings he wanted to give us. He knew we couldn't get the big picture -- the one about loving our neighbor as ourselves and the one about loving him above all else.

Let's stop to think, just for a few moments. Let's tune our ears to one beyond ourselves. Let's see if we can hear God whisper to us, to love our neighbor as ourselves and to love God above all others.

God, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy. We have become confused.

Oct 2, 2008 - Note: The trend to Christianize or de-Christianize people by their political affiliations seems to be waning. For that, I'm very glad!