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The struggle for the fate of Christianity – in motion since the earliest times – has often devolved into a fight about whether Christians should seek worldly power or eschew it. It is a question constantly faced by Jesus in the Gospels himself, and it is one always resolved in Jesus’ case by using love. Jesus had no politics. He sought no earthly power. But humans who live in a fallen world must live with power and under it. And in this fundamentalist age, where Christians and Jews as well as Muslims have embraced the power of government and law and war to reimpose their literalist beliefs, the battle is intense.
The defining element of Christianism is the pursuit of worldly power - which is why I refuse to give these politicians and operators the term “Christian.” The move into politics was a decision made by the Christianist right two generations ago. Its main vehicle is the Republican party, but it is not entirely partisan, as the remarkable story of “The Family” by Jeff Sharlet reveals.
“The Family,” we now learn, is now part of a war to launch new anti-gay laws in Uganda that resemble legislation that preceded mass killings in Rwanda and Serbia in recent years (and, of course, the Shoah before that):
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Christianity vs Christianism, Love vs Power
(via)
The struggle for the fate of Christianity – in motion since the earliest times – has often devolved into a fight about whether Christians should seek worldly power or eschew it. It is a question constantly faced by Jesus in the Gospels himself, and it is one always resolved in Jesus’ case by using love. Jesus had no politics. He sought no earthly power. But humans who live in a fallen world must live with power and under it. And in this fundamentalist age, where Christians and Jews as well as Muslims have embraced the power of government and law and war to reimpose their literalist beliefs, the battle is intense.
The defining element of Christianism is the pursuit of worldly power - which is why I refuse to give these politicians and operators the term “Christian.” The move into politics was a decision made by the Christianist right two generations ago. Its main vehicle is the Republican party, but it is not entirely partisan, as the remarkable story of “The Family” by Jeff Sharlet reveals.
“The Family,” we now learn, is now part of a war to launch new anti-gay laws in Uganda that resemble legislation that preceded mass killings in Rwanda and Serbia in recent years (and, of course, the Shoah before that):
continue reading here
Like this: