Republican Jesus vs the Radical Left

My dad calls my politics nutty. He says it with affection. His daughter’s kooky side.

As if there is something absurd about wanting equality and equity. Something radical about valuing basic human rights. Something unreasonable about social safety nets. Something irrational about progressive policies.

He loves Republican Jesus but that’s not who I grew up with. I grew up with Liberal Jesus. He was all about compassion. He welcomed immigrants and fed the poor.

A shift has occurred in recent decades. American Evangelicals have aligned themselves with the conservative party. The conservatives pulled them in, running on anti abortion and LGBT agendas.

I grew up during the rise of the Moral Majority and the Christian Right. Believers that were scared “big government” would take away Christian privilege, women’s rights would destroy the Christian family, and the evil gays were coming for your kids.

Republicans registered voters and mobilized evangelicals to support socially conservative candidates, impacting elections, particularly Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign.

Since then it has gotten even uglier in the vacuum that is the church, as they began to circulate these very Republican, very anti-Christian ideas: Inaccurate and demonizing stereotypes of immigrants. Poverty as this punishment- people would be well off if they just went to church and paid tithes…

There is nothing nutty or radical about humane immigration policy, feeding hungry people, guaranteeing healthcare, raising wages, housing people, providing assistance to the world’s poor, taking care of the planet we share or treating people who are different with compassion.

These liberal ideas are actually deeply Christian.

You know what isn’t Christian? Demonizing people who are different. You know what is nutty? Ignoring our Constitution’s Due Process, snatching people off the street and shipping them to concentration camps surrounded by alligators.

You know what is batshit crazy? Thinking I’M nutty for my perspective on what your time in that cult has done to you.

Multiple scholarly articles and commentaries discuss the potential parallels between some behaviors of Donald Trump’s most devoted supporters and the characteristics of a cult or a personality cult. 

Researchers have explored this phenomenon by investigating whether Trump’s most loyal supporters share personality characteristics that might make them inclined to cult-like support, according to The Australian National University and Wiley Online Library. They specifically highlight the role of high conscientiousness (e.g., self-discipline, focus, reliability) in fostering this loyalty.

Some analysis also suggest that a low degree of openness (a personality trait associated with curiosity and being widely interested) might be characteristic of Trump loyalists.

Steven Hassan, a former member of a destructive cult and a mental health expert, draws parallels between Trump’s methods and those of other cult leaders in his book ,The Cult of Trump , arguing that the Trump presidency exhibits similarities to a destructive cult in its use of mind control tactics to cultivate fervent loyalty and obedience. He lists tactics like grandiose claims, sowing confusion, demanding absolute loyalty, lying, and creating an “us vs. them” mentality.

In a cult the leader is rarely questioned, his cruelty always justified. In that way God groomed them for this toxic relationship with Resident Chump.

But the Jesus I knew would wash the feet of Mexicans. He would feed the people even if some people took advantage, as long as not one child went hungry.

That Jesus was no nutcase. He had his head on straight and his heart in the right place.

He would not approve of Republican Jesus.

American Christianity will survive this. Preachers will again teach the sermon about the ease with which a camel could pass through the eye of a needle in comparison to the difficulty involved with getting to heaven while wealthy. Christians in government will mend the holes today’s Christians in government have cut in the social safety nets. They’ll represent Christ again, I’m hopeful.

I’m hopeful we can all eventually look back on this as a nutty, kooky time in which the church lost herself. Because even as an atheist I know this isn’t what Jesus had in mind.

In the meantime I’ll be the nutcase I guess. Just batshit crazy for believing we should abide by the Golden Rule in politics as well as everyday life.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

I guess that’s just too fucking radical.

But joining a cult is mainstream.