AMERICAN THEOCRACY
There's Not a Civil War Brewing in America — It's Much Worse
It's beyond brewing, and definitely not civil
Someone recently complained that my political rhetoric is too extreme. He's afraid conservative Christians will eventually feel so cornered they'll see civil war as the only way out. But he doesn't need to worry.
For one, it was always going to be a holy war, not civil. And second, it's not a question of starting a war, it's whether to join the one already in progress.
At the moment, the religious Right is fighting it unilaterally. They've convinced themselves they are God's Chosen, ordained by heaven to rule, and all others are wicked in the sight of their Lord. They want to capture the United States and create a Christian nation, regardless of demographics, the Constitution or popular opinion.
"That is our charge. To take the lordship of Christ, that message, into the public realm, and to seek the obedience of the nations — of our nation… to influence our society, and even more than that, to transform our society to reflect the gospel truth and lordship of Jesus Christ." ~ Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley in 2017
The now-Senator goes on to claim he isn't talking about theocracy, but if not it's only on a technicality.
To be fair, the standard response is "it's not all Christians, it's not all Republicans." Which is true. But wanting to place the Bible over the will of the people and thereby install God as the de facto leader of the country certainly sounds like theocracy. When asked if they wanted to do that, 41% of Republicans said yes.
So, not all. But almost half.
All faiths are equal, but some are more equal than others
Given that "Christian nationalists" like Sen. Hawley claim to believe in the First Amendment, perhaps they deserve the benefit of the doubt. But you don't need to study long to learn "freedom" means different things to different people.
This particular school of thought typically rejects the label of theocracy, but at the same time believes America is defined by Christianity. They thread the needle by acknowledging freedom of religion — with the provision theirs enjoys a privileged position.
It's a distinction without a difference.
By this definition, every American is entitled to exercise their religion freely…unless and until it comes into conflict with Christianity. Their version of the Constitution is fine with, say, restricting the building of mosques or cheering when the previous president called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." But at the same time, 70% of Republicans believe Evangelicals are discriminated against, more than any other religion.
It gets worse. Consider the religious Right's decades-long insistence on posting the Ten Commandments in courtrooms and statehouses. The argument is it's the basis of our legal system, but it only contains five matters of law. The rest are just Judeo-Christian theological rules, plus one reminder it's been too long since you've called your parents.
The issue is it's a courtroom, not a church. Making a religious statement in this situation is unnecessary — unless the goal is an extra-legal one, to deliver the message "This is not a place of impartial justice, it is our place. Our God rules here." If a non-believer wonders whether they'll get a fair hearing, it serves as a reminder they won't.
This illustrates the scope of the problem: their control won't stop at matters of faith. One of the most eye-opening moments of my life was a report on farmers in Kansas who didn't want wind turbines on their land, in part because they believed alternative energy was "secular stuff." (See On the UnGodliness of Alternative Energy: the day I found the magic political decoder ring and realized America was done for.)
If you read and listen to conservative Christians, they make it clear Jesus permeates every aspect of life — but that has the unfortunate side effect of making every disagreement a religious one. There is no separation of church and state. There's no separation of church and anything.
What's the point of having a First Amendment when you know someone else has veto power over your rights? What's the point of voting when election results are in the Lord's purview?
History is clear it never goes well
We can't treat this as a normal political disagreement. If we've learned anything in recent years, it's that the righthand side of our political spectrum has decided the old rules no longer apply. But this shouldn't come as a surprise. What else could we expect when the people who "(stand) athwart history yelling Stop" and believe their God is supreme realize they're losing the demographic shift?
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Even without the lessons of history, we have the example of Islam's struggle with extremists playing out in front of us. It's a reminder that nothing is more dangerous than religious conflict. If America is going to evolve into an egalitarian multiracial, multi-faith democracy, we cannot underestimate the resistance and what this may come to.
Most people don't like hyperbole and want to think the best of others. It's natural. But these people brought us Donald Trump. They brought us January 6th at the Capitol. At every stage, the conventional wisdom is we've finally reached bottom, there's a depth to which they won't sink. And time after time that conventional wisdom has been wrong.
"There is no bottom" is not hyperbole.
But again, this is completely predictable. The paradox of holy war is the side fighting in the name of "good" has no constraints. War has rules and conventions, but nothing is off the table for a people when the cost of losing is the metaphorical death of their God.
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