The Irrational Fear of the Christian Right

Imagine for a moment a family - maybe your family - with all of your earthly belongings packed into a wagon and headed into the unsettled, American West. You've heard there are dangers - wild animals, unfriendly natives - but you know that for the sake of your family you need a new start. You're willing to take the risk in the hopes of giving your children a better life than you have had.

And, also imagine, that first night camping in the woods. You've cleared a place for the wagon by cutting down brush and small trees. And for safety from all that is in those woods - you've built a fire after the sun sets.

Imagine the fear you would have - the fear I know I would have - as the father and "designated protector" of wife, kids and livestock. Every sound, every rustle would conjure the image of bears, wolves or hostile natives. Your heart would race. You would break out in a sweat. You would be terrified and on edge from all of the adrenaline coursing through your veins.

In this heightened state of terror, I suspect that you would break up furniture and maybe even the upright piano if that was what it took to keep that fire burning bright. Especially, if you were convinced that your life - and your families' life depended upon it.

It is important that you imagine this sort of "out of control" fear if you want to understand the mindset of the Christian Right in America. I believe their agenda is not driven by partisanship as much as it is driven by fear of God's judgment. Most of this fear can be traced back to the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court Decision legalizing abortion in 1973.

 The shock and fear of this decision has defined christian conservatism ever since. The radical politicization of Evangelicals began in earnest with the establishment of the "Moral Majority" organization by Jerry Falwell in 1979.

Falwell, together with the televangelist Pat Robertson, preached that God's judgment was imminent due to the dual sins of abortion and homosexuality in America. Similar to the racism of many southern Christians during the Civil Rights Movement, these political policies are very detached from any compassionate consideration of the human beings impacted by the policies.

A Christian religious leader has already claimed that Hurricane Sandy is further proof that "God is systematically destroying America" as political judgment for the "homosexual agenda." John McTernan previously made similar allusions about Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Isaac (2012), which he reiterated in his urgent call to prayer posted Sunday evening (via Gay Star News): Just last August, Hurricane Isaac hit New Orleans seven years later, on the exact day of Hurricane Katrina. Both hit during the week of the homosexual event called Southern Decadence in New Orleans!

Now if this connection seems unlikely to you, I would just remind you of the story detailed at the beginning of this piece. And, many of us have irrational fears. Some of us are terrified of spiders - while others are afraid of escalators. Most of our fears are only loosely based in reality, but that does not make them any less powerful in their impact on our choices and actions.

From the very beginning of the biblical record, whenever humans encounter the Divine, they are usually quite afraid. We, humans, tend to fear anything we do not understand. I wish I had some encouraging news for you, but even when Jesus walked on this earth, those closest to him could not grasp the nature of who he was or what he came to accomplish.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 8, there is a good example.

And a great storm developed on the sea so that the waves began to swamp the boat. But he was asleep. So they came and woke him up saying, "Lord, save us! We are about to die!" But he said to them, "Why are you afraid, you people of little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was calm. And the men were amazed and said, "What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!"

Even then, they were asking "what sort of person is this?" I think those in today's Christian Right completely misunderstand the mission of Jesus. That they call themselves Christian is incorrect. They are #FakeChristians. Remember a few years back Tea Party Republicans coined the term RINO - Republican In Name Only? Well, I guess the Christian Right is full of CINO's - Christians In Name Only.

So, if you are somehow feeling that the positions and policies of today's Republican Party don't make sense, you are right! These policies do not make any sense at all - unless you are a person governed by irrational fears.

How can those who say they follow Jesus not be touched by the broken lives they encounter - and actually support depriving food (food stamps) or healthcare (Medicaid expansion)? How can these alleged Christians actually think separating children from their parents at the border is a policy Jesus would condone?

And, if God really has a policy to judge and/or destroy sinful nations, how do you explain the fact that Germany still exists? After all the atrocities they perpetrated during World War 2, how is it that they have not been obliterated from the earth and from history? Seems inconsistent to me….

So, when discussing policy with a christian conservative, do not try to reason with them. I find it pointless to attempt rational conversation with a person acting out of - and blinded by - fear.

As a teenager, I became certified as a lifeguard. One of the main warnings in the training is that a drowning person can drown while you try to save them - unless you take proper precautions. It is the irrational fear that can kill you both.

So what is the antidote - what is the cure for this sort of blinding fear?

In the book of 1st John, chapter 4, there is the answer to fear.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love. We love because he loved us first. If a man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment have we from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

If a man says "I love God" but hates his fellowman, he is a liar.

Plain and simple. They are not only #FakeChristians, but they are also liars. They have deceived themselves, and if you let them, they will deceive you, too.

Don't let them.

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