The Travesty of Christianized America

The Christianization of the United States: Travesty or Ordination?

In the week prior to the election, I tuned into one of my favorite channels, C-SPAN, to watch a senatorial debate – that of a Republican candidate and Democrat. The Republican thanked the host, as well as Jesus Christ and God. The Democrat then proclaimed her devout Christian faith and railed against marriage between gay American citizens, passing the problem onto the states. Switching the channel, I landed on CNN, just in time to listen the current President of the United States praise the Lord…again. I finally wrapped myself up with the sights and sounds of baseball (America’s favorite pastime), choosing to spend the rest of my afternoon watching a repeat of the Red Sox’ World Series win. Curt Schilling spoke afterwards, crediting his win to his Christian beliefs, surrounded by the nodding emphatic heads of journalists and politicians alike as he did so.

I am profoundly disturbed by what I see as the Christianization of America. This particular faith has moved beyond Bible Belt passion and into politics, the Senate - the House of Representatives - the Executive branch. The next four years will show us if Christianity has moved into our courts. We may see Christianity cause an amendment of our Constitution. Eleven states passed Christian-motivated "marriage acts." No longer do I have to wait for Sunday mornings to see some preaching, I just have to watch C-SPAN, or pick up the latest legal or political journal.

I concede that I am not a Christian – I don’t believe in it, I don’t like the underlying thread of sadomasochism. I never could follow a faith expressed through violence (the Spanish Inquisition) and suffering (the crucifixion), all the while claiming to be a religion about love. It’s the same reason I can’t get into beheadings as martyrdom-by-proxy. There’s an inherent paradox within the sentiment that precludes my joining the parade.

I also give that I'm a liberal. I'm from California. I'm a suburbanite but I live right outside Los Angeles.

Further, I am a believer in our United States Constitution. I love that document, perhaps as much as some might love a religious article. I love the simple language that cradles American freedom. I love the imbedded complexity. I love the fact that it provides countless hours of enjoyment by courts and judges and lawyers and McDonald’s attendants across American soil from sea to shining sea. I love the reverence afforded the paper – this past summer I waited three hours to enter a building built for the sole purpose of housing the Constitution so that I could view it through bullet-proof glass under the watchful eyes of a heavily-armed police force. The power contained in the parchment was palpable, bouncing off the walls and reflected in the misty gaze of my fellow tourists (who all happened to be Australian or Japanese, oddly enough). Our cameras lay limp against our chests, the precious paper too valuable, too enlightened, to be captured.

Lastly, I am American, secularism being part of my culture. I was raised on the Brady Bunch and visits to Indian Reservations and California Missions. I carry with me Native-American Guilt – to this day I cry when I hear about the “Last of the Mohicans.” I cannot forget the forging of opposing cultures in the form of a Thanksgiving Turkey. Halloween runs in my blood – the celebration of monsters, goblins, and witches makes my stomach grumble with a need of free candy. I love to knock my lily-white fist against the latte-brown fist of my neighbor, Mohammed. I wave my flag…the one from my college…in the fall, during the height of football season. I eat tacos from a taco stand in East Los Angeles. I indulge in a Christmas that is solely defined by short, lit-up pine trees bought off a parking lot, paper-wrapped boxes, over-extended credit cards, and a suspicious man in a white beard who sits in the middle of a mall and encourages children to sit on his lap. A lot of children.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” U.S. Const. art. 1 as amended.

The history of the separation of church and state is serpentine, to say the least. At any single point in time, the government served as enemy or friend to religion, specifically Christianity. The Supreme Court has fought and argued the ins and outs of the infamous, mysterious phrase, chipping away at the wall at times, reinforcing the separation with still more mortar and brick. Christianity was borne out of opposition with the government – today, in the United States, I see the friendship renewed. I read recently that George W. Bush runs a “faith-based” presidency. The Christian "evangelical vote" is credited with securing W. his election into office.

Currently, there is a melding of religion and government that effectively strips the foundation of the First Amendment. Christianity has made its way into almost every political speech, every political debate, and other such government-sponsored vocalizations. I see the holding up of Christianity as a national religion when I hear Jerry Falwell declare our God-given American right to kill all the infidels in the name of God. I single out Christianity since I have yet to see any publicized American politician declare his love of Allah or talk about his Bar-Mitzvah. As a non-Christian, the religious fervor has left me feeling decededly ignored and un-pandered-to. Even the Amish have been addressed.

No question, the far-right has arrived. But what will be the long-term effects of such arrival? Soon President Bush will begin to appoint conservative judges to the courts (at the debate he said he'd pick judges who would vote for him in mock humor). The Supreme Court might get it's oldest liberal judge replaced by a conservative: Justice Stevens, who is 84. The problem is that with a newly appointed Supreme Court Justice might come reduction in our civil liberties, particularly our right to privacy which gave women the right to choose with regard to abortion under Roe v. Wade.

I wonder if the criminalization of abortion will constitute legislation of faith. If it is...will there a breach of our First Amendment? How far will this kind of legislation be allowed to go? The Dark Ages had its Inquisition, are we gearing up for the American Inquisition of the Millenium?

In my opinion, the right-direction move is tragic, dangerous even, and not just to us gay-loving, demon-praising liberals. Ironically, the move puts in place cogs and gears which could shift direction at any point, crushing the very freedom which the move supposedly provides: freedom to practice your basic, white-bread, put-Christ-back-into-Christmas Christianity.

See, Christianity hasn’t exactly been the most “cohesive” of religions. We have Protestants, Calvinists, Catholics, Church of Englanders, Greek Orthodox, Born-Again-ers, Baptists, Those Speaking in Tongues, among other various factions. Wars have been fought among these faiths. Just ask Northern Ireland whether all Christianity is the "same."

I am not alone in my concern. James Madison, one of the original architects of the United States Consitution, is quoted as saying, "Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?... . Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us… What influence in fact have ecclesiastical establishments had on Civil Society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the Civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny: in no instance have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not."

So…in considering the branches of the larger Christian tree spawning the new ordained leader of the United States, my questions are: which Christian Group is gonna take over, how long is the ordination of that extension gonna last, and how will we (the dreaded liberals and atheists) know when to switch our faith-identifying buttons and hats? You know, so that we, the outsiders, can at least attempt to belong to the rest of “Amercuh.” ‘Cause God help me if I choose to run for office and NOT thank His Lord for my running and participating in life, or NOT proclaim that “them homosexuals or liberels” are gonna kill the “Amercuhn” family, or NOT proclaim that I went into politics because God told me to.

I don't only ask this on behalf of the satanists, I ask this in the event something worse happens.

What if one day I discover that I belong to the wrong Christian faith and find that the Other-Christian Government has driven me to practice my beliefs in secret, deep in caves marked by secret symbols known only to my brethren? I suppose that I will have to get on a spaceship as a New Pilgrim and fly to a new planet in order to establish a new country, in order to be free, in order to be free to practice my religion, as according to that original, once-revered, First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

*****

I'm adding an "epilogue" of sorts.

A kind reader reviewed the original draft and pointed out how angry I sounded, that the essay seemed to be a bash on religion, and that reader noted that there was far too much secularism in the world. The reader reminded me of what a "godless" society looks like, and that is a police state.

Point well taken, dear Reader.

I've toned down my sarcasm to better reflect "me" and I offer the following:

Today, as I mourned the hit endured by the Democratic party and read angry diatribes by Bush supporters against liberals and their apparent "lack of morals," I wished for some happy medium between pure secularism and a government that establishes a national religion with all the related legislation. No, I don't want a police nation - we've fought long and hard to avoid such a thing. But neither do I wish to be alienated by a government who sees my own brand of secularism as something to kill off. Or legislate against. I believe this country has had its times of the happy medium.

I am hoping this country will once again find that medium ground. Such a job of unification is beyond the current President, in my opinion. Division has been his game...I'm afraid the division will continue and lead to a different kind of war, a cultural war.

So now I turn to the Senators, to the Representatives, to local government. I turn to the people of the United States who have often been called, "the Fourth Branch of Government." Extremism is dangerous on all sides - we have to change what's happening.

God Bless America