Is Christian Nationalism on the Horizon?

I know I’ve posted several “other people’s” writings lately, but sometimes they say things so much better than me. 😊

I’m doing it again with this post. (Sorry. 🙁)

This one is from Robert Reich … and he talks about an issue that many of us are concerned about. He titles it “The Republican Party becomes the Christian Nationalist.”

Another important aspect of the anti-democracy movement in America deserves attention. The wall separating church and state is getting hit with a Republican battering ram.

The Texas Senate just approved about a half-dozen religion bills, including a requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom in the state, allowing chaplains to replace counselors in the schools, and letting school districts set time for staff and students to pray and read religious texts.

Idaho and Kentucky have signed into law measures allowing teachers and public school employees to pray in front of and with students while on duty.

Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers are falling over themselves to pass book bans, abortion prohibitions, and anti-trans laws — and justify them with scripture.

“Put on the full armor of God. Stand firm against the left’s schemes,” Florida governor (and soon-to-be-announced Republican presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis said at the Christian Hillsdale College — substituting “left’s schemes” for the “devil’s schemes” of Ephesians 6:11.

And it’s not just any religion. It’s Christianity. As former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn (whom Trump has promised to bring back for a second Trump term) put it at a recent ReAwaken America event, “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion.”

Republican lawmakers say the Supreme Court will back them in their attempts to make Christian nationalism the center of American life, referring to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last June that allowed a public high school football coach to pray on the field after games, arguing his actions were protected by the Constitution...

I like to think (hope) that there are Christians who are NOT in favor of these actions. I know that every evangelical believer is gung-ho on the idea, but SURELY the more reserved/conventional/mainstream denominations will put up a fight.

Surely.

So I guess my question to readers is this: Do you truly think this will ever happen? I’m talking full-fledged legal maneuvers that make Christian Nationalism the Law of the Land. And if it IS put into place, how do you think such an action might affect you personally?

OR … do you think there is enough resistance among non-believers and/or nominal believers to stop the movement?

Churches Closing: How Sad, Too Bad

Many of us are aware that church attendance has been decreasing over the years. In fact, according to this article, a survey taken in 2020 found that …

[T]he average congregation size across Christian denominations is less than half what it was in 2000 — down to 65 from 137. It also found that on average, a third of churchgoers are 65 or older, twice that age group’s representation in the general population. These numbers held true for Protestants, Evangelicals and Catholics alike. Only congregations of other faith traditions — including Islam, Baha’i and Judaism — are seeing increases, the survey said.

In fact, a political science professor mentioned in the article believes that … about a third of the country’s 350,000 Christian congregations are “on the brink of extinction.” 

As many of us have heard –and the article confirms– this sharp uptick is due to the number of younger Americans who report no religious affiliation — a group known as the “nones.”

Some have expressed concern over this reduction because it could decrease the number of community services that churches provide, such as food banks, help for troubled teens, addiction treatment, and other programs. Others wonder what will happen to the empty church buildings themselves. Apparently in larger cities, they are being turned into luxury condos or offices, but in poor communities and/or rural areas, they just sit there. Empty.

The article reports that one church in Oklahoma that once drew hundreds has now dwindled down to about 30 people for Sunday services.

(Notice the picture in the article that illustrates the reduced number of worshippers.)

Of course from the viewpoint of some, all this is a good thing. Money contributed by congregants to maintain brick and mortar church buildings, the home and salary of clergy –and in Catholic churches, the garb and various sacramental items of the priesthood– could be far better spent helping the folks that Jesus himself talked about … the disadvantaged, the poor, the needy (all those folks so many of “the faithful” tend to overlook).

While most of us reading this will likely never see the total disappearance of churches, one can’t help but be encouraged that the hold religion has on so many may be slowly, but surely, disappearing.

Or at the very least … loosening its hold.

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Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

God and Space and Humans

On another blog, someone made this remark:

… since cosmology and astrophysics have proven that the universe had a beginning. and we know that whatever has a beginning has a “cause.” thus, if the universe had a beginning, it had a cause; i posit *God as that cause.

First, there is no scientific “proof” that the universe had a beginning (and thus a “cause”). While various scientific fields theorize that it did … none have been able to offer inerrant and/or empirical proof of this premise.

Nonetheless, let’s put that aside for the sake of discussion and consider this person’s comment  …

If a god is the “cause” behind the existence of  the Universe, then this would mean it also created the several galaxies and planets and moons and black holes and other miscellaneous objects floating around in the cosmos, yes?

Now, if we accept this as a truth, does not the question become … why would such an all-powerful entity create and then place human beings on THIS particular planet? When one considers the sum total of this entity’s abilities, does this not seem a bit incredulous?

And even more to the question, why would this supernatural entity require this created physical being to jump through multiple hoops and follow arbitrary rules in order to receive some future discretionary reward?

Now let’s go a bit further and do a thought exercise.

As difficult as it may be for some folk, let’s assume the Universe actually had NO beginning … and thus NO “cause” (i.e., no supernatural entity). Next, let’s weigh the idea that the existence of  human beings (and the multitude of other creatures) on this particular planet was simply a cosmological burp.

Taking it a step further and allowing ourselves to consider this possibility, what then? What would life be like if there were no belief in or discussions about a supernatural creator? Would things be dissimilar to what they are now? Would “human nature” be any different than it is today? Would the overall environment on this world be any more or less peaceful? Would humans view each other as equals?

Use your imagination! Step away from “the way things are” and see what you can come up with.

The Future of the Cellphone

I just read something in an NPR article that will undoubtedly set off the religious crazies …

The father of the cellphone –Martin Cooper– predicts that AI will revolutionize how we communicate and that devices could eventually be embedded into our bodies.

Here is what he says

“The cellphone is going to become a part of you. Parts of the cellphone will be embedded under your skin. You won’t have to charge a cellphone, because your body is a perfect charger. You ingest food, and you turn it into energy. So there are so many improvements yet to be made in a cellphone. And I really do believe that we are just at the beginning of the cellphone revolution.” 

Why do I say this remark will set off the religious crazies? Read Revelation 13:15-18 (NIV):

¹⁵ The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸ This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

More …

This mark acts as a seal for the followers of Antichrist and the false prophet (the spokesperson for the Antichrist). The false prophet (the second beast) is the one who causes people to take this mark. The mark is literally placed in the hand or forehead and is not simply a card someone carries.

While the Scriptures do not attest to an embedded tool, it is only appropriate that we recognize the advancements that have occurred since the scriptures were written, right?

And there’s little doubt the real objective of this embedded object will be evident to the True Christians.™

So watch out, folks! Don’t let those (“Antichrist”) Cooper-folks get ahold of you!

The Soul 🦋

The following was included in a comment made by “rautakyy”  (a regular visitor to this blog)  related to a discussion about “the soul” on Mak’s blog. I found his perspective closely aligned with my own feelings. What about you?

I do not know how it would feel like, if I had a soul, and I bet people who think they have one, have no idea what it would be like if they had none. Yet, what they feel about this issue seems best evidence they can put up in defence of this phenomena. There is no way we can verify any of us has one, let alone, that all had it. It can be seen as a poetic term for self, but otherwise it is just superstition and the thought of an afterlife is hardly anything but wishfull thinking. Either to avoid the thought of one’s own mortality, or the hope for some universal justice. However, the concepts of this universal justice are fairly skewed in religions. Hinduism offers future lives as insects = animals that do not have the brainpower to know their existance is some sort of punishment – a conclusion hardly any animal apart from us hominids has ever reached. Christianity offers hell, that can be avoided by joining the club, but non-members will suffer for an eternity. How is that supposed to be just on any level?

I was tickled by the remark about Hindus possibly being reincarnated as insects! I wonder if any individual who believes in reincarnation has considered this possibility?

In any event, what do you think? Do humans have souls? And is there any way/method to tell if we did?