Saturday, September 12, 2015

The Christian Republican Party

I’ve come to think of the Republican Party as a rebranded entity known as the Christian Republican Party. All 2016 presidential candidates run on a campaign where Christianity and American Conservative Christian values are the main points of the campaign. Be it social agenda items like marriage equity or immigration or foreign policy, a warped sense of Christian values are ever-present.

It’s warped my thinking about politics. I think of the presidential candidates as pastors now and we are their flock. It’s one of the many reasons I do not go to ‘church'.

I listen to my liberal Christian friends and as usual, there is no sense of us (liberal Christians) against them (conservative Christians). Assuming that the Democratic Party represents liberal Christians is simply wrong. They conflate electing Hillary Clinton with defeating the conservative social agenda. My friends ally themselves with some of the conservative causes, like abortion, and some liberal causes like a social safety net. It’s not an us against them situation, it is an us against liberal Christian enablers.

It’s also hypocrisy. I think it is time to dip my toe in politics. Left or Right… It does not matter. I’m calling you out for the bad ideas and the faith-based solutions that perpetuate hate. We all should do the same.