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Dr. Lane’s Thoughts XXXXXIX
1) Do any of the conservative disinformation spreaders (FOXNEWS), Evangelicals, or Trump and his cohort truly believe anything that they are saying or is it just a big joke on the citizens of the US? When what they are saying can be easily disputed by experts and professionals in whatever field they are talking out of their ass about how do they continue to preach their nonsense?
In the case of FOXNEWS I understand it is about the latest outrage to gain more ratings but now that Trump is out of office, why do they bother to continue to mimic his words? He can’t hurt you but you continue to mouth his words about stolen elections, fake COVID-19 cures, his actions as president, and so on.
Do you believe that your constituents and followers are so stupid that they will believe everything you say or even if you are proven wrong they will continue to believe in you and your words? Do you hate the idea of thinking Christians?
It would seem that millions of American Christians who, after a lifetime spent considering their political affiliations in the context of their faith, are now considering their faith affiliations in the context of their politics. For many decades in this country, followers of Jesus were to orient themselves toward his enduring promise of salvation, and away from the fleeting troubles of humanity and the politics of the everyday but those days seem to be gone. For them, to be considered proper Christians they also have to be a proper conservative, Republican follower who would no more question the disinformation of their religious leaders than they would question the tenets of their faith.
I can not speak to Christians with any kind of authority because I am Jewish. For Jews it is unreasonable and unconscionable not to ask questions about our faith to our leaders and much of the faith is based on interpretation – it is pretty much a requirement to question everything (“Two Jews, three opinions” is our unwritten motto).
I have known many closed-minded Jews in my life (my ex-FIL ran FOXNEWS 24/7 in his kitchen and listened to their talking heads with the kind of close scrutiny that could only be found as if he was waiting to hear about lottery results). To a majority of Jewish people, people like this were considered clowns and were the butt of jokes.
For the Christian Evangelicals the last decade has been about cultural reckonings over racism and sexual misconduct; the COVID-19 pandemic and its fierce disputes over vaccines and government mandates; allegations of election theft that led to a siege of the U.S. Capitol and the near insurrection; and, underlying all of this, the presidency, prosecution, and martyring of Trump himself (who aligned himself with the Evangelicals despite not having anything in common with them).
Trump trying to pass himself off as anything but a lying rich politician with a single goal of enriching himself is the crux of the Evangelical movement’s cause. It is as if their leaders present Trump in a unique way: if you believe in Trump and what he lies about then you will believe anything we shovel down your throats.
I want to be clear that being an Evangelical is not synonymous with not thinking. The nation’s largest denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, is bleeding members because of ferocious infighting over race relations, women serving in leadership, accountability for sexual misconduct, and other issues. The United Methodist Church, America’s second-largest denomination, is headed toward imminent divorce over irreconcilable social and ideological divisions.
Nevertheless, the problem of political fanaticism inside the Church poses real threats outside it. By not limiting the purpose of the church to issues of faith and community pastors make themselves lightening rods for spreading misinformation and creating a broader public image of intolerance and not only incorrect education but non-education. After all, what is the point of an education if your pastor tells you not to ‘know’ things but to ‘believe’ in them by faith, exclusively?
If I may return to my Jewish faith for a moment here: a congregation that is educated but returns to religious service makes a denomination stronger; a congregation that is largely uneducated (to the point of ignorance) and told to believe by faith alone issues of both religious and political (the point of this essay) makes a denomination weaker because their church has now become a cult (the leader is more important than Christ).
I am left with a single question: do any of these people really truly believe what they are saying and selling to their parishioners (i.e. about Trump, protesting pandemic shutdowns, masking, and, most recently, vaccine mandates and so on)? It seems like a contemptuous and elaborate joke on people they actually believe to be gullible and malleable to the point of subservience.
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