After my failed attempt at “real” Christianity, the religious right bothered me much more than when I was ignorant of the Bible.
The political version of Christianity is first and foremost a media construct, like so much of our lives these days. It’s championed by Fox News, the 700 Club and a parade of has-beens and never weres, selling the “prosperity gospel” like so much snake oil. It’s a powerful and toxic stew that is as relevant to Jesus as professional wrestling or a discarded Playboy. Conservative Christianity in America is less a religion and more of a secret handshake, a group signifier of exclusion and moral superiority. [e.g., a shibboleth; y’all have seen that word used a lot around here]
The people most injured by the Fox News version of Christianity are those authentic, compassionate people of faith. There are many churches with a sense of sacrifice and love. I’ve seen them. They are Lutheran or Catholic, Buddhist and even Mormon. They are filled with nice people doing wonderful things from a sense community, but these groups are in grave danger. They are now being sold a bag of lies about threats to “religious liberty.” They’re being made into political puppets, manipulated into violating the precepts of their own faith in the voting booth and in their own, incendiary, hate-filled rhetoric.
I can s-o-o-o relate. As I’ve been saying for years, the evangelical right have been turned into the political shock troops for the very people who are screwing the country into the ground — and the poor fools have no idea that they’re being laughed at by their noisy heroes even as they are (mis)used and their pockets are picked. As H.L. Mencken so presciently said, “The job before democracy is to get rid of such canaille; if it fails, they will devour it.”