The Evangelical Threat to Democracy: How religious zealots are ruining our country

 

Democracy cannot survive the radical evangelical. The reason is simple: evangelicals believe in the doctrine of salvation by grace alone.

Forget about good deeds; you don’t even have to be a good person. Just believe.

The problem with that thinking, aside from the fact that it sounds like utter nonsense, is that according to this belief system, accountability is unnecessary.

Sexual abuse, child abuse, election theft, intentionally spreading infectious disease—these are meaningless sins because if you have faith in Jesus’s atonement, your salvation is guaranteed.

Catholic priests who abuse young boys, college coaches who molest athletes, former Presidents who abuse women and lie repeatedly—nothing they do will prevent them from passing through the gates of heaven if they have faith. (Trump is not an evangelical, btw—but he has certainly benefited from their simplistic thinking.)

In the radical evangelical community, men are not punished—they are revered. Forgive and forget is the only allowable response to the damage they do. Their men are treated as demigods and women and children exist for their pleasure. The planet is here for their exploitation. The fires, floods, heat waves and hurricanes we’ve been suffering through are all part of God’s plan. It was prophesied in the Bible. It’s Armageddon; it’s supposed to happen.

Death means nothing to them; the sooner they die the sooner they meet their maker. But therein lies the rub: when death means nothing, life means nothing too.

If the rest of us want to survive, we need to vote evangelicals out of office. I still believe in religious freedom; I just don’t think zealots should be running our country. They will never support majority rule; environmental protections; women’s rights or democracy because none of those issues concern them.   They don’t respect natural laws, science, or education because they can’t risk anything that might jeopardize their faith--hence their salvation. 

I am reminded of an old joke:

A man is caught in a flash flood. He escapes to the roof of his house and becomes more and more frightened as the flood waters rise, but when an innertube floats by within arm’s reach, he pushes it away. When a helicopter flies by and drops its rope ladder for him, he waves it on. When a boat drifts by and he’s beckoned to join its passengers making their way to safety, he declines. Eventually, he is enveloped by water, and he drowns.

When he gets to heaven he’s befuddled. As he stands before the Pearly Gates he demands to know “How could God have left me to die?”

St. Peter replies, patiently “He sent you a float, and he sent you a boat—he even sent you a helicopter. Don’t blame Him.”

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The United States has the largest population of evangelicals in the world. Fortunately, all Christians are not evangelicals. And all evangelicals are not radical.

Thank God!