Christians cannot serve both God and the GOP

The “Christian Proper” is the spine of the Republican Get together. Christians of all stripes—from Catholics to Protestants and evangelicals—persistently (and sometimes overwhelmingly) vote Republican. Nonetheless, the essential rules of the trendy Republican Get together are in stark distinction to biblical scripture.

Over the previous 4 a long time, few priorities have consumed the Republican Get together greater than financial insurance policies that profit the ultra-rich. Particularly, Ronald Reagan's presidency ushered in an period the place company income took priority over honest wages for American staff. The rise of the Reagan-Republican ethos, which preaches the elevation of shareholder income above just about all different issues, straight influenced a long time of outsourcing of American jobs to nations with huge reserves of low-cost labor. Ditto for busting unions and embracing job-killing automation in pursuit of most revenue.

Unsurprisingly, these elements have decimated America's center class. Furthermore, Presidents Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump have all pursued radical tax insurance policies that overwhelmingly—if not solely—benefited a small group of exceptionally rich People on the expense of the working and center lessons.

Nonetheless, Republican insurance policies favoring the ultra-rich are in stark distinction to the Bible. The Bible's condemnation of the wealthy and the buildup of wealth leaves no room for ambiguity.

In a single notably hanging instance, a wealthy man is tormented in hell just because he lived a lifetime of “luxurious.” In one other passage, the “wealthy individuals” are instructed to “weep and lament due to the distress that’s coming upon them.”

In keeping with Scripture, “those that need to get wealthy” will fall into the entice of “smash and destruction,” fairly a biblical rebuke to the capitalist philosophy. The Bible additional warns that “the love of cash is the basis of all evil,” whereas Christians are instructed to not “retailer up treasures on earth.”

Briefly, followers of Christ should select between “God and cash.”

Jesus' parable explaining that “it’s simpler for a camel to undergo the attention of a needle than for a wealthy man to enter” heaven is one in every of a choose few teachings that features all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), confirming the biblical message towards wealth.

Opposite to GOP priorities, prosperity and wealth accumulation should not portrayed positively wherever within the scriptures.

However there may be extra to it. Many right-wing Christians could be shocked to study that the earliest Christian communities practiced some type of proto-socialism. Early church leaders redistributed wealth from rich Christian communities to the poor (“Your abundance will provide their wants”) with the last word purpose of reaching “equality.”

To the early Christians, the idea of private property was anathema: “Nobody claimed any of his possessions as his personal” and “they shared all that they had.”

The property was offered and the proceeds “distributed to anybody in want”.

Clement of Alexandria, an influential Christian author, held that “all property is by nature unjust when a person possesses it for private acquire… and doesn’t put it in frequent inventory for many who want it.” One other notable early Christian, Justin Martyr, wrote that “we who valued the acquisition of riches and possessions above all, now carry what we now have in frequent inventory, and talk with each one that hath want.”

In response to those biblical passages and writings, many up to date right-wing Christians would argue that members of the early church weren’t pressured by the federal government to redistribute their wealth. That is undoubtedly true. However the specter of on the spot dying or the excruciating torment of going through an impending apocalypse with out promoting one's possessions to distribute to the needy would in all chance show much more compelling—and terrifying—than any authorities tax assortment company. Furthermore, if the earliest Christians had created their very own state, there isn’t a motive to doubt that it might have been based mostly on the socialist rules outlined within the Bible.

Along with issues of wealth and possessions, the Bible is crystal clear on the difficulty of taxes. Proper-wing Christians railing towards taxation could be sensible to recollect Jesus' unequivocal command to pay taxes in full and with out criticism.

The identical is true of the vitriolic assaults on elected political leaders usually perpetrated by self-described right-wing Christians. Such assaults are fully opposite to the Bible's categorical steerage concerning interactions with main authorities.

Maybe extra importantly, thousands and thousands of American Christians base their political selections solely on the difficulty of abortion. Nonetheless, in all of the scriptures, Jesus doesn’t say a single phrase about abortion.

Whereas this follow dates again to historical instances, Jesus' silence is exceptional. Plainly Jesus insulting the cash changers or ensuring {that a} explicit tree by no means bore fruit was extra essential than talking out towards abortion.

Lastly, the subject of immigration presents one other stark distinction between the GOP and the Bible. The scriptures are clear that solely those that give consolation to drained, hungry, sick, or imprisoned “strangers” will ascend to heaven. Then again, those that refuse to assist strangers in want are condemned to “everlasting punishment.”

In the end, the Bible serves as a scathing rebuke to a long time of GOP orthodoxy. Very like Jesus' command that his followers should select between “God and cash,” Christian Republicans should select between their political leanings and their religion. To borrow from the Bible, “they can not serve each.”

Marik von Rennenkampff served as an analyst for the US State Division's Workplace of Worldwide Safety and Nonproliferation, in addition to an Obama administration appointee on the US Division of Protection.