The Christian Right?

I consider myself a Christian but not socially a church person. I taught Sunday school at one time in the United Church and I say prayers most days. I believe that the Holy Bible, especially the New Testament, is a great book and guide for humanity. The Christian story is the foundation of the culture of my WASP tribe (and many other tribes). The hymns and readings are deeply a part of my heritage. Here are some thoughts about my puzzlement on how the politically right-wing Christians can reconcile their Christianity with their political beliefs and practices.

What has me stumped is the non-Christian attitude of so many loud-spoken, so-called Christian conservatives in Canada and in America. If I could sum up their political message in one word that word would be selfishness. The main theme of the right wing parties seems to be "Vote for me; I will cut your taxes and put more money in your pocket, then you can go to the mall and buy more stuff which will be good for business." Of course it works! The human animal is brimming with self-interest and greed. Most creatures are hard-wired this way for survival. However, I thought that the main message and contribution of Jesus was exactly the opposite. His big idea was selflessness. Until recently, greed has been considered a sin, if not a human weakness. Now it is in the interest of business to flaunt it and turn it into a virtue. Greed is the most necessary ingredient in a healthy cash flow.

The central chapter in my book "Thinking Like a Mountain" is titled 'Homo Sapiens Teenager Consumerensis'. Since the 1950's the leaders of business in our society have created a new species and trained it to be self-indulgent. It has been very easy to do by hitting hard (with top psychological experts) the most vulnerable hot buttons especially prevalent in adolescents. These buttons are greed, lust and fascination with violence.

I wrote to William Bennett in response to his very good "Book of Virtues" that if he wants to find the source of the loss of virtue, the turning of humans into self-indulgent market targets is more the cause than mushy, bleeding-heart liberalism. He actually replied but either he didn't get it or he is in denial. If he gave some credence to my thesis (I am not alone in this thinking) he would condemn his beloved big business allies, at least once in a while, for so blatantly encouraging human sin and weaknesses.

Although I hear a lot of Bible quoting by the above-mentioned Conservatives, I never hear them mention Jesus' call to "give away your goods and follow me", or the camel and the rich man passing through the eye of a needle. These and the Golden Rule are, I believe, central to the message of Christ, not abortion rights and wrongs, or evolution.

It has always baffled me that abortion has become such a political issue in America and parts of Canada, not, by the way, in most of the rest of the world. "Thou shalt not kill" is an important commandment. Killing a fetus is clearly a sad and dreadful act. No-one likes it. There is only one reason for doing it … unwanted pregnancy. Therefore the only way to eliminate abortion is to eliminate unwanted pregnancy. Very harsh abortion laws produce back room, butcher abortions. The country with by far the lowest abortion rate in the world is Holland. It has very loose abortion laws but excellent family planning. It also has a great social programmes for pregnant teenage girls who want to keep their babies. They have pleasant "Holiday Inn" like facilities to help them and the child get a good start in life. The USA should follow in Holland's footsteps to reduce abortion instead of blathering it all over the political arena.

"Thou shalt not kill" does not seem to bother many anti-abortionists when it comes to capital punishment or declaring war. These folks should show much greater moral indignation against arms manufacturers who are clearly merchants of killing and murder. But I never hear a peep in that direction. In fact I suspect that many Conservative Christians belong to the National Rifle Association, a powerful lobby for weapons manufacturers and merchants. The homicide rate for children in the US is 5 times higher than for children in all of the 25 wealthiest nations combined. Taking a human life is taking a human life.

The conservative, Christian fundamentalists are very selective in their use of their biblical arguments. For example, the second of the Ten Commandments "Thou shalt not create unto thyself any graven image" is totally ignored these days which is a good thing because that is a blow against artists and photographers. This cannot be a commandment against the worship of other gods. That is already covered in the First Commandment. Elsewhere in the Old Testament there are strict instructions to avoid eating fish without scales or being in the same room as a woman who is menstruating. I could go on and on listing abominations and admonitions in the Bible that most "fundamentalists" totally ignore. It is truly shocking that during the 2004 US election gay marriage and abortion (which should be personal and not political) evidently were more important political issues than the taking of over 100,000 human lives in Iraq, not to mention the plunging of America into deeper debt.

There is enough Christian in me to ask myself quite regularly when I think about issues - which I do all the time - "What would Christ do about this issue?" That seems to me to be a good yardstick for professed Christians. You may have heard of the theologian (from Harvard, I think) who asks the question à propos of global warming "Would Christ drive an SUV?" I think not! Would Christ be in the streets of Seattle, or Quebec City or Davos or would He be sitting at the table inside with the corporate establishment and their government lapdogs? I think that the story of the moneychangers in the temple gives us the answer. As far as I can tell this was the only time that Christ got really angry.

E.O. Wilson, the great scientist, author and champion of biodiversity said that biodiversity is creation. I say that destroying biodiversity is destroying God's creation. I consider this to be a sin. It is one thing to make use of plants and animals as the Bible suggests; it is quite another to wipe out forever entire species and ecosystems without a single thought or regret. This has to be, by any standards, sinful.

Therefore I am very puzzled that the Christian Right has nothing to say about the massive destruction of nature in recent decades. In fact, their every utterance seems to encourage it … a clear example being "fundamentalist" James Watt, Ronald Reagan's first choice as Secretary of the Interior. When Watt was asked in his Senate hearing what he thought about long range planning, he replied "It will not be necessary because Armageddon will be coming soon and we might as well use up all the of Earth’s resources as soon as possible." George W. Bush is even worse. He is diabolically clever at destroying our national heritage and all of its protections while mouthing soothing platitudes and doublespeak. In fact, George W. Bush and his group of "neo-cons" seem to base their philosophy on the opposite of what Christ would do. He favours the rich, damages the poor, endorses all manner of killing machines, employs deception, bears false witness (Enron, etc. etc.) and purposefully destroys God's creation in order to make more profits for his corporate buddies and supporters. This is accomplished in death-by-a-thousand-cuts with regular executive orders to open protected areas to development, reduction of enforcement of pollution control and countless other measures which by-pass Congress, usually done on a Friday afternoon to avoid publicity.

Why do I write all of this? Partly, I am looking for answers and partly in the hopes that Christians will follow Christ’s true teachings to make the world a better place for all living things.

Robert Bateman

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