The Americanization of Christianity
Sept 14, 2020
I recently received a piece of mail from an organization called "Catholic Vote", subtitled "Mobilizing Catholics to defend faith and family in 2020." The enclosed survey reads “Concerning the Assault on President Trump by the Dishonest Media, the Radical Left, and the Corrupt Washington Political Establishment." (By implication then, President Trump must be considered honest and part of the non-corrupt Washington establishment.) It goes on to identify their organization as one of “pro-life Americans” (which is the code word for anti-abortion and not anti-capital-punishment or anti-placing-immigrant-children-in-cages or anti-letting-folks-die-for-my-economic-benefit.) The literature goes on to state that the left wants to “transform America into a nation without God – a corrupt socialist one-party state, similar to Venezuela.” and "they do not want to secure America’s borders because they want to create millions of new voters for their radical socialist, anti-God agenda.” The enclosed envelope for returning the survey and financial contribution is addressed to Catholic Voter Campaign to STOP the TRUMP TAKEDOWN!
Increasingly, “American Christianity” appears to be grounded in fear rather than hope, based on an unwavering belief that Christianity and an America-first attitude are both harmonious and essential, and responsive to a host of unfounded conspiracy theories. Economically, American Christianity favors capitalism over any form of socialism, and castigates liberals as those who want do drive God out of the culture or whose concern for social justice and the poor are part of some sort of conspiracy to create a communist state. I believe that in many respects, it is the outgrowth of an unholy alliance between Christian denominations and the very rich and powerful -- who are adept at generating fear and a sense of religious and social persecution, in order to maintain their wealth and power.
How different this is from those Christians in the early church. We read in Chapter 4, v 32-35 of the Acts of the Apostles:
“The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need..”
As a Catholic Christian, I must believe that I am not alone in believing in the God of compassion and love as revealed in the gospels, who calls me to live in hope rather than fear and to share his compassion with others, especially the poor and most deprived.
