In the last 70 years, Christianity has been hijacked and weaponized by an alliance between religious fundamentalists and political reactionaries. That dangerous alliance can only be stopped if critical thinkers in every tradition reach out and speak up in defense of moral values that all of us cherish. In a series of nimble, tightly focused arguments, I name the moral and intellectual failures of Christian fundamentalism. I sketch the cultural backstory of these mistakes. And then, issue by issue, I lay out relevant aspects of an alternative valued by Christian humanists and secular humanists alike: the moral imagination. I tell a lot of stories to keep everything accessible and down to earth: these are little books that anyone can read in a couple of evenings.
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According to new polls from the Pew Forum, two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with all ballot choices this fall. (In 2008, by comparison, only twenty-eight percent were dissatisfied at this point in the election cycle.) The hazard here is very real. Low turnout plus "protest votes" for third-party candidates can swing the election.
What should these dissatisfied voters do this November? And why? What assumptions underlie those choices? This is not your ordinary election, after all. Given the unprecedented dangers posed by Donald Trump, voters need to think carefully about what to do.
Herewith, then, three different theories about what it means to "vote your conscience" this November.
Fundamentalist opposition to gay marriage reflects Iron Age biology and sexual anxieties derived from Neoplatonism. We need to reclaim that fascinating cultural history; it makes possible a robust moral theology of gay marriage.
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 If God is not the Engineer Almighty controlling every last aspect of reality, nor the Spy in the Sky hovering over us, judging and condemning and waiting to get us, nor the divine BFF magically micromanaging our lives, then what do Christians mean by "God"? Can that concept make any sense at all in secular terms or to those in other religious traditions? download chapter 1 Leave us a review |
Crusades. Inquisitions. Christian fundamentalists hoping for nuclear war in the Middle East. How did Christianity get to this from its origins in the courageous nonviolent resistance taught by Jesus? Theocracy is clearly a bad idea. But then how DO we hold secular states morally accountable?
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Fundamentalism seeks political gain by demonizing others. It trades in guilt and shame, our most powerful social emotions. That’s toxic. And it’s politically dangerous. On the other hand, is morality “just an opinion”? That doesn’t work either. In a multicultural society, do we have a shared foundation for beliefs about right and wrong? What about “conscience”?
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The rich and the powerful have always tried to wrap their self-serving agenda in religious legitimacy. Jesus confronted that. The gospels are darkly hilarious, densely symbolic political satires against the Roman empire. Today’s global economy is much like Rome’s: what will it take to change things?
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