A lot of ... silence

Anyone notice the “religious right” lately? I haven’t.

Unquestionably the biggest and most fervent supporters of President Donald Trump, who has continued to “lead” this nation from one crisis to the next with no end in sight, it has had nothing at all to say about his absolute incompetence — pulling out of Syria and prematurely declaring victory over ISIS, shutting down the federal government over an ill-conceived and politically-motivated border wall along the border with Mexico and too many other things to mention here.

Why is that? Well, an article in USA Today last week gave a clue: It got what it wanted in a conservative Supreme Court justice that might — might — overturn Roe v. Wade, “religious freedom” (read: cultural dominance and privilege) laws, a move of the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. As though it cared about nothing else.

That’s just it — it cared about virtually nothing else. Not about kids being separated from their parents at the border. Not about rising income inequality, even though such is affecting its base. Not about the large number of African-Americans leaving their churches because of his overt racism.

What kind of “gospel” does it believe, anyway? Simply being saved personally from sin and to hell, literally, with the world that God created?

I know many people believe in a “top-down,” “strict father” mentality in that if the right laws and cultural values were instituted an increased commitment to faith and cultural stability would result. On the contrary — it actually creates the problem because they do nothing to turn hearts toward God Himself. Indeed, that’s His job and His alone “(No [one] comes to [Jesus] unless the Father draws him”).

That leads to only an empty religion devoid of the Holy Spirit. Basically we have a group of people who want to invoke God but don’t know His heart — and that’s dangerous. Indeed, I would say that He’s being merciful in pulling His Spirit out.

So maybe it’s a good thing that we haven’t heard from the religious right lately. It certainly isn’t speaking for God.