The Law of the Harvest

It seems a tad dicey, and perhaps in slightly bad taste, to continue yesterday’s criticism of conservative Christians (CCs) on Ash Wednesday. But a topic like the Christian Exodus (CE) movement has such a short shelf life that I have to run the risk and wrap it up. Maybe I can give up criticizing CCs for the remainder of Lent. Heaven knows that would be a qualifying sacrifice.

The CE gang is quick to proclaim that they’re not an extremist group. Their leader in Lodi says, “What we are doing is reacting to the extreme marginalization of Christianity in America.” So, they’re a reactionary group. And unless Newton’s law of reciprocal action has been revoked, they’re reacting to extreme marginalization in an extremely marginal manner. Said another way, they are an extremist group, no matter how distasteful the label may be to them.

The idea that America is marginalizing Christianity, much less doing so to an extreme, is laughable. Anyone who maintains that position is delusional. Christianity is omnipresent in America. You can’t get through a day without encountering it. That’s not a complaint; it’s an observation.

CCs crack me up. On the one hand they lay claim to having almost single-handedly delivered the presidency to George Bush in 2000, and they’re absolutely certain they’re responsible for his reelection in 2004. They push their way to front and center on every social issue that comes along. Their shrill voice can be heard every day on television, radio, newspapers, the Internet and the tracts they pass out on city sidewalks, in airports and at front doors. And yet they act like a severely persecuted minority and lay claim without shame to being marginalized. They don’t have a clue about what it means to be on the margin in America. In Iraq, yes; in the land of the free and the home of the brave, no way.

Demographically speaking, America is a Christian nation – 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christian; only 5% identify as “other”; with 15% claiming no religious affiliation. In the power centers of American government, Christians rule – always have and probably always will.

Of the 43 presidents we’ve had, all but three or four have been professed Christians. No doubt about No. 43. In Congress, 92% of the current members are professed Christians, with less than 1% indicating no religious affiliation. Of the 110 justices we’ve had on the Supreme Court, 102 have been Christian. Today, seven of the nine justices are. Admittedly, Hollywood, the other reputed power center of American government, is a veritable bastion of Judaism. But, given the CC’s deep and abiding love of the highly vaunted Judeo-Christian values thing, that shouldn’t cause them as much trouble as they claim it does.

In the mind of many CCs, however, a lot of these leaders aren’t real Christians. Five or six of the brightest stars in the presidential firmament, Washington, probably Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Lincoln, were deists (so was John Tyler, but who cares). You can toss Ben Franklin in the deist pot as well. Deists probably don’t count. Then there’s the gnarly Catholic problem. Many fundamentalists and uber-evangelicals don’t consider Catholics to be true Christians. So, having Catholics as five of the nine current Supreme Court Justices might not count. As for the Mormons in Congress, forget it; no way the CCs regard them as fellow believers. And, those weak-kneed Episcopalians have a gay bishop now, so their credentials are seriously suspect.

Almost all of corporate America recognizes Christmas as a company holiday; many companies also recognize Good Friday. A huge slice of American business stands or falls on the success of the “happy holiday season”. Let’s not overlook the economic impact of Easter and various pre-Lenten celebrations, either. After all, the church calendar is Party Central for a lot of people in this country.

The CE plan calls for the arrival of enough CCs in South Carolina to allow them to control the mechanisms of government through the ballot box. Initially, they’re targeting six counties and intend to reign supreme in those counties by 2008. They project an “overwhelming impact” on statewide elections by 2014. After that, it’s just one unimpeded ride to glory as they pass the kind of laws that they know Jesus wants for everyone in South Carolina.

Of course, there is one little problem. The Constitution of the United States will not be suspended for these right-wing nuts; it will continue to be interpreted and applied by the Catholics “up north”. Similarly, federal law will continue to trump state law when there is a direct conflict, thanks again to the Constitution and the deists who wrote it.

Oh, yeah, there’s one other irritant in the CC's K-Y Jelly. After these pilgrims disembark their modern-day Mayflower in Charleston harbor, they will not make up 100% of the population in South Carolina. There will remain a sizable minority. If all goes according to the inspired CE plan, that minority will become the victims of extreme marginalization at the hands of their CC taskmasters. So, it’s clear that the CCs aren’t really troubled by extreme marginalization; they plan to push all non-CCs in South Carolina into that status as soon as possible, albeit all in the name of God – and that makes all the difference.

That would be the same God who says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That would be the same God who reminds us about the irrevocable law of the harvest. Whatever the CCs are reaping in America is a direct result of what they’ve sown. If they don’t like it, they need to reexamine the seed they’re sowing rather than moving to a new field.