The world is ending! The sky is falling! The Antichrist is in Congress!
Or so say some in the aftermath of the midterm elections. But do not believe it, fair reader. The American people have spoken (and speak they did), and overwhelming support for moderation in our government has put Democrats in control of the House and the Senate. Both houses of Congress. Both branches of legislature. Capitol Hill belongs to the Democrats. I love how those statements just roll off the tongue as easy as a basketball will roll through the net after a Charles Rhodes slam dunk, but I digress.
Fear not, Republican friends, your life will not end here. Nay, I say; your life has only just begun, and what better way to begin than with a wake-up call? Evangelicals voted for the Democrats in record numbers in this election, with almost 1 in 3 coming down in support of the blue-tied baby-kissers.
And it’s about time, I should think. The Democrats are the party of the big tent, and it’s time that people recognized it for what it is. Left-leaning legislators are just as capable of representing the values of the religious right as the red state Republicans. In fact, I daresay that the Republican political machine has been exploiting “values voters” for a number of years, in order to ensure their stronghold on Congress. Take a look at a couple of the so-called “hot button issues” that the conservative-minded politicos use to get out the vote and see if you agree:
Prayer in school has been an issue used to mobilize voters for years. I would like to believe that everyone could understand how having a teacher organize or lead prayer in a public school would clearly violate the separation of church and state standard that has been applied to the Establishment clause since the beginning of time, or at least since the beginning of the American government that we know. But somehow the fact escapes a large portion of our population.
All the way back to Thomas Jefferson, we see this statement being applied again and again: “wall of separation between church and State.” Jefferson didn’t even come up with that, though. He borrowed it from prominent Baptist theologian Roger Williams.
Now, it seems that many prominent Christian theologians would force every person by law to get down on their knees and pray each and every morning before setting off to work. The irony kills me, but the fact that Republicans take advantage of the large portion of Americans who don’t understand constitutional law well enough to understand this concept should be no laughing matter.
The idea of gay marriage is another issue that surprises me with how many people it can produce at the polls. That is because, at the bare bones of the matter, the government does nothing more than provide for the legality of a union between two of its citizens.
The government should have absolutely nothing to do with the concept of “marriage” at all. Marriage is an ordinance or sacrament of the church. It’s also called holy matrimony for a reason. The government has no business marrying people to begin with. Marriage is a matter of the church. The only thing that the government can do is validate the right of two people to live together by way of tax incentives, and if you happen to bring children into that household then congratulations, more tax breaks for you.
Call it what you will, but the most that the government can give two people is a legal (or civil) union. The issue of gay marriage should not be a non-issue for people who are voting for their religious convictions. The church is not obligated to marry anyone or to recognize the civil unions granted by the government. If your church does not support gay marriage, then congratulations, you have already won that fight, and any votes that you cast in governmental affairs are superfluous at best.
I can understand the motivations of people who disagree with me on the preceding two points to some degree. However, I am absolutely baffled by people who are upset about corporations deciding to use a “Happy Holidays” message instead of “Merry Christmas.” This is not so much a primary political issue, but it is a silly issue that some organizations (hello, AFA) use to rally people to their cause. It will never cease to mystify me when I hear the same person say, “I hate the commercialization of Christmas; Jesus is the reason for the season.” and then also say, “I hate that [insert name of one of any number of commercial businesses] uses ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas.'”
If I could manage to not laugh out loud at the irony there, then I would be inclined to say, “You hate the commercialization of Christmas, but you also hate that commercial businesses don’t include Christ in their advertising? Seriously?” just to make sure that my ears do not deceive me. Unfortunately, since I do not have the decency required to stop myself from laughing at these people, I write about them here instead.
I, for one, am glad that evangelical voters are starting to come to their senses. Yes, maybe the big tent party won’t represent your views on every issue, but it can represent you in most. However, if the majority of religious voters want to continue being pulled around and abused by the Republican machine, then I suppose that is their prerogative. This won’t benefit anyone except the GOP in the long run, and one outta three ain’t bad. It will at least provide me with some comic relief in the process, and that is usually where my vote is cast anyway.