A wake up call on Christian Nationalism
Anyone still wondering why so many people continue to support Donald Trump, and by extension the growth of Christian nationalism, would have heard useful answers and insights at the panel discussion held in Sonoma’s Burlingame Hall on September 7. Sponsored by Wake Up Sonoma, the panel included Brad Onishi, a former Christian evangelist; Dr. David Vasquez-Levy, President of the Pacific School of Religion, in Berkeley; Peter Coyote-Buddhist, activist, actor; and moderator, Rev. Dr. Curran Reichert of the Congregational Church in Sonoma.
The basic premise voiced by the panel shook the common assumptions that “our” interests are the same as those on the “other” side, that we all share the American Dream. To the contrary, the panelists made it clear that not everyone wants or believes in democracy and not everyone has the same interests as “we” do.
Many followers of Christian nationalism may want what we want, but they have failed to find it in their lifetimes. They have worked hard and haven’t gotten ahead. They see themselves as losing their places of power and privilege and are angry. They feel they are victims of government, unions, the civil rights movement, even God, and are struggling to regain their place in society. Extremist right-wing leaders, politicians, “influencers”, media, even some members of the judiciary, exploit these grievances to strengthen and solidify their own power, helped by a significant number of billionaires, foreign and domestic.
Brad Onishi talked of the publicly known associations between evangelical Christian spokesmen (they are usually men) and politicians, including the so-called “shadow government.”
Peter Coyote emphasized that we will continue to live in a divided country, fighting over democracy, as long as our governance and the political process behind it is ruled by money, providing enormous power to seduce or coerce others. The well-known actor cited the devastating effects of the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision on our elections, allowing wealthy individuals to give unlimited donations to single candidates. Almost always these are billionaires, like the Koch brothers, who support right-wing candidates. These donations often provide massive and largely invisible support to groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Council for National Policy. The money is often used, legally and illegally, to support political candidates without any accountability for how the money is spent. The well-publicized influence of wealthy donors on conservative members of the Supreme Court is one example of this lack of accountability.
Dr. Vasquez-Levy spoke with humor, grace and urgency about the right wing contempt many of us have experienced regarding our religious, sexual, gender, ethnic or cultural beliefs and heritage. We have already lost critical protections for democratic freedoms, like voting rights, reproductive rights and common sense gun control. To be fair, of course, through history Christianity has also done damage to the rights of others – witness the Crusades – as have people of other faiths or no faith at all.
But the desire for meaning, purpose and a sense of wonder and awe (often referred to as a “sense of the sacred”) has also been a powerful force of help and succor to many. We do not speak strongly enough about what value our stories, our lives and our principles offer to the world. Everyone on the panel agreed that we should be using our voices and our efforts to speak about the values of democracy and inclusion, to revere those who care more about community and others than about power and money. We should ask why members of the right-wing hope to curtail IVF as well as abortion. Are women supposed to have babies or not? Are Christian nationalists suggesting that women should only have the right kind of babies with the right kind of men? Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance reflects publicly what the far right has long talked about: white men are losing power to a growing population of “others,” including women (“childless cat ladies”), and there is concerted action to regain that power.
I am an 80-year-old woman, educated and intelligent, not a conspiracy theorist by nature, once a professional woman in a long career, happily married with children and grandchildren, not rich but economically secure, and a Christian. The men on the panel I am quoting here are diverse in background (Asian, Jewish, Hispanic), all thoroughly educated and successful. It is very hard to face the frightening view of the world they described to us. But anti-democratic forces have long existed in this world, and we have begun to see them most fully in the Trump era.
To strengthen our democratic story requires paying attention to how power is being used and by whom and for what purpose. Americans have bought the belief that you earn your success through living a life of hard work and good works. We were not necessarily taught that it also requires hard work to preserve and protect ourselves, our families, our communities, our democratic tradition, our very country, even when things seem good.
Of course, I will vote against Donald Trump, and I truly hope he loses by a landslide. But even if he does, there will be protest and turmoil. The hard work to regain and preserve a democracy remains continuous, even if Kamala Harris wins. We all say we value our “freedoms,” left and right alike. We may have different definitions of “freedom,” but we all use the word.
Which calls to mind the words of Erich Fromm, the groundbreaking, Neo-Freudian psychoanalyst and author of the book, “Escape From Freedom.” Far back in 1952, Fromm described freedom itself as a problem. “Freedom,” wrote Fromm, “can sometimes be the cause of fear and anxiety, forcing us to find ways to escape from freedom.” Authoritarianism, destructiveness and robotic conformity are, according to Fromm, ways we try to cope with the freedom we fear. Authoritarianism and Trumpism, therefore, are human problems, not just personal or political ones.
Norma Barnett
Sonoma
