If We Only Had One Religion

Just last month, Michael Flynn, the former U.S. Security Advisor who was just subpoenaed by a House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, told a crowd at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.” He was definitely “preaching to the choir” and was graciously welcomed by every hardcore evangelical in earshot. If he fails to be elected the next president, Mr. Flynn would be the first to apply for the equivalent of the ayatollah that tells the Iranian politicians how to apply religious dogma to their country’s laws.

Empires and rulers since Constantine have made weird bedfellows with religions in their historical contexts, especially Christianity. But this new democracy of ours was to be different, and no one faith would be the religion for all of us. Mark Twain said it so well: (Our forefathers fled their homeland and came to America) to enjoy their religion and, at the same time, prevent other folks from enjoying theirs. Twain also said, Man…is the only animal that has the True Religion–several of them

For the sake of a good argument, let’s say that the Christian religion becomes top dog in this country founded on the principle of that there just won’t be a dominant religion. The next question would then be which Christian faith would be on top of such a totem pole? Southern Baptists WASP’s or AME Zionists? Roman Catholics already have a national prefix. Presbyterians are nothing more than Methodist with a drinking problem who can’t afford to be an Episcopalian.

Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party was able to persuade the Church in Germany to turn the other cheek and close their eyes as he executed the final solution on the Jewish race and religion. The American South used the Church to cajole the white folk into believing they were God’s chosen race to perpetuate slavery as established by their bibles. When the consequential holy wars erupted, the Germans and the southerners claimed that “their” god was on their sides. The words on the Nazi belt buckle Gott Mits Uns (God is With Us) competed with our “In God We Trust“.

You might recall Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, which he launched in 1979 to lobby for “pro-traditional family values.” He used to say, “Get saved, get baptized, and get registered to vote,” almost putting them on the same level of importance. One of Falwell’s “family values” was to keep women in their place at home by lumping issues like the Equal Rights Amendment, the feminist movement, birth control, and abortion together in order to make them a giant wedge political issue. If you dig deeper, the ultimate goal was to protect segregated schools without showing your hand. The Moral Majority — which was neither — created a holy mess with their one true religion.

For the sake of another argument, let’s say Michael Flynn and his political cronies were subpoenaed and put on trial before the American Inquisition for being Christians. Would there be enough evidence to convict them? And if you are one of those who just loves quoting scripture at your enemy, what will you do with the closing verses of Matthew 25 where nations themselves will be judged by how they treated the hungry and the thirsty and the sick and the poor and the strangers in their land rather than their pro-traditional family values or their brand name like the Cornerstone Church in Texas.