Seminar: Democracy Matters More than Ever I

“O Democracy, for you, for you I am trilling these songs”.

Session I: Chris Andrews, Jenny Hastings, Jubilee Pioneers thank you for your graciousness, generosity and hospitality. Your Jesus-like support reminds me how the way of Jesus teaches us we cannot live without depending on the love and support of others.

At seminary they warned me not to talk about politics, sex and money. How strange to take away the most interesting subjects in the world, the ones we talk about constantly in real life, and tell the preacher not to talk about those subjects. And then you have the nerve to tell preachers we are boring.

I have always talked about and practiced politics. For 40 years I was a Baptist preacher. You have to be a politician to survive. Every monthly business meeting is a chance for a disgruntled church member to say, “I make a motion we fire the preacher.”

On Tuesday, democracy announced, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” We should thank President Trump for unwittingly reminding us America has a national vision based on rights, diversity, freedom and democratic participation for all. “Not until the sun excludes you do I exclude you.”

When we get old, we tend to worry about young people. Well, thank God for them. Young men turned to the Democrats by nearly 40%age points. Young women, already Democratic supporters in general, swung 27 points. In Texas, young men swung nearly 50 points toward James Talarico.

By the way, the Black evangelical church, didn’t support the White evangelicals in the election. One African American pastor wrote, “God did his thang.”

Evangelicals tried to bury Talarico as a heretic, blasphemer, vegan, gay, no Texas values. They even claimed he wore zip-up cowboy boots. He doesn’t. Here’s the verdict from a 35-year old Texas guy: “He’s somebody normal, like me.” OMG! The new normal reminding us evangelicals on the far right have always been bat-crap crazy, abnormal and scary.

On Wednesday, a Facebook friend posted, “Talarico is a Marxist and not a Christian.” Somebody named Buck Sexton tweeted: “Texas just gave a Senate seat to a sexually ambiguous anti-meat communist who needs 14 days of solitude to recover from a sniffle.”

MAGA pastor Lorenzo Sewell says he has a “Holy Ghost hunch” the Democrats stole the midterms and is calling for another January 6. He says, “I’m ready to go to the Capitol.”

You may not have noticed the election was a battle between competing understandings of holiness. One side thought holiness was about condemning others and restricting the rights of others. My side thinks holiness is hospitality to strangers, the common good and good neighbors. If the gospel of Jesus is not social it is not a gospel.

I have a scriptural basis for what I believe has happened in America: The devil to Jesus: “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.” That’s in Luke 4 and only Luke gives us this insight. Luke’s political philosophy could not be more obvious: The emperor possesses authority because it has been given to him by the devil. The politics of the world are said to come from Satan and the politics of Jesus come from above.

Those who are preaching a gospel that has nothing to do with politics, nothing about economics, nothing about sociology, nothing about human thriving for all humanity, it’s empty gospel.

I am a preacher, a professor and a writer. I have a Ph.D. Political rhetoric and speech from LSU. I have written 3 books and 359 articles about Donald Trump, MAGA evangelicals and democracy in the last decade.

Until the invention of Christian nationalism I never really thought much about the religion of our presidents. Thomas Jefferson was, at best a deist. He took his scissors to the Bible and cut out all the parts about the divinity of Jesus. That’s heresy but he gave us the Bill of Rights.

No president quoted the Bible more than Franklin D. Roosevelt. And he installed the social gospel of Walter Raushenbusch into national policy. He insisted on the “Good Neighbor” policy toward his fellow Americans and other nations. He was a lifelong Episcopalian and regularly attended church.

Dwight Eisenhower wasn’t a church member until Billy Graham guilted him into it. The story of how he became a Presbyterian is hilarious. Graham told Eisenhower, “I don’t think the American people would be happy with a president who didn’t belong to any church.” He urged Ike to join a church even if it was just for appearances. He finally told Graham, “I guess I’ll be Presbyterian because Mamie is Presbyterian.” So that’s how Presbyterians make converts?

Eisenhower only agreed after the pastor of National Presbyterian Church promised not to say anything about the baptism. But, as Eisenhower wrote angrily in his diary, “we were scarcely home before the fact was being publicized, by the pastor, to the hilt.”10 The president screamed to his press secretary, Jim Hagerty, “You go and tell that goddam minister that if he gives out one more story about my religious faith I won’t join his goddam church!” Kruse, Kevin. One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (p. 73). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

President Jimmy Carter was a follower of Jesus, Sunday school teacher extraordinaire. I always felt bad for Carter’s pastor. 300 people would attend Carter’s Sunday school class and only 50 would be in worship.

Ronald Reagan was not a church goer. At the National Cathedral, he was nervous about taking communion. Nancy, “Just do what I do.” She dipped her bread in the cup (intinction). Ronnie panicked and threw his bread into the chalice. The curate said, “We got a floater.”

President Obama was a member of Trinity UCC in Chicago. His pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became the scapegoat of evangelicals with his sermon, “God and Sermon.” I thought the foghorns at FOX News would never stop playing on a loop, Dr. Wright’s admonition for God not to bless America. I read the sermon. Pure gospel. Absolute truth.

Dr. Wright preached at FBC Dayton, Ohio and I was proud to introduce him.

That is what Winston Churchill called the pre-introduction. He makes me miss conservatives.