America’s Come to Jesus Moment

There’s been a long running religious war in America—even though, for many years, only one side was fighting while the other side assumed issues like choice and separation of church and state were settled. Many current trends make more sense when viewed through this religion-filtered lens. Why do many people support Trump? Because he’s popular and when he wins, he appoints extreme SCOTUS judges that are anti-Gay and anti-choice. Why would SCOTUS be so terrible dealing with the immunity issue and ignore the threat to democracy? Because getting a few more religious judges is more important to them than democracy. It’s not about democracy. It’s about god. Why is book banning becoming more popular across the country? Why do we spend so much time worrying about which bathroom high school kids use. Sometimes it’s easier to see the cross section of religion in politics at the local level. So let’s head to Littleton, New Hampshire where the small-minded reaction to a harmless mural is tearing apart a town where residents prided themselves on finding ways to peacefully co-exist, regardless of political affiliations—and where a resigning town manager felt it necessary to make this public pronouncement: “My son is not an abomination.” (Which only caused his attackers to dig in even more.) NYT (Gift Article): How One Reaction to a Mural Tore a New England Town Apart. Of course, religion as a driving force in American politics is nothing new. We’ve been having a come to Jesus moment for about two and a half centuries.