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I was thinking over the weekend that I don't consider evangelicals to be Christian anymore -- in the sense of being followers of Christ. (As an aside, I was raised Southern Baptist, something I long ago cast aside, but I do have enough background to have an opinion.)
What I see from evangelicals now -- at least what I see on the news, on Twitter, and from my previous Southern Baptist experience -- is that evangelicals are now following a religion of Nationalism and its twin brother Capitalism. You would think that they actually believe that their 'God save America', 'USA is #1' and 'Spend, spend, spend' is what Christianity is all about.
Add in layers of fear of outsiders, looking out for number one, intolerance, and you get a nice mix of something...but Christ-like, it ain't.
And we've seen this mix in history before, sad to say. Interesting that humans only seem to make progress after we go though a period of savagery.
The title of the post is a reference to the 1960s book Ghost in the Machine. I have only read a synopsis of and not the actual book, but my understanding is that it describes how our brains are built one layer on top of other earlier evolutionary layers...and how the earlier and more primitive brain structures can override the more recent logical brain layers leading to hate, anger, intolerance.
What I see from evangelicals now -- at least what I see on the news, on Twitter, and from my previous Southern Baptist experience -- is that evangelicals are now following a religion of Nationalism and its twin brother Capitalism. You would think that they actually believe that their 'God save America', 'USA is #1' and 'Spend, spend, spend' is what Christianity is all about.
Add in layers of fear of outsiders, looking out for number one, intolerance, and you get a nice mix of something...but Christ-like, it ain't.
And we've seen this mix in history before, sad to say. Interesting that humans only seem to make progress after we go though a period of savagery.
The title of the post is a reference to the 1960s book Ghost in the Machine. I have only read a synopsis of and not the actual book, but my understanding is that it describes how our brains are built one layer on top of other earlier evolutionary layers...and how the earlier and more primitive brain structures can override the more recent logical brain layers leading to hate, anger, intolerance.