Before its Civil War, the dominant part of the Church in Syria supported Assad because he offered them protection. At the same time, he was, and still is, a tyrannical dictator. And though the dominant part of the Church no longer supports him, the dominant part of the Church in Egypt supports al-Sisi because he offers them protection. At the same time al-Sisi himself acts like a tyrannical dictator as he abuses the rights of various non-Christian groups.
In the US, the dominant branch of the Church--conservative Evangelicals--supported, and still does, former President Trump. Why? One reason is that they perceive that he is defending them from from secular culture. He is also aiding them in their culture wars against "progressives,' which includes those fighting systemic racism by promoting CRT and those working to establish full equality for the LGBT community. And while supporting Trump, they end up supporting the domestic side of Neoliberal Capitalism, which has caused a decades-long increase in both income and wealth disparities while threatening to make social safety nets like Social Security and Medicare nonexistent because businesses have to pay taxes to support those programs. In addition, Trump cut taxes to corporations as well as cut regulations that protected the workers and the environment.
In Russia, the dominant part of the Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, fully supports Vlad Putin as Putin and his government have given that part of the Church a special privileged status. For example, other branches of the Church are not allowed to evangelize outside of their own walls. In addition, Putin has persecuted the LGBT community and that pleases the Russian Orthodox Church to no end.
What is listed above is not unusual. It is not unusual because for the past few centuries, the dominant part of the Church in many nations has shown a penchant for siding with wealth and power. Three prominent examples of this siding with wealth and power include: the pre-revolutionary times of France (the Roman Church), Russia (the Orthodox Church), and Spain (the Roman Church). What makes the examples of Syria and Egypt different from the past is that the motivation for siding with wealth and power is for security reasons. A given dictator offers protection and dominant branch of the Church that is offered this protection then takes the offer while supporting, or having supported in Syria, a leader who abuses others.
In the US, the dominant part of the Church which is siding with wealth and power is a hybrid of the past and the present. A large portion of conservative Evangelicals are looking to gain power by siding with Trump and the Republicans who follow him despite Trump's moral flaws that continue to this day. At the same time, these same Evangelicals are also loyal to Trump because he is using judicial appointments to protect the religious "liberties" of Christians in their culture war battles against the LGBT community and the secularization of the nation.
This siding with wealth and power should not be the standard practice of the Church when we consider the Scriptures. James chapters 2 and 5 tell believers the leaning of the wealthy. Paul does that to a lesser extent in I Corinthians 1. And then there are the statements of Jesus.
It should be mentioned that siding with wealth and power is an easy trap to fall into, especially when one has been living a comfortable, materially privileged life. All of us who live privileged lives are not only vulnerable, but most likely have already compromised some of our moral and spiritual values to enjoy that privilege--myself included.
At the same time, we are warned by the Scriptures against enjoying that material privilege too much. Jesus tells us to build our treasures in heaven. The examples set by the Apostles also challenges the priorities we have.
But all of that is on a personal pew sitter perspective. We would hope that our spiritual leaders would not only encourage us to live differently, but would not direct their churches and followers to support those who promote policies that continue to increase income and wealth disparities and either make people more vulnerable to economic hardships or put vulnerable people at even greater risk.
That is the state of the dominant part of the Church in the US--conservative Evangelicals--today. And they do this by almost automatically supporting Republican Party candidates, especially those in the Trump camp.
Why do conservative Evangelicals such candidates? A major reason is the abortion issue. Because of the number of abortions per year, and the number varies depending on the source, abortion has become the number 1 priority for many conservative Evangelicals. And so if their support for a political party or candidate potentially or eventually drops that number, it is worth it to them to sacrifice some other issues that might not support life of those who are born.
Two sources for abortion statistics we should pay attention to are from the Guttmacher Institute and the CDC. While both reported an increase in the number of abortions, the difference in the number of abortions between them can be over 200,000 with the Guttmacher reporting a higher number per year than the CDC. The differences is because of how abortion data is collected. The number of abortions reported for 2019 however ranges between just over 600,000 to less than 1,000,000 (click here for the source). With that many abortions, and remember that for us conservative Evangelicals, each abortion involves the ending of a human life.
And so when other life supporting issues are brought up, such as environmental issues, social safety nets, income and wealth disparities, and so on, the sheer number of abortions cause some of us to make abortion the single issue on which to base our votes.
But such an approach is due to the lesser known research on how social conditions can also cause deaths. Now the number of deaths caused by social conditions with the number of deaths caused by abortion, it seems like we are comparing apples to oranges. Abortion directly kills people while some of these social conditions are merely contributors to death. However, if they are significant contributors to death, perhaps we should then pay attention to the numbers even though the statistics on this are not reported on a yearly basis that I know of like abortion statistics are.
For example, one study calculated the number of deaths in 2000 caused by various social conditions (click here for the source) to approach 900,000. Social conditions that contributed to deaths include low education, segregation, lack of social support, individual poverty, income inequality, and area poverty. Now though these numbers are calculated estimates while abortion figures depend on counts, the number of deaths from social factors should get our attention if we conservative Evangelicals are really pro-life rather than just against abortion.
A report by the World Health Organization stated 'unhealthy environments' contributed to the deaths of 12.6 million people in 2012 (click here for the source). And though that number is around 1/6 of the total number of abortions in the world per year, it is still a significant number. And while the disparity between the number of deaths worldwide from environmental reasons and the number of abortions worldwide is large, the disparity in the US is not.
Another factor we must consider is how social and environmental conditions contribute to the number of abortions.
Now all of this focus on abortions and other causes of death is meant to support the following point. That in the US, the common distinction we make with the labels of 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life' are misleading. In reality, we have two pro-life groups. One group is concerned about life being threatened by environmental and social causes. The other group is concerned about life in the womb. And because of the abortion numbers, many Evangelicals have supported the Republican Party. And that political party more fully supports those with wealth and power than the Democratic Party.
And so the abortion issue provides a partial explanation for why conservative Evangelicals have ended up siding with wealth and power. But it isn't the only explanation. Again, many conservative Evangelicals feel threatened by an increase in the secular presence and influence in our society. And that is another reason why they are currently siding with wealth and power by voting Republican.
For the sake of the reputation of the Gospel, we need to find ways to defend life without repeating the often made Church mistake of siding with wealth and power.
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