THERE WAS A TIME WHEN RELIGION BROUGHT US TOGETHER; those old enough to have dementia may remember

     I can remember walking in anti-war marches alongside priests, ministers, rabbi's, and even imam's. Sometimes the conversations that took place during the march carried over to coffee after it ended. A booklet given me by a member of the American Friends Service Committee helped me to get a medical deferment from the draft. As a child I loved sitting on my grandma's capacious knees learning the gospels. I lost my religion sometime around10 years old. Yet, I admired many of the religious leaders I met resisting our wars. Many years later while lobbying with my union in Washington DC, I went in search of the Reverend Jim Wallis, leader of the Soujourner Society. He was out of town at the time, so I was unsuccessful. During all of this time there was a the feeling in the back of my mind that not all religions are worthy of respect. And those unworthy religions were among the Christian churches.That feeling rose to ugly prominence when President Jimmy Carter was considered insufficiently Christian for the Republican party. The Republican party has brought many ugly things to prominence. During that far-off time there still were Republicans who could be respected, if not agreed with. 

     President Donald Trump (may he be struck down with Covid 19) believes that churches bring us together. At least that is what he said in his presidential proclamation, you cannot rely on what he says. Yet the churches he believes bring us together are the churches that rebuffed President Carter's second term. Those churches signaled the end of a broader, "liberation theology" which was part of Pope John XXIII's Vatican II and spread to various protestant churches, and ushered in a libertarian version of religion later unambiguously called the, "gospel of prosperity", a gospel I don't recall from the lessons I learned on my grandma's knee. Since that time in the late 1970's, attendance at churches has fallen steadily. In 1998-2000 church attendance was 69% according to the Gallup poll, today that has dropped to 64%. Among young people 19-22, the estimated church membership is 34%. An old secular relativist, such as myself, might think the "coming together" envisioned by the current president might be in places other than houses of God. Perhaps they are meeting in ashrams, though that was more common in the 70s and 80s. We now are confronted by a phenomenon where a man as morally compromised as Donald Trump is popular among 80% of evangelical Christians. We can be sure that group does not include the black evangelical churches. The rest of Christianity has moved away from calling themselves evangelicals as they quietly evangelize. Instances of unintentional irony have become so common in recent years that we are no longer surprised when irony appears. It is important to know the admirable Christian's as well as those unqualified to be representing Christ. Even so, many Christian's don't bother to differentiate. Likewise those of us untethered from the church. They are not, in those infamous words, "all the same".

     The president wishes to encourage the reopening of churches during the worst health pandemic since the Spanish flu in 1918. Perhaps because this will bring us together so the virus will spread farther. Many governors in blue states have continued with social distancing to slow the spread of Covid 19. Those states have been largely successful, the other states are a petri-dish to continue our research. The reason Trump may want to open churches is to place public pressure on other public institutions. It could also be to help those mega-church preachers to pass the collection plate to pay for their luxury business jets. 

     There is another irony here, though a bitter one. Those states who have resisted the enhanced Medicare provisions of the Affordable Care Act, as well as the other parts of it, are the very states wanting to reopen perhaps too early. According to the Free-market economists in the Republican party, it is more important to save businesses than to save the people who might wish to patronize those businesses. Those states seem to have the highest church attendance, especially among evangelical sects. Yet another irony: Jesus was known for tending to the sick and oppressed. There are no instances I can think of where Christ tended to the businesses oppressed by people. Of course I left the church early in my life and thus, may not have remembered that lesson. Yet another bitter irony, those states are the places where white supremicists proliferate in the statehouses. We can all think of scriptures where Jesus defended racial purity and its ugly cousins. Right? This is the probable reason that nearly two-thirds of young people between 19 and 24 are unchurched. Most people and organizations would try to find ways to increase attendance or acceptance of their product. If you happen to be Republican, there is no reason to improve your brand, government will lend a hand. Yet another irony, the very reason Republicans exist is to reduce government. No worries, republicans also believe in fiscal responsibility, unless it comes to the top 1% of Fortune 500 companies. 

     Don't  bother trying to make sense of Republican politics. The playbook is controlled by rich oligarchs, like the Koch family. We are merely the chorus line, dancing to their routines.