The good old days?

I have a hypothesis.

People on both sides of the political spectrum often point to the 1950s as the "good old days" in this country. Conservatives look back with longing on the days when a single income was enough to buy a house, jobs had pensions and full coverage for health insurance, there was enough income and leisure time left over for a yearly vacation, anyone who wanted to go to college could pay for it by working a summer job, and infrastructure was improving rather than deteriorating. Liberals respond "Yeah, that's because the unions were strong and the rich were taxed appropriately." And they're right, of course. But I think both sides have forgotten something:

The 1950s were also the era of McCarthyism, of the Cold War, and of general fear that Communism would take over the whole world.

And the 50s, 60s, 70s, and early 80s were the years that ordinary citizens in this country got the most out of their tax dollars and ordinary workers got the best pay and treatment. Social service programs were being created rather than defunded, transportation and communication networks were being built rather than falling apart, urban and rural areas were being improved right along with suburban areas, most people had health care and no one's health insurance made them pay thousands in co-pays, deductibles, and fees every year.

But around the time the Soviet Union collapsed in the late 80s, the trend started going the other way - wages got stagnant but prices didn't, college and healthcare got increasingly unaffordable, infrastructure stopped getting funded even as military spending grew exponentially (despite no longer having the threat of another nuclear power becoming aggressive and expansionist, until this year), normal people couldn't afford homes or vehicles anymore, the rich got obscenely rich while the rest of us worked more and more to get less and less. 

And conservatives got more and more hysterical about our country having a "radical Left" even as our "left-wing" party drifted further and further to the right. (Seriously, with the possible exceptions of Bernie and AOC they are to the right of Eisenhower. They only get called left-wing in comparison to the people who are so far to the right that they honestly think Joe Biden is a leftist, rather than the centrist conservative he actually is.) They think that "Please could we spend some tax money on making sure the poor don't starve" is authoritarian Communism because they've forgotten what ACTUAL authoritarian Communism looks like.

In other words, my hypothesis is this: 

It looks like the decades that were best for ordinary Americans - the decades in which workers got paid and treated the best, and government spending was doing the most for middle class and poor people - were the decades in which the rich and powerful were afraid that if they didn't do those things there would be a bloody Communist revolution and they would be first against the wall.

Now, I'm NOT saying we actually need a Communist revolution. The outcome would be, if possible, even worse for ordinary workers than the status quo. A totalitarian Left would be indistinguishable from a totalitarian Right. 

I AM saying that maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if the rich and powerful were afraid of that possibility again.

If you're gonna wear the uniform, you have to do the job...

During sophomore year of college, I spent pretty much the whole year wearing a Santa hat everywhere. It was my own way of trying to be a quirky, unique individual at an age when that was important. One evening, I was walking down a city street with a group of friends, and a homeless person approached us to ask for money. We walked past without acknowledging him, and he called to my retreating back “Aw, come on, Santa!”

I did an about-face, abashed, and went back to him and gave him some money.

Because if you’re wearing the uniform, you have to do the job.

 I couldn’t wear the symbol of generosity, of a saint renowned for taking risks to give, and giving anonymously with no expectation of receiving anything in return, and then refuse to behave like Saint Nicholas when called upon. I had to either behave like Santa, or take off the hat.

 

I’ll come back to that thought in a while.

 

Recently, I’m seeing Evangelicals post online that they’re tired of being attacked by our culture generally, and liberals in particular, for being Christian.

I assure you, Evangelicals, you are not.

You have never in your life been criticized for loving your neighbor as yourself.

You have never in your life been shamed for feeding the hungry.

You have never in your life been hated for taking care of the sick, the elderly, the orphan, people with disabilities.

I promise you, no one has ever seen you engage in self-sacrificial generosity, pointed to that behavior, and shouted “See! I told you, religion does more harm than good!”

I guarantee, no one has ever seen you show mercy or compassion to those who need it and said “What’s wrong with Christians?”

To the extent that the behavior of Christians has been Christ-like, it has always been applauded.

On the occasions that people see Christ-like behavior from Christians, they say “Wow. If I could find a church full of people like that, I would go.”

Christianity isn’t under attack, at least not in this country. The cross is not under attack, any more than Santa Claus was under attack that evening when I was asked for money. What’s under attack is something that all too often wears the uniform, but doesn’t do the job.

Evangelical Christians in this country are known right now for their thoughts and prayers, and their political activism, and their ichthus bumper stickers, and their not-very-good music, and their rich megachurch pastors, and their feelings about LGBTQ people and abortion and liberals. Those things have been very visible.

What they are NOT known for right now is their love. That has been largely invisible to society at large.

In this country, churches take in HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars annually. Tax-free. With that kind of money, a group of people whose Golden Rule is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” should be able to do all kinds of good in the world. There should be no one hungry, no one homeless, no one sick and lacking treatment, no one lacking for help with addiction, or vocational training, or child care.

And yet, the hungry are still without food. The sick are still without treatment. The outcast are still without community. People always hear “I’ll pray for you” from Christians when something horrible happens to them. They seldom hear “Here is some money to help with the medical bills. Let me take the kids out for the afternoon so they get to have some fun and you get to have a break. I’ll make dinner when we get back.”

Collectively, the church wears the uniform, but doesn’t do the job.

And so, if you as an individual Christian personally ARE doing the job… if you are sincere in your belief, are doing everything you can to be Christ’s incarnate love in the world, are giving self-sacrificially… remember that people won’t always know that when you tell them you’re a Christian. They see creatures like Joel Osteen and Roy Moore calling themselves Christians, and think “You’re one of THEM.” They’ve seen too damn many people wearing a cross walk right past the person in need. If someone assumes that when you say “I’ll pray for you”, that means “I can’t be bothered to DO anything for you”, you can be upset about that. But you can’t blame the person who’s lashing out at the uniform. Be upset that the uniform has been tarnished by the church failing utterly to live worthily of it. And hold yourself and your brethren accountable to do better and be better.

Because even non-Christians know what Christianity SHOULD look like. They see that it DOESN’T look like that. That’s often WHY they’re not Christians.

You won’t change their minds by being defensive when they’re angry at you for what Christianity has come to represent to them. You certainly won’t change their minds by abandoning the principles you preach in order to gain political power over them.

But you might change their minds by showing them what Christian love looks like in practice.

If Christianity can’t do that, then it is dead. And the thing that has replaced it, deserves to die.

Either do the job, church, or take off the uniform. Stop wearing the cross, take the bumper stickers off your car, stop having revivals where everyone comes to the altar just as they are and leaves just as they were. Stop telling people how important your values are, unless you’re prepared to live them even when it hurts.

Because if you’re wearing the uniform, you have to do the job.