-by Tim B. GilmanCreative Director, Vote Common Good
"The postwar revolution in America's religious identity had its roots not in the foreign policy panic of he 1950s but rather in the domestic politics of the 1930s and 1940s "
Kevin M. Kruse, in his book One Nation Under God-- How Corporate America Invented Christian America, presents a very concise and understandable time capsule in which we can discover and understand the basic values, beliefs, and intentional agenda of the current conservative movement in America from it's genesis in the hearts and minds of Americans resulting from post World War I euphoria and industrial innovation and greed to the theological and political crossroads that we currently find ourselves naviagating in 2019.Anyone who has lived through this period in our nation's history will find many, many touchpoints... many memories that you will recall from your own personal experience in this book.As the unholy alliance was formed between the industrialists, who were hell-bent on fighting virtually everything that FDR put forward, and many of the conservative Christians who only saw FDR as a leader who was leading, once again, in the direction of the "social gospel"... once the leaders of those two concerns came to realize that they shared the same basic core values and desires, both personal and corporately, co-dependencey was embraced... it was a "marriage made in heaven."A win/win... The industrialisst could continue to fatten their coffers, establishing and maintaining power and control while the Christains could continue to impose their values and theological agenda on our nation in order to rest assured that God was pleased with America and God's blessing would contniue in order for safety and security in this life and more importantly in the life to come. Self-centered and divisivie logic and reasoning all the way around.Kruse shows us the step-by-step evolution from the codifying of "In God We Trust" as our national motto to the adding of "One Nation Under God" to our Pledge of Allegience. To "having Church" at the White House.The belief was that Christianity and capitalism were inextricably intertwined and held that spreading the gospel of one required spreading the gospel of the other. In like manner anything that espoused public service, social responsibility or caring for the poor and needy was seen as socialism and inextricably intertwined with Atheism.
"America's movement towards dictatorship has already eliminated check and balances in its concentration of powers in our chief executive. The New Deal undermined the spirit of Christianity and demanded a response from Christ's representatives on earth."- James William Fifield Jr.
It is clear that the only way forward is through a clear understanding of where we have come from... The sobering reality is that the election of Donald J. Trump as our 45th President is only a harsh symptom of the real foundational... if we focus on him, or any other individual for that matter, and see them as either the "solution" or the "barrier" to our future and refuse to address the systemic lies and assumption upon which our nation has been built and that have brought us to this point in our short, short history... if we refuse to change... to respect, honor and see the strength of our diversity... to work for the "common good" rather that our "personal good" we are doomed to remain lashed to the mast of a sinking ship and nothing will change.
