I saw a Bud Light commercial with Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith. For those who do not know about the controversy, Bud Light used a transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, who made jokes about a Bud Light given to her by Anheuser-Busch to celebrate her one year anniversary of transitioning. Anyone who has taken the time to see this 15 second video would find it amusing.
Yet, it blew up. Conservatives who were anti-LGBTQ? boycotted the product, so much so that this year, Bud Light saw a 30% reduction in sales for Bud Light (11% overall). The employees who recommended this influencer were fired. The company is trying to repair its image by getting endorsements from a known conservative (Peyton Manning) and a famous African American running back (Emmitt Smith). It is not working.
I support boycotting products that go against one’s values, and I do so myself. But the reaction to her 15 second video was extreme (shooting up cases of Bud Light) and Miss Mulvaney has been viciously attacked by conservatives who refuse to recognize her gender.
According to the media, this boycott is supported by the Christian right. And that is the source of my problem, the term Christian right. The media has equated conservative and Christian values.
That is not true. The conservative “Christian” agenda is not a Christian agenda that I recognize. It is a conservative agenda and we need to stop linking it to Christianity.
A conservative agenda includes preventing gun control, denying climate change, eliminating abortion and other women’s rights, passing legislation against the LBGTQ? community, and decimating the first amendment (separation of Church and State).
I am a Christian and I disagree with all of these positions. Yet, the media linking the conservative agenda to Christianity labels all of us Christians as conservative.
In fact, this conservative agenda is not dictated by the Christian religion, most items are not even addressed in the Bible.
Trampling on the first amendment, the separation of church and state, is the opposite of Jesus’s teachings. Jesus stated, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21). It doesn’t get clearer than that.
Arguably, the most controversial agenda for conservatives is the right of women to have control of their bodies. Emotions are high and I strongly support women; yet neither my perspective nor the conservative one is supported by the Bible.
In fact, one could argue that by its exclusion from the Bible, there is a tacit Biblical support for abortion. Biblical historians have known that women in this era tried various techniques to induce miscarriage, including herbs, manual labor, and other home remedies. Yet, the Godliness of this behavior was never mentioned in the Bible. Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Numbers have 613 laws, some pretty esoteric, yet none address the Godliness of terminating a pregnancy. Anti-abortion, conservative Christians use the sixth commandment that prohibits killing as its justification. But that assumes that a fetus is a full human being with a soul, which is a subjective belief. The Book of Genesis (in its creation story) implies that the soul enters the body with the first breath.
So while anti-abortion is a rallying cry that many people feel very strongly about, the Bible is relatively silent on this topic. So, again it is a conservative agenda, based on the belief of when human life begins.
Let’s look at the others. Climate change didn’t exist in Biblical times.
Jesus never discussed the right to bear arms.
And while there are verses that may be interpreted as against homosexuality, there are more verses against adultery, implying that adultery is the greater sin. Yet, the conservative agenda is focused on LGBTQ? and not on adultery. Homosexuality played a relatively minor role in the Bible. The Bible has a lot of verses about rules that Christian do not practice today, such as slavery, polygamy, animal sacrifice, and Kosher laws.
So the agenda that fundamentalists preach is a conservative one, tangentially based in the religion of Christianity. It is us and media that have made the mistake of linking conservatism and Christianity. Many of these policies are coming out of the South, not rooted in Christianity, instead rooted in their history of slavery and oppression.
The Bible is a complex book with multiple versions of well-known stories such as creation (reading the Bible from start to finish was one of the few New Year’s resolutions that I kept), Jesus’s resurrection, and how events in the Old Testament are told differently by the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.
My church practiced a different way of worship. It’s philosophy was “don’t check your brain at the door.” It offered courses about Biblical times, the different versions of well-known stories, and questioning if some stories were teachings rather than reality (e.g., Job, Creation).
Other forms of Christianity, such as Catholicism rely on the religious leader to set the Christian agenda. In the South, the preacher is more of a benevolent, nurturing dictator, who determines what the Bible says and worshippers follow his dictates. In the Christian Church in which I belonged, we were encouraged to question, because by doing so, it strengthened our faith. We viewed the Bible as man’s relationship with God. It didn’t matter that there were multiple versions, or that some of these people may have been composites, parables, or limited to the times they lived in. That is the Christianity that I practice.
The ways we practice Christianity are different; but none of us can call the other wrong. Because the Bible very clearly states that only God, not man, can judge.
So, what does all of this mean? It means that no political group should carry the mantle of Christianity. I am as guilty as the media, using terms like Christian right. Instead, I ask all of us to give Christians like me a chance to call ourselves Christian without being categorized. We must stop using the term Christian right, and instead replace it with its political agenda–conservative, ultra-conservative, right-wing, moderate, liberal, etc.…without the Christian designation.
Let me be clear, I am not saying that conservatives are not Christian. I know and love many conservatives who are Christian. But I would like that the media not create the impression that all Christians are right-wing conservatives.
The only way that I can get my Christianity back is to separate politics and religion. Fortunately, that is not a novel thought, it is in the Constitution.
Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.
Matt LaMotte says
Recently, several pundits in the “fair & balanced” media have pointed out that MAGA evangelicals are not even that Christian. A number of them rarely even attend church. As Ms. Rieck pointed out, the Founding Fathers made clear that church and state were/are clearly separate.
Angela Rieck says
And then there is that…of course, their leader gives them license to practice their religion that way; as he admitted that he does not practice Christian teachings (e.g., adultery, kindness, acceptance, bear false witness). Sigh, thank you for reading and commenting.
Robert Hall says
Certain ultra conservative organizations are substituting the golden calf for the Ten Commandments. and these political groups are corrupting the legacy of Christ and shredding the fabric of our Christian society.
Angela Rieck says
The legacy of Christ should be the most important aspect of Christianity, like you, I don’t always see this with some evangelicals; so I would like for us Christians to be acknowledged for trying to follow his teachings, not telling others what to do. Thank you for reading.
Mickey Terrone says
Ms. Rieck, thanks for such a thought provoking article. I’m largely in agreement with your views but I’d suggest there was shotgun marriage between the Republican Party and the “Christian” community. The “marriage” came when Ronald Reagan “wedded” his party to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and their “followers”. I also believe the terms “evangelicals” and “evangelical Christianity” are integral aspects of this political charade.
Its my view as a humble former Catholic that many people who identify themselves as “evangelicals” don’t actually live as uber-christians as the term suggests. The Pew Research Center indicates that 24% of Americans self-identify as evangelical christian protestant leaders. A decade ago, 75% of Americans self-identified as religiously affiliated. In 2021, 63 % identified as such, a 12% drop. 29% of Americans now identify as having no particular religious affiliation.
This Pew survey shows that 97% of evangelical christian leaders feel its essential to follow the teachings of Christ in their personal and family lives; 94% feel its essential to help lead others to Christ; 73% feel ts essential to help the poor and needy and 58% feel its essential to tithe. A solid majority of 56% say that it is essential for evangelicals to take a public stand on social and political issues when those issues conflict with moral and biblical principles.
The concept of becoming “born again” is essential in the view of 93% of evangelical Christians. From the web site of a Christian Church in southern Virginia: The Bible says this in Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It is a turning from our old ways and turning to Jesus, to ask Him for forgiveness from our sins and to give us new life in Him. You can say a simple prayer like this, just be sure to mean it from your heart: God, I know that I have sinned. I am reaching out to you because I want forgiveness. I believe that His death and resurrection provided for my forgiveness. I trust in Jesus and Jesus alone as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord, for saving me and forgiving me! Amen!”
The key questions involved with respect to the political aspects of evangelicalism involve the reality that although evangelicals demand American society live up to Christian standards, do evangelicals themselves live up to their own standards for which they hold others? With respect to conservatism, to what extent do evangelicals actually follow the teachings of Christ in their personal and family lives? That so many evangelical leaders believe its essential publicly to take stands on social and political issues appears to equate to people holding others accountable for living up to standards the evangelicals themselves cannot or do not. Without any means of verifying whether some evangelical families secure abortions for their daughters and wives, or whether some evangelical men and women participate in extramarital relationships or express overt racism or bigotry to others requires much reliance on faith. That so many evangelical conservative Republicans throw their full political support behind a man who manifests much of what Christianity stands against, it doesn’t lend itself to believing the claims. Some of these self-described evangelicals seem to do a whole lot of judging of others despite, as you point out, God, not man can judge.
Isn’t it odd that so many conservative Christians demonstrate an absolute rejection of the desperate plight of millions of Central and South American refugees from the drug cartel countries? Most all of these refugees are themselves Christians (as Catholics) in dire need of jobs and a hand up from fellow Christians yet are dismissed as dangerous drug dealers poisoning the blood of America.
That evangelicals believe God forgives their sins because they “gave” their lives to their Lord and Savior. Thus, they are absolved of any sin they may commit when it comes their time to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Logically, if an evangelical Christian female gets an abortion, she is forgiven. Yet, they insist that other Americans be prosecuted as well as their medical professionals.
In fact, the Bible was used prior to the US Civil War where slavery was legal, to sanctify that evil institution directly from their interpretation the Bible. It shouldn’t shock anyone to find out that some folks might still feel that same way about the Bible today as their evangelical ancestors did in 1861. Perhaps that is why so many evangelical conservatives want to use the Bible as the law of their Christian country.
Thus, Christian conservatives staunchly deny a woman the right to choose to end an unwanted or forced pregnancy or even one which is a serious threat to her life. In some states, these followers of Christ now have the right to report a neighbor or friend or relative to authorities for prosecution if they suspect an abortion was carried out. At least one SCOTUS judge has spoken favorably of making it illegal to use birth control pills and “Morning After” pills.
Dehumanizing LGBTQ people denying them the right to marry and live is now an evangelical Christian priority – unless, of course, there is an LGBTQ person in their family. Ronald Reagan and Dick Cheney spoke of loving their gay children for who they are. But they won’t love other gays for who they are. That doesn’t sound much like the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It sounds much more like bigotry, hypocrisy and aryan white supremacy – all under the guise of evangelical Christianity.
Reagan’s pivotal political decision to make the connection between the Republican Party and evangelical Christianity has devolved into the moral abyss that faces America today. Either we believe in one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all – or we don’t. Religious hypocrisy and injustice have been weaponized by Bible thumping charlatans of God.
I believe our Founding Fathers well understood the Bible is open to far too many interpretations to serve as the law of the land – then or now. The self-deception among under-educated, fearful working class Americans is appalling. Poorer white evangelicals are among the most vulnerable victims of laws denying womens’ right to choose and birth control medications created to help avoid the trauma of abortions.
All of the above is prima facie evidence of the need to separate politics from religion, to keep America a country where anyone can practice any religion or practice no religion freely and openly. America must remain a country where individual rights are respected so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. That said, the political choices in 2024 become very clear.
Angela Rieck says
thank you Mickey for your thoughtful analysis, I learned a lot! Thanks, Angela
Jim Fulton says
Well said, Angela. Thank you.
Angela Rieck says
Thank you Jim, I have learned from your enquiring mind, which to me is the essence of our religion.
Bill Corba says
As usual Angela. Clear. Concise and perfectly said. Thanks for this important insight.