Taking a brief moment to link a good podcast by Lee Camp I just listened to featuring a talk with Kristin Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.
The title/topic caught my eye as I have listened to this audiobook back around January 2021.
Last August 2020 I had added a piece here called The Enthusiastic Election of the Embodiment of All Seven Deadly Sins which was my expressed view at that time and before surrounding this topic.
I think it is sometimes helpful to listen to interviews with book authors to help decide if we want to read/listen in full. I know I shared this book and referenced it on social media a few times in January – and perhaps it was as far back as last fall, actually.
Themes of American Nationalism – the unholy marriage of Bible and flag – have been on my mind for awhile. As one who slowly migrated out of traditional evangelicalism and has encountered at times, conflict with people I consider dear to me going far back, these difficult topics about the disparity and underlying belief systems that intermingle with a tribal version of Christianity, have troubled me and I’ve given thought to over the years.
No further spoiler alert as the podcast/interview says it all, other than there was a brief mention of what might happen when one uses the Bible to justify/stand on their views (paraphrased). And I think that can go both ways and is a complicated conversation.
When the author made this statement, I immediately thought of one of my favorite Jim Croce songs, below.
Which Way Are You Goin’?
Jim Croce
Which way are you goin’?
Which side will you be on?
Will you stand and watch while,
All the seeds of hate are sewn?
Will you stand with those who say
Let his will be done?
One hand on the Bible
And one hand on the gun.
One hand on the Bible
And one hand on the gun.
Which way are you lookin’?
Is it hard to see?
Do you say what’s wrong for him
Is not wrong for me?
You walk the streets of righteousness
But you refuse to understand.
Say you love the baby,
And then you crucify the man.
Say you love the baby,
And then you crucify the man.
Every day,
Things are changing.
Words once honored turn to lies.
People wandering
Can you blame them?
It’s too far to run
And too late to hide.
So now you turn your back on,
Everything that you used to preach.
It’s let him live in freedom,
If he lives like me.
Well your light has changed,
Confusion reigns.
What have you become?
All your olive branches turn to spears
When your flowers turn to guns.
All your olive branches turn to spears
When your flowers turn to guns.
Thank You For Reading
Please Feel Free To Express Your Thoughts Below
Thank You For Reading
Please Feel Free To Express Your Thoughts Below
