A few months ago I considered making a post that asked the following question: “If Trump announced that he is suspending the constitution, dissolving congress, and that he is the only authority, would you still follow him?”
My guess was that about 5-10 of my more extreme social-media friends would have actually said yes. Then I would have pointed out how ironic that is.
I almost wish I had made that post, because since then we had the riot on January 6, and today one of my friends posted that they want Trump to become a dictator. Two months ago, it would have been an exercise in warning about the slippery slope. Now, clearly, many have already slid to the bottom of that slope. What this tells me is that there is a disturbingly large number of US citizens who have never truly embraced the principles of a democratic republic.
This reminds me of another question I wanted to ask my mother back in the 90s. If Evangelicals could gain complete power in this country, would they respect principles like freedom of speech and religion, or would they oppress non-evangelical ideas and lifestyles? What I would hope is that simple Christ-likeness would be enough to create a merciful and good government. Apparently not. IMHO, the modern Evangelical movement in America is every bit as vicious as the Inquisition. They can’t see that evil inside themselves, nor have they had the power to exercise it. I’m pretty sure if they got the chance, Handmaid’s Tale would seem like only a mild exaggeration.
I’m going to be blunt here with one more confession. I would consider it compelling evidence for the existence of God if Christianity made a supernatural change in human nature in a large-scale and repeatable way. What I see in practice is that Christians are every bit as evil as everyone else, but they are more in denial about it.