Are you a fascist?

 Are we moving toward persecution in America?

Are you a fascist? Apparently, I'm a fascist and didn't even know it. Now if I may remove my tongue from out of my cheek and speak honestly. I am concerned about a move toward persecution of the church in America. I'm not going to try to draw examples of how American Christians are being persecuted. I will, however, offer a glimpse of what may be a tidal shift in the attitude of society at large towards the Church.

 If you do not believe that the general cultural attitude towards the Church is growing more hostile I fear that you may have your head buried deeply in the sand. We will take a quick 3-point stop and tour the evolution of thought towards the Church in America over the last several generations. This is not meant to be a definitive research project, but rather, anecdotal evidence of the change. In the next couple of weeks we will address some positive steps we can take in response.

 First of all, there is no denying that America, from her foundations, operated on a Christian worldview. It is both explicitly and implicitly part of our heritage, our documents and the position of our national leaders. For example, Calvin Coolidge said, “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”

President Coolidge's opinion reflects generally the heart of public leaders toward the Christian faith and the church.  This conviction of the good done by the church for society at large resulted in faith-based organizations operating apart and in some cases above government reach.  That is why faith-based organizations have enjoyed special tax-exempt status.  

Now, fast forward to 2016 when Beto O’Rourke was running for President.  He was asked in one the debates, "Do you think religious institutions — like colleges, churches, charities — should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?"  His answer was a strong and aggressive, "Yes!”  He went on to say that if faith-based institutions should dare not agree with governmental mandates regarding same sex marriage they should have “no reward, no benefit, no tax break,...”

Now, fast forward to last Sunday night.  During the Super Bowl, a commercial called “love your enemies” aired.  It concluded with the line “Jesus loves those we hate”.  New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the ad via Twitter to say,

“Something tells me Jesus would not spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign.”

Her problem with the ad was it was sponsored by an organization that supports traditional family values.  No longer does such a position mean you should lose your tax exempt status, now it means you are a fascist.  What should we do with fascists?  The next step may be to do what we did with the fascists in Germany in 1945-46. 

I consider AOC to be very near the bottom of the list of people I trust to explain the heart of Christ.  So, her opinion on this matter is of no value at all.  However, she is a duly elected member of our government. She represents 1,000s of people and her opinion of the church and Christianity is shared by many.  That is a bellwether we ought not miss.  We have come a long way from Coolidge to AOC.  The question is where will the years to come take us?