The Christian States of America?

What if America became a theocracy?  Apparently a survey of Republicans found 57 per cent in favour of making Christianity the official religion of the United States.

Younger Republicans in the 18 – 45 age group were more favorable to the idea, with 63 percent of that cohort affirming that Christianity should be our national faith. Majorities of the older age groups still agreed, but in slightly smaller proportions. Among self-proclaimed Tea Partiers, 58 percent wished to establish Christianity as a state faith; and among those favoring former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in the Republican primary, 94 percent would support such a measure. Eighty-three percent of Rick Perry fans replied that they would prefer Christianity be made our national religion, along with 62 percent of Rand Paul advocates.

...But aside from the illegality and irrationality of it, naming Christianity the United States’ national faith would do damage to the faith and faithful even if it did somehow shore up national morality. This is because national faiths, for better or worse, tend to morph into nationalism with a faith element, rather than a faith that happens to be practiced by a particular nation.

This is already true of right wing rhetoric wherein Christianity is made to stand in for American conflicts or situations. Earlier this month, for example, President Barack Obama faced censorious outcry after noting that Christians of the past carried out the Crusades; with Republicans like Governor Bobby Jindal accusing the president of going hard on Christianity in lieu of ISIS, it’s clear the Crusades were, in this instance, turned into an analogy of a purely modern conflict, with Obama implied to be on the wrong side. By criticizing Christianity instead of Islam he was understood to take the side of foreigners rather than Americans.

Ironically, the same zealots who pitch this nonsense are also fervent in their supposed support of America's "founding fathers" even though they were decidedly secular and avowed supporters of separation of church and state.  

China Moves to Nationalize Christianity

Yeah, I know, it sounds wacky but it's true.  China wants to nationalize as in "Sinicize" the Christian religion as it's practiced in the Peoples Republic.

“The construction of Chinese Christian theology should adapt to China’s national condition and integrate with Chinese culture,” Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, said at a Shanghai forum on the “Sinicization of Christianity,” according to Chinese state media.

...the officials’ comments last week indicate that the Chinese Communist Party intends to further tighten its grip over Christianity. There are a number of possible targets and motivations for the crackdown.

 

First, Christianity in general, and Protestantism in particular, has exploded in China in recent years. As The Diplomat has previously noted, China is already estimated to have 58 million Protestants and some believe it will be home to the largest Christian population by 2030. Roughly one half of China’s current Protestants are estimated to belong to underground, illegal churches.

 

The officials who spoke at the Shanghai forum indicated that this rapid growth was the rationale behind the crackdown. For example, Gao Feng, the president of the China Christian Council, told the audience: “Over the past years, China’s Protestantism has become one of the fastest growing universal churches.” Wang himself noted: “Over the past decades, the Protestant churches in China have developed very quickly with the implementation of the country’s religious policy. In the future, we will continue to boost the development of Christianity in China.”

 

The growth of religion in China is to be expected given the government’s relaxation of restrictions on it (compared to the Mao era) and the profound socio-economic changes China has undergone since the reform and opening up period began. However, its growth also gives it the potential to act as a unifying force for political opposition to the CCP’s authority. Crucially, Christianity could potentially cut across regional divides in China.

Archbishop of Canterbury - Homophobes are "Wicked"

Britain's top prelate, the Archbishop of Canterbury, warns that Christians need to "repent" the mistreatment of gay people and, if they don't, they're "wicked."

The Most Rev Justin Welby told an audience of born-again Christians in London that the vast majority of people under 35 find the Church's beliefs on the issue "incomprehensible" and equate them to "racism and other forms of gross and atrocious injustice".

While standing by his decision to vote against same-sex marriage in the House of Lords, the Archbishop, who is an evangelical, made clear that he was reassessing his own thinking, saying he wanted to get his own mind "clear" on the issue.

 

Christians Should Stop Whining About Persecution

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, thinks some Christians living in foreign lands need to "grow up" and stop hyping tales of how they're persecuted.

“When you’ve had any contact with real persecuted minorities you learn to use the word very chastely,” The Guardian reports him saying. “Persecution is not being made to feel mildly uncomfortable. ‘For goodness sake, grow up,’ I want to say.”

True persecution involves “systematic brutality and often murderous hostility that means that every morning you wonder if you and your children are going to live through the day.” He described the experience of a woman he met in India “who had seen her husband butchered by a mob.”

Read more here.