I remember the 60's. We were into "flower power". We made love not war. We realized the predominant values of our culture were materialistic and destructive. We followed swamis, joined medicine wheels, became ecstatic over the music of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead.
More seriously, we became nonviolent activists. We revered Gandhi, who taught us satyagraha, non-violent resistance to tyrannical authority. We marched, sat in, picketed. We joined Martin Luther King, Jr. in getting jailed, beaten, water-hosed, even killed in order to gain full citizenship for the descendants of African slaves. With time and patience, we ended the Vietnam war.
Our heritage as peacemakers was two-fold. We honored Native American wisdom, and learned much from our Indian brothers and sisters- about making the planet good for the seventh generation down the line, about sitting in a circle and giving everyone a turn, about using sacred plants and herbs, such as peyote and marijuana, to gain deeper wisdom and insight.
We also honored the Prince of Peace. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian preacher, and gave full credit to Jesus for inspiring his leadership. Some of us believe that Jesus reappeared on this continent as Deganawidah, the Peacemaker, who gave the Great Law of Peace to the Iroquois, on which our Constitution is partially based.
We were eclectic in our spirituality, but whether it was from preachers, swamis, medicine men, rock stars or our own hearts, we were full of spirit. We took great risks and made personal sacrifices for the good of all.
What happened to that outpouring? George Lakoff explains it in "Don't Think of an Elephant". In the late 70's and early 80's. a long range plan was formulated by well-funded right-wing think-tanks and put into effect. The plan was to use the fundamentalist churches to take over the Republican party and gain control of the US government. Using the "hot-button" issues of abortion and homosexuality, along with "rapture theology", which promises salvation to the elect and a fiery end in nuclear war to everyone else, the plan succeeded. George W. Bush's eight disastrous years in the White House was the direct outcome of their planning.
Right wing Christian theology is exclusive and divisive. It encourages authoritarianism and religion based on the fear of punishment. It cheapens Jesus by essentially using Him as a logo, a sales device. It preaches hatred and intolerance. It distorts the Bible, which never mentions abortion or same-sex marriage.
In the process, millions of Americans have been alienated from Christian churches, andthence from the Bible, from Jesus, from God. An antagonism to anything spiritual has developed among peace-loving goodhearted people because of the hypocrisy of right wing Christianswho usetheology and religion to gain wealth, power and control. It's easy to show that they have turned the teachings of Jesus upside down. What happened to "love your enemy", "turn the other cheek", "it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven", and all the rest?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
