By Mark Bauer/editor-in-chief
After the Texas presidential primaries, someone asked what my party affiliation was. I was tempted to say Independent because that seems to be what all the cool kids are answering. But I managed to blurt out Republican—almost bashfully, as if it was something to hide. “Me, too!” the girl doing the questioning responded. “But I always had you pegged as a Democrat.”
At first I didn’t know how to respond. It’s like calling a Boston Red Sox fan a Yankee … you just don’t do it. But after finally getting over the original shock, I asked her why she would think such a thing. “Because you’re so nice. Republicans are typically so ‘mweh,’” she said. At that point, she did what I assume was her best crypt impersonation.
What’s funny, though, is that she herself is a Republican.
What’s even funnier is the Republican Party is often considered the more “moral” and upstanding and is heralded as the party most closely aligned with Christianity. If that’s the case, if Jesus were walking the earth today, would he readily hop on the band wagon and sponsor the Republicans?
Well, the answer is probably not. And it’s not because he would be too busy endorsing Obama—it’s because Jesus didn’t tread on political ground. He said give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s. Ultimately, Jesus never came to start a political movement, nor did he come to overthrow the government. He came to promote another Kingdom, but not an earthly one. This one was the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus walked among people, washed their feet, fed the hungry and chastised anyone who didn’t do the same.
Conservatives, by their religious affiliation alone, should be the party of the people. Instead, its methods have become outdated and unattractive to a generation that exalts individual expression above a collective moral guideline.
At least it can be said of Democrats that they seem to care about people, even if they do go about it the wrong way.
For years Republicans have touted Jesus, proudly boasting that if God is for us, who can be against us? But as the conservative right strays further away from Jesus’ message of redemption—it has to be said: God is bigger than politics, and if he is merely being used as the almighty trump card, then perhaps we have missed the point entirely.
