OBSTACLES TO TRUTHTELLING
Few people understand God’s idea of injustice. God’s spiritual laws are his standards for justice. These are the laws that must be reported to Christian Nationalists to convict them of spiritual injustice and civil anarchy. In their literal interpretations of the bible they believe they are righteous but they are not. Who knows? If they knew the truth, maybe some of them will change their politics and their religion. This is discussed in Right Attitudes Toward Government and People in Authority.
Little children are quick to point out unfairness. Christian Nationalists are so blinded by their vision of dominating American culture that they have lost the childlike ability to detect that their behaviors are injustice. Moreover, they don’t see Injustice as God sees it. Christian Nationalists see injustice through the lens of their personal religious liberties — not from a global, biblical, love your neighbor perspective. This is a truth that must be told.
Who knows, even though Christian Nationalists are oblivious to civil and cultural injustices that they perpetrate, maybe truth will convicted them of violating God’s spiritual laws and abandon their affection for Christian Nationalism. A radical attitude adjustment like this will be evidence that God has changed their hearts and minds with truth.
Christian Nationalists will not easily abandon the movement for the same reasons religious people will not easily abandon their religions: religious beliefs are firmly lodged in their hearts and minds. Something radical must happen before their hearts and minds change. That radical event is the infusion of truth that exposes lies and injustice.
The only good news about exposing the Christian Nationalism scandal is that journalists have done an excellent job of reporting the political history and the current news of the movement. The bad news is that they have not yet reported the backstory on how faulty religious beliefs nurtured the movement.
Speaking truth to power about wrong beliefs is a job that will not appeal to many journalists.. Part of the reason is that some journalists who are personally invested in Christianity and/or Judaism may be conflicted and unwilling to recognize faults in their own personal beliefs and the beliefs of their friends, neighbors and colleagues. Their hearts and minds would need to be changed before they become truthtellers.
A few atheists and other non-Christians might be willing to investigate errors in basic Christian and Jewish beliefs just to prove them wrong, but that would probably require more effort than they are willing to make for a bogus premise about a god that does not exist. Furthermore, their audience is limited. Questioning the existence of God is on the table, but digging deep into the bible to expose wrong doctrines violates the “live and let live” principle for both religious and non-religious people. That tells us how embedded religion is in the culture.
These and other factors create a reporting gap that leaves America vulnerable to Christian Nationalism and the many forms of religious abuse it has perpetrated and continues to inflict on America. Conflicted or not, journalists are still the best agents suited for the task.
The big problem is that religious leaders will not correct themselves because, as far as they are concerned, their beliefs are absolutely correct and not subject to investigation or correction by anyone within, or outside, their religion. Their pride is so strong that it is able to resist hearing God’s truth. Journalists are best equipped to break through that pride barrier.