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Money Changers in the Temple of Democracy
A godless atheist wonders what it would mean to live in a truly Christian nation, and proposes the modest first step that would imply.
There seems to be some confusion these days among Christians about what constitutes acceptable and moral behavior. Not among all Christians, of course, but among enough to constitute a worrisome trend. And look, I get it. When what you read in the New Testament or maybe learn in Sunday school conflicts with what you see good, churchgoing people doing in the world around you, it can be confusing. It can set your head spinning, like Regan in The Exorcist. I’ve been there myself.
The Ritual of Holy Confusion
At the church I grew up in¹, I was taught that I should love and welcome all of God’s children, but then when I made friends with people who didn’t believe the same things I did, I was told to stay away from them. At the church I grew up in, I was taught that pride was a sin, but then we would all take turns standing in front of the congregation and patting ourselves on the back for being favored enough by God to know the One True Gospel. At the church I grew up in I was taught that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of…
