A Parallel between the 60’s and Today
the ‘lefty activists’ of then and the ‘Christian right’ of now
[Note: I apparently somehow disabled spellchecker, so mispellings due to poor tyoping skills are very possible.]
I turned 18 in 1970. Had I been somewhat precocious (rather than the emotional and intellectual laggard that I was) I could have been involved in the political activism of that time, but I was not. Still, I did observe and think about what was going on at the time.
One thing I observed was that the white, middle class activists wanted to have their cake and eat it, too. They wanted to participate in acts of civil disobedience, but to suffer no consequences as a result.
I did understand, as the Black activists of the time demonstrated time and again, that the point of civil disobedience is to draw sympatheitc attention to a cause by suffering injustice: to be jailed and even physically mistreated by the powers that be for the sake of justice, of correcting an injustice. Yet, in general, at least, it seemed to me that the activists who were of my social station (though my family was solidly lower middle class) did not think they should have to suffer those consequences.
As I see it, in general, at least, today’s ‘Christian right’ is similarly misguided. They seem to think it is their Christian duty to use the power of the government to force people to live ‘Christian’ lives (as far as requiring all people to refraining from sinning in any way, anyway). According to my understanding of the Gospels, that is about as unChristian as it is possible to be.
People involved in the ‘Christian right’ want to display their commitment to their faith, but they do not think that they should suffer for it. Like the lefty activists of yore, they think it is downright wrong for them to have to suffer for what they believe to be right, true, and good. It is only right that they should be able to engineer society to reflect their values (while condemning, of course, the very idea of ‘social engineering’ should the left seek to do the same). Yet, in reality suffering for the sake of one’s faith is the most Christian thing a Christian can do.