Our politics needs champions, not charlatans.

The liberal chickens are coming home to roost, and without serious electoral reform, our country is on the brink of losing all hope of renewal.

Let me briefly outline what led to this sad reality.

According to 16th century English philosopher John Locke, liberalism was designed to neutralize opportunistic religious wars, which were scattered around the world after the Protestant Reformation weakened Catholic-based governing authorities. The core of the liberal approach to life is that “truth begins with the individual, not with God.” Thankfully, this led to popular elections versus the so-called divinely sanctioned perpetual rule of a family of kings and queens. No problem.

The destructive thing that liberalism did was to neutralize religion by privatizing it as mere public worship. This validated slavery as immoral and promoted the belief that exploiting and abusing people to gain wealth was okay, even a right. Ordinary people have been fighting this vile mentality ever since. Let’s fast forward to now.

Many wealthy white people, and those who need to demonize people of color to feel good about themselves, are trying to solidify their false king and queen dominance. So they pass laws that make it harder for people, especially the less fortunate, to vote. And in what seems like a throwback to the old “don’ts” fundamentalism (don’t drink, don’t dance, don’t smoke, don’t play cards, don’t go to the movies and dance), a big “don’t” item has appeared: abortion. Opposing it seems to prove one’s position as a serious Christian and free one to look deeper and broader at what is needed to enhance healing and justice for both people and the planet.

Robert Heilbrunner published “An Inquiry into the Future of Mankind” in 1974. Using computer models of the time, he and his team predicted that if the world continued on its path of coal- and oil-based industrialization, the Earth would become uninhabitable within 500 years. In just 50 years, we’ll see global warming and extreme weather. Rising temperatures may also release disease vectors that were previously suppressed by “normal” temperatures. An uninhabitable Earth is the direction we’re heading now. Is God to blame for human-caused events?

The Christian Right simply doesn’t see the big picture. They seem to see all abortions as evil incarnate, even those necessitated by rape, incest, the mother’s health, or lack of access to caregivers. What do they think about mothers around the world who breathe highly polluted industrial air based on coal and oil. This poison kills babies before they are even born. Is this not worthy of attention?

Dogmatic secularists are not much better. Many of us care about the physical plants we share, but not so much about unwanted babies. Of course, life is multifaceted, interconnected, and cannot be reduced to a single issue, no matter how important.

At stake is how much of a viable future remains.

My fellow Christians are so focused on lost souls that they forget, or are fooled by their leaders into not knowing, that salvation is holistic. Salvation is about the completeness of authority in the diverse structure of human experience (“All authority is given to Me” – Matthew 28:18). Its comprehensive scope includes Jesus’ love for humans and his tolerance for other types of believers. All these are within the framework of the planet’s wealth, which we should properly manage and develop for the common good. (Genesis 1:28)

All of this highlights a core problem with liberalism. You cannot tolerate anything that does not support the authority you have created. And that leaves us in a hopeless fate, or redefines what justice means for all, as agents of hate, violence, and fear seek to destroy what is still possible. Leave either one ready to do what it takes to invent. We now live in a time when collaborating and talking to each other, regardless of belief system, is no longer an option, but a necessity. We need champions, not charlatans.

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