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In the book of I Kings, Elijah stands supposedly alone against 450 prophets of Baal. The deal was simple: Each side was to build an altar, prepare a bull for sacrifice, pray to their respective god, and wait. The sacrifice to the true God would catch fire.
Baal’s prophets went first. As the story goes, it went poorly for them. They spent hours crying out to their god, resorting at last to cutting themselves in desperation. Baal didn’t answer.
Then Elijah took his turn, first dousing the altar he made with so much water it ran off and filled a trench he dug around it. After Elijah prayed aloud, God set his offering ablaze.
Among the points to that story, as it was taught to me in Sunday school: God is all powerful, all the time – no matter how outnumbered his followers are or how unfavorable the conditions seem.
Given I still believe this, as I’d wager most Christians at least say they do, I’m perplexed by Louisiana’s new law requiring the Ten Commandments from Exodus be posted visibly in public school classrooms.
Sure, most of those commandments are objectively good rules to live by, regardless of whether you’re a believer. Those are already taught in school, in some way or another (Honor your father and mother, and you better not forge their signature on your report card). Most are even written into U.S. law. Don’t kill or steal, or you could face criminal penalties. Bearing a false witness against your neighbor could get you sued, but if you make that statement on a witness stand or to the police, it’s a crime.
Coveting your neighbor’s ox isn’t good for your mental health. But if that covetousness leads you to steal the ox and commit adultery with it, that’s three broken commandments and two felonies.
Other commandments are more overtly religious: Thou shalt put no other gods before me; shalt make no graven images; use the Lord’s name in vain, etc. Posted in government facilities, those establish a state religion, something the U.S. Constitution prohibits.
Our government is secular for a reason. It protects, among other things, the right for people to worship how they choose without fear of government interference. This is good news for Christians, unless your goal is to use your religion as a bludgeon to gain political power.
But that seems to be the increasingly stripped-down point for conservatives in state legislatures and even those on the federal level. It’s also true for many right-leaning churches, too, especially in the South.
You might have noticed lately how often Trump – who many, many people have praised for his devout adherence to the Ten Commandments, no matter how Stormy the weather may be – is being compared to Jesus … by supposed Christians. That’s making a graven image. Seems to me the people making this claim should start attending public school in Louisiana for review.
A well-meaning woman boasted to me recently that Mississippi has the most large public cross displays of any state in the country. She mentioned nothing about the state’s teen pregnancy rate, lack of access to health care or the growing disparity in Mississippi between people with no coat and those with two.
These people forcing their religion into state operations don’t want your salvation. They want power over you, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes, including teaching their right-wing political faith gymnastics to your children, to get it.
If God is all powerful, He doesn’t need the government to do His will. That’s why Jesus, when pressed by the Jews in the New Testament to overthrow the Romans, refused.
Further, if God is omnipresent, He doesn’t need the Ten Commandments or compulsory corporate prayer in classrooms to be in your child’s school.
If God is all-knowing, He can see right through these shenanigans.
A god so weak he needs a Republican legislature, an angry church, audacious cross displays or government-mandated worship to function is no different than Baal. And when that god inevitably doesn’t answer, I leave you with the mocking words of Elijah.
“Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
Zack Plair is managing editor of The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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