Social Distancing: Day 286 - Welcome to the year 2021

It was going to be a fairly mundane post. I'd spend a couple paragraphs talking about Christmas and the number of precautions/steps involved in trying to find a safe way to celebrate it, probably a short paragraph about the COVID situation, then a few paragraphs about how I'm getting along with work-related things (putting course webpages together, getting notes put together, picking up a search committee...), and finish with a short blurb about Thor, garam masala, a garage workbench, and how I'm still not playing the piano right now.

But then today happened. An unprecedented disruption to the peaceful transfer of power in the United States government. It has kind of occupied my attention for pretty much the entire afternoon (though I still have been somewhat successfully bouncing back and forth between skimming the news and doing actual work).

There's still quite a bit to process about today, thinking both in the short term and the long term, and in both the secular and religious realms. I'm going to more or less process as I go.

Short term/secular: I believe our government is robust. That isn't to suggest that it's good or perfect or anything, but simply that despite what happened today, I do see things moving forward into a new presidency in a couple weeks. As I type this, the Senate is moving forward again to complete the usually boring process of counting the electoral college votes (which normally takes something like 30 minutes).

Long term/secular: I am hopeful that the events today are a tipping point for a number of people who have thought that there was no actual harm being brought about by the current president, his rhetoric, and his policies. Sometimes it takes being smacked in the face to see clearly. The next year or two will be key for seeing how the GOP responds to what happened today (there are many that are still die-hard for Trump) and how well Biden is able to navigate the new political world. There is room for hope, as this event does create an impetus for politicians to work together, though that's far from guaranteed.

Short term/religious: I continue to be disappointed in the American Christian conservative response to current events. There are posts promoting the argument that this was an Antifa/BLM move with people being bussed in overnight (with police cover) and that it was financially supported by George Soros. The growing gap between Christians and the plain truth of reality has been growing for years, and it's sad to see just how bad things have gotten. This is set against the backdrop of the ongoing religious nationalism grounded in American exceptionalism that has plagued American Christian conservative thought for decades. I don't really want to go point by over all the issues that I've seen, but I do want to provide a number of links. I believe the scant handful of people that actually bother to read this regularly are already aware, though it is possible that these words may feel offensive to some. All I can say to that is that I am confident in my undestanding and analysis based on a significant amount of time spent reading about, reflecting on, and observing the world around me.

• The role of QAnon in the American Christian Church: Far too many Christians have started to swallow conspiracy theories with a QAnon origin and repeat them as truth. Many still don't even know the QAnon origins of their various beliefs about politics.
• How QAnon Conspiracy Is Spreading In Christian Communities Across The U.S. (NPR - August 21, 2020)
• Why Someone You Love Might Join QAnon (Christianity Today - September 9, 2020)
• The making of the QAnon conspiracy cult (The Christian Century - November 30, 2020)
• Christian Nationalism: America is not God's special country. The concept of the US as a "Christian nation" is theologically questionable. Christ is not at the center of the Constitution, and the Constitution is the foundation of the country. This doesn't say that there weren't Christian-ish ideas that helped to form the ideas that led to the Constitution, but it's an overreach to argue that the country was actually founded on "Christian" principles. But the implications go beyond just the theological and into the practical. The closer to Christian nationalism you get, the more likely you are to reject the science of COVID and vaccines.
• Let's Talk about Christian Nationalism (Christianity Today Blog - August 26, 2020)
• The Rise of Christian Nationalism in America (Salon - October 4, 2020)
• Christian nationalism's COVID Vaccine Doubt Threatens America's Herd Immunity (NBC News Opinion - January 2, 2021)

Long term/religious: Countries rise and fall. They go through good times and bad. None of this denies the constancy of God's presence. I'm not worried in the big picture. The things that sadden and frustrate me about American Christianity are temporary, and they are reflections of people and not reflections of God. But the misplaced priorities and values of Christians is going to render not just their witness but all of our witness much less effective. While salvation is not through works, I believe that it will take a decade of a works-based witness (doing *actual* good in the world in ways that are independent of the government) before non-Christians are likely to have a favorable ear. But this is just the consequence of the narrow-minded focus on politics that has driven much of conservative American Christianity over the last decade or so (looking at the Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., and Pat Robertson types). It makes sense that it would take at least as long to build back good will than it took to lose it.

So there we go. There's lots to think about, but life is good. Classes start in just under a couple weeks. I'll be ready. And the string of mundane posts will continue.