What Would Jesus (Really) Do

Last Tuesday, the American public elected their 44th president. Media outlets, schools and citizens around the world celebrated, reacted and prayed for our new leader.
All except my church.
Bethlehem, as I will call it, was part of the Evangelical movement that was responsible for electing President George W. Bush into office—my family and I had nothing to do with that.
After 8 years of a president who sent the economy to Hell, shamelessly sent young men and women to a far away land to die and refused to help the least of us, I thought Bethlehem would be the first in line to want to elect a president who would want to increase health-care and fix the economy.
Yet my church endorsed—via our church’s blog—John McCain and Sarah Palin because they are against abortions and homosexual marriage, but are Christians. When did being a Christian equate to being an effective leader? If that’s the case, then George W. Bush is a false prophet.
The Sunday following Barack Obama’s victory, no one at church mentioned the win. No pastor, youth leader, music director or pew neighbor made mention of the first black president.
Until that moment, I had always been proud of Bethlehem. They had been one of the first churches in Baton Rouge to integrate. Our pastor and his wife spent the first years of their marriage in Africa doing missions. Yet they couldn’t bring themselves to acknowledge the gains America had made.
Brought to tears, my mom wrote the pastor a letter and told them how ashamed she was of the church. Maybe their minds weren’t ready and heart’s weren’t as open as she thought. Were they serious when the pastor’s son wrote on his blog that America was facing the End Times because we voted for “a Muslim-baby killer?” After forty-three presidents, didn’t blacks deserve to have one?
Is this what white Evangelical Christians really think?
Are we good enough to sit next to, tithe, read the Bible with but not hold the highest elected office in the United States?
Okay, so I won’t be getting any attendance awards from Bethlehem anytime soon, but I don’t think Jesus would mind a government that took care of its citizens by providing free and reduced health-care or teaching them about safe sex, especially if abstinence isn’t working.
When Jesus said, “Give to Caeser the things which are Caesar’s and give to God the things which are God’s,” I don’t think he would mind paying taxes to improve roads, revamp Social Security or improve failing schools; as opposed to funding a war for the wrong reasons.
Is gay marriage really going to ruin the American family?
Silly me, but if divorce, spousal abuse, absent fathers and mothers, addictions and adultery haven’t brought America to its knees, then I doubt two people of the same sex who love each other will.
See, Bethlehem isn’t concerned with the millions losing their jobs or homes. Or those unable to take their children to the hospital for medicine because they can’t afford it. They just want to make sure you aren’t having abortions or attending gay weddings.