Economic collapse caused by government-imposed lockdowns of much of the nation has left the outcome of the 2020 election looking dicey for President Trump and the Republican Party. This has enormous consequences for Christians. It is as certain as anything can be in politics that a new Democratic Administration will rescind all the religious liberty protections put in place by the Trump Administration. Further, a Democratic Senate, if that is the result of the election, will certainly confirm far left judges for the Supreme Court and lower courts.
While this is certainly a terrible prospect to consider, it is not any less real than the coronavirus or the destruction of the World Trade Center. As disciples of Christ, we must look at this first from a religious, rather than political viewpoint. We must speak the truth God has revealed in Scripture (Acts 5:29), and never be complicit in sin (Matt. 18:7). Both obligations will be made illegal, although the second more swiftly and easily than the first. But that does not change our duty to obey God regardless of the penalty.
The Equality and Do No Harm Acts, which will require people throughout business and the professions to accommodate homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion will be passed with lightning speed. They will in addition attack the religious conscience against these sins as “harmful.” If the First Amendment were reasonably interpreted, it would protect against the denial of religious liberty in these proposed laws. But given the Supreme Court’s record on Obamacare, and sensing that the Left has won politically, it is unlikely the Supreme Court will use it. Thus, to all intents and purposes, the old morality will be legally declared immoral. It may be that the Republican Party will not only cease to support social conservatism, but it will become verboten for Republicans to advance social conservative positions, just as it has in conservative parties in Canada and Great Britain. The association with Donald Trump will become a stigma, just as the Left managed to make “McCarthyism” into a stigma for anticommunists in the mid-Twentieth Century.
Demoralization caused by this loss may well cause much of the resistance to the secularist and LGBT agendas to end. Activist organizations such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, the American Center for Law and Justice, and the Family Research Council will continue to exist and continue to be vigorous, but with no friend in the White House, and in the minority in Congress, they will not be able to stop the anti-Christian leftist agendas from being implemented.
This will mean that there will be no space acceptable for traditional Christian faith and morality, since it will be considered cruel and oppressive. Not immediately, but eventually, if politics continue to move in this direction, church discipline on any sexual matter will become illegal (however contrary this is to the First Amendment).
Christian schools will be required to abandon their morality codes or go out of existence, and homeschooling and parental authority in general will be further undermined. Any human relation in which Christian sexual morality comes into play will be suspect. Further enough down the road, and with continued secularist and LGBT success, the Hosanna Tabor decision (2012), which prohibits the state from interfering in the selection of clergy, may be revisited. If antidiscrimination or other concerns that become “compelling” for the Left can be made a factor in clergy selection and retention, an effective liberal/left state religion will have been established.
Beyond sexual issues, a liberal/left regime in the Western world today will also press Christians to give up the doctrine of exclusive salvation of believers. The common thread is the rejection of the hard demands of God. Just as we have seen in the coronavirus crisis, in which churches were generally seen as “non-essential,” the only legal religion allowed will be in the form of a pleasant adjunct to life. “Religious freedom” will exist for different styles. No one will object to singing Protestant hymns, saying a Latin mass, a synagogue service or a Muslim prayer service. But unbending religious duty will not be accommodated. In some cases, such as we see with the Do No Harm Act, where the liberal/left conscience has been offended, religious conscience and duty will be specifically attacked.
But whatever legal regime is finally brought to bear concerning religious belief and practice, duty to God does not change for anyone anywhere in the world. And that is to believe in God and trust him, remain faithful to his commandments, and seek to expand God’s kingdom. Seriously doing this will mean exclusion from business and the professions, underclass status, closure of religious schools, and in a more extreme regime, denial of parental rights and loss of children, closure of churches, and imprisonment. Considering such possibilities is not irrational hysteria, but a very reasonable result if the hard left, which has been in the ascendency in the Democratic Party for the last decade, comes to power and continues to move ahead unimpeded. Compromise will be fatal for Christians, not only because it destroys the justification for holding on to what is not compromised, but more importantly because it involves disobeying God, which is absolutely wrong.
Finally, we should not forget an important part of Biblical doctrine, which is the expectation of the Second Coming of Christ. Whatever one thinks of the “signs of the times,” belief that Christ will return and fully establish his kingdom is an invariable part of Biblical Christianity. It provides hope and motivation whatever the times seem to be.
Comment by Douglas E Ehrhardt on May 11, 2020 at 12:32 pm
True that! Thanks for the honesty.
Comment by carr on May 11, 2020 at 2:07 pm
So true…, so hard, but we are never without hope. Thank You.
Comment by Tim on May 11, 2020 at 2:42 pm
Maybe the virus has shown us the future. How government can step in and shut everything down including our jobs and worship. When the leadership is lead by satan’s picked few, we will be in real trouble. We all know the day is coming where we will have to bow down to some form of evil or be killed for worshiping God the Father. It is going on elsewhere and the day is coming for western civilization.
Comment by Robert Hulse on May 11, 2020 at 5:35 pm
Laughable opinion piece.
Mr. Plasterer’s fantasies and juvenile biblical exegesis presented without evidence, without data or factual support, and without foundational theological integrity.
But hey, the sheep eat this stuff up and that gets us clicks, right?
Comment by Mike on May 11, 2020 at 9:21 pm
“presented without evidence, without data or factual support, and without foundational theological integrity.” Sounds like your own response.
Sarcasm is of no use in rebuttal of a reasoned piece like Rick Plasterer has penned.
Comment by JR on May 12, 2020 at 1:08 pm
If it were a reasoned piece, you might be correct.
Stoke the fear, keep the clicks a-comin….
Comment by Mike on May 13, 2020 at 8:35 am
Some response works for your comment. If you don’t have something worthwhile to say, why bother commenting?
Comment by JR on May 13, 2020 at 10:27 am
I find it laughable that you find this to be a “reasoned piece”.
It (like most of this authors work) is pretty blatant fearmongering against anyone even nominally aligned with the center or left of American politics.
But I guess that’s what counts for ‘honesty’ or ‘reason’ on this site.
We could certainly have a serious discussion about religious freedom and the different ways it could (and perhaps should) be expanded or retracted in the future. THAT discussion would require a basis of honesty that doesn’t exist in this article, or in your admiration of it.
Comment by Mike on May 14, 2020 at 9:05 am
“We could certainly have a serious discussion about religious freedom and the different ways it could (and perhaps should) be expanded or retracted in the future.” It is obvious that you are no friend of those of us who are concerned about our religious freedom, which , by the way, is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Indeed, it is obvious that you are no friend of true Christianity, period, but are an agent of Satan. I can only pray that soon you come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Comment by Jeffrey Walton on May 14, 2020 at 9:27 am
Hey, as much as I enjoy a fun “agent of Satan” allegation, let’s try to keep the focus here on ideas. We have a fairly loose commenting policy on this blog that is easy to follow, let’s strive to critique ideas rather than attack persons. There is more than enough fodder for the first category on this blog.
Comment by JR on May 14, 2020 at 12:57 pm
Hi Mike,
“Agent of Satan”… I’ve been called worse. On this site, even.
I clearly have a different understanding of the Bible, God, and of the Constitution than you have. If that defines “Agent of Satan”, I’ll happily take the label.
I’m 100% positive that I’m correct on one of the 3. I’m pretty solid on a second one, and fully admit that I’m out of my depth wholly on one of them. If that makes me an “Agent of Satan”, I’ll own it.
Not being a friend of Christianity, which you accuse me of, is a pretty powerful statement. I don’t see how that ties to the First Amendment – because Freedom of Religion doesn’t apply only to Christianity. Whichever rules you want to use, they have to be universal enough to count for ANY religion. The US Constitution is agnostic in that respect. If you want freedom to be Christian, you have to fully allow other flavors of Christianity, as well as Muslim, Hindu, etc to be defended and supported by those rules.
So lets play that out. Tomorrow, whatever company you work for is bought out by a Hindu entrepreneur. He goes down the list of employees and fires every single Christian, because he finds them religiously distasteful. Whose religion should be protected under the Constitution – the Hindu owner, the Christian worker, both? And it’s not a silly question, that concept is directly before the SCOTUS this week.
“Agent of Satan” for making you defend your claims and think about what you mean? I’ll take that, without complaint. God gave me a brain and a conscience, and I intend to use them.
Comment by Sam on May 12, 2020 at 4:59 am
This article is an accurate depiction of what may well happen. However, I still believe Trump to be the likely winner, and this scenario will, at the very least, be postponed another four years.
Comment by Sam on May 14, 2020 at 5:07 am
In the two special congressional elections this week: Well, the results are in and Republicans won both seats. And not by small margins. In Wisconsin, Republican Tom Tiffany beat Zunker by 14.4 points.
In California, with some precincts still reporting, Mike Garcia is currently winning his election by 12 points. According to Dave Wasserman, it’s the first time the GOP has picked up a seat in the state since 1998.
Comment by Patrick98 on May 12, 2020 at 9:15 am
It is too late, the Republicans have already come out in favor of redefining marriage. The first President of the United States to witness and sign a marriage certificate for a same-sex couple? George H. W. Bush, Republican. The first Supreme Court Justice to perform a same-sex wedding ceremony? Sandra Day-O’Connor, nominated by Republican Ronald Reagan.
Don’t place your trust in princes and horses (politicians and military might). Place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who never said “Ask me into your heart” but did say “Take up your cross and follow me.” That means follow him to suffering and death.