Records of Conservative Christianity

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” 本文摘自 patheos 論壇文章Conservative Christianity Keeps Rhyming History。

We are living in an era of American history where the battle between the dark and light sides of human nature is on full display and impossible to miss. These eras come around every few decades. These battles are the visible pains of childbirth; necessary to produce change and move us forward. 美國平權運動好像陣陣產痛，對分娩過程是有意義的。

Our great Constitution and our Declaration of Independence never promise us a nation that is perfect. What they do promise is an equal opportunity for each of us and the pursuit of happiness. 憲法和獨立宣言：人人有平等的權利爭取幸福。

But it has been conservative Christianity that tries to force our country into accepting their terms—their ideals of equality—their ideals of happiness. When others pursue happiness and equality, conservative Christianity keeps rhyming with history and stands in the breech of progress. Then we do battle. 保守派的基督教總是作阻力，慢人一拍。

When the Puritans came to America in the 1600s, fleeing the stifling policies of the Anglican Church in search of religious freedom, they found it here. But what did was to set up a stifling kind of religion here and ruled it with an iron fist just as their rulers back in England had. 起初是爭取自己的自由，卻以鐵拳破壞他人的自由。

When America was pursuing western lands with the lust and wild-eyed frenzy of a crazed lunatic, conservative Christianity was in the pilot seat. After the forced removal of Native Americans and the provocation of war with Mexico, when the dust settled, the United States had filled in its map from sea to shining sea and called it God’s will. The conservative Christians won that battle. They pursued their happiness at the expense of anyone else’s who weren’t on board their “Gospel Train.” 嬴了就是上帝的旨意。

In the ensuing years, conservative Christian plantation owners attempted to move their slave run operations further west, sparking a battle that would end up costing over 600,000 American lives in the Civil War. The conservative Christians of the South lost that battle, but their pursuit of happiness came at a great cost to the winners as well. 推廣奴隸制到北方不成，打起了南北戰爭。

In the wake of the Civil War, conservative Christians formed the Ku Klux Klan in an effort to terrorize the newly freed and enfranchised blacks so that they would be too frightened to use their newly gained rights. This led to 100 years of Jim Crow laws which flew in the face of our national creeds of equality and freedom for all to pursue happiness. KKK起來對新得到自由的黑人搞恐怖主義。

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was conservative Christianity that rose up to try to deny women their full rights as citizens. A woman’s place was in the home, subservient to her husband, they said, and thereby had no business voting or having any real voice in what happens in their country. A battle ensued and, thank God, the conservative Christians lost that one. 起來否定婦女的公民權。

In the 1950s, conservative Christians became paranoid during the “Red Scare.” They waged war against anyone they didn’t think was a true blue patriotic American. They attempted to squelch anyone’s right to pursue happiness in a way they weren’t comfortable with. 害怕共產主義紅色運動。

In the 1960s, conservative Christians tried to stop long overdue legislation to finally allow African Americans and other minority groups to have true equality. The conservative Christians lost that one on paper, but the battle never ended. We are experiencing the rhyme of history in the battles on the streets of our cities and on the social media platforms where the dark and light side of our human nature continue to try to kill each other. 反對平權運動直到現在。