A New Hope

The Bible and the Plot to Destroy American Democracy, Part 14

Did you know that grasslands have only covered the earth for around 5 - 7 million years?

I was taught that evolution undermines “biblical authority,” but I don’t think that’s true. Evolution is the scientific evidence of the great narrative arc found throughout the Bible: the meek always inherit the earth while the mighty always perish.

It’s not just a promised future outcome, it’s history, and it’s the story embedded in the earth.

Mountains fall down while valleys are raised up.

I love good documentaries on evolution and the formation of earth; they are stories of resilience and perseverance.

Grasses first appeared around 100 million years ago, but it wasn’t until about 30 million years ago that significant changes to the way they perform photosynthesis allowed them to modify the way they process CO2, which allowed them to adapt to harsher climates and change the climate, creating a more hospitable planet for mammals to thrive.

In my previous post in this series, we explored how the forces of oppression, Empire, formed millions of American Christians into stormtroopers. Much of that formation was built on the premise of “biblical authority” - the idea that the Bible is the sole Word of God and therefore is the supreme authority.

I love the Bible. The Bible tells us that the earth was spoken into existence by God, that’s not Creationism, it’s the Bible pointing outward, revealing that it is not the sole expression of God.

As fundamentalism, and the hunger for power, took over evangelicalism in the late 20th century, something else was also happening. Millions and millions of Christians walked away from the Church.

Many of them left so long ago, and sometimes after suffering significant harm, that they no longer consider themselves Christian, yet they still practice the Way of Jesus. They left because they came to believe that the churches they were part of no longer did; they knew instinctively that the environment had grown toxic.

When they went out into the world and gave their time and treasure to other endeavors, they took the simple lesson they learned with them: Love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s how evolution works.

Forced out of their natural habitat, Christians who opposed white supremacy and patriarchy, and who supported liberal democracy and equal justice, took their faith into the world.

Some abandoned credal belief structures as they found community with their neighbors, while others still hold on to the words they memorized for their Confirmation, but they all mourn that the religion that once nurtured them has rejected the Jesus they proclaim.

Out in the wild, they built non-profits to do the work they wished the churches had done; they organized meal trains for hurting and grieving neighbors; they volunteered to help when help was needed; they took careers in fields that allowed them to serve the least of these.

Their faith didn’t die, it just moved into exile. Exile is neither death nor extinction, it is the method by which the meek inherit the earth.

It is now those voices in the wilderness who cry out against injustice while millions and millions of us who stayed in churches come alongside.

There are many days that it feels like Empire is winning. The oligarchs, white supremacists, and bullies are using the power of religious fundamentalism to rule the moment, but the story of the earth, affirmed by Scripture, tells us that the mighty giants always fall.

Maybe things will get worse before they get better (the Empire does have the Death Star, after all) but that simple faith that the God of the universe calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves has been set loose into the world.

That faith is everywhere, and it continues to remove the harmful toxic gasses from the atmosphere everyday, and it is gathering. I don’t know what form it will take in the coming generations, I just hope it learns from the grasslands that came to cover the earth. Give life and give it abundantly.

Keep the faith. Let it abide in you as you continue to love your neighbor as yourself.

And vote. You are not powerless. The meek inherit the earth because they do not surrender to death, they evolve.

Just remember, the promise is also a warning.

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