Three profound misunderstandings in one small Bible verse

Yesterday I wrote about an episode of Rachel Maddow’s show in which she talked about how election deniers who are now election clerks are planning to refuse to certify their county’s election, thus throwing the whole thing into chaos. newusername, the author of the Daily Kos post with the video of Maddow’s show provided an update. Part of the update is that there are groups that are working on this, including Democracy Docket and ACLU. Both need donations. The author provided a link to a post by chloris creator with other ways we can help: Work to win and win big. Also win the Senate and especially the House so that Hakeem Jeffries and not Mike Johnson is Speaker by certification day. Be careful not to vote for election deniers. This post links to a list of those to avoid. In Michigan Voters Not Politicians (the group that brought independent redistricting to the state) is pointedly asking every candidate in every race they can whether they will abide by the results of the election. Be seen and heard before the election with signs and merch. The more such displays are seen the harder it is to buy into the idea the nasty guy won. Speak up against election deniers. If a person denies the election integrity say that we have one of the safest election systems in the world. Offer support to your city, county, and state election officials. Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson talked about being threatened after the 2020 election and how much citizen support meant to her. If you can, be an election worker or a poll watcher. In addition to the ACLU and Democracy Docket donate to State’s United Democracy Center. One of their videos is at the end of this post (alas, it is 50 minutes). Mark Sumner of Kos reported on an interview between the nasty guy and Laura Ingraham of Fox News to explain what he meant when he said we won’t have to vote anymore. It’s quite something when Fox News recognizes a statement’s difficulties and tries to hand a person a ladder to climb out of a hole. It’s also quite something when that person rejects the ladder and digs deeper. I’ve mentioned many times Project 2025, the conservative playbook to turn America from a democracy into an authoritarian state run by them. Thankfully, news about Project 2025 is now being distributed widely. The more people hear about it the less they like it. Even Between the Lines and Pridesource have an article about Project 2025. This one is by Sarah Bricker Hunt and talks about how it calls to get rid of transgender rights, same-sex marriage, gay and lesbian rights, and DEI programs. Hunt reported on other goals in Project 2025: Abolish the Department of Education and severely harm public education in general. End student loan relief. Privatize the weather service, abolish Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, privatize the Transportation Security Administration. Severely restrict Abortion. Leave the Paris Climate Agreement and refuse to do anything about the climate emergency. Overhaul the Department of Justice and FBI to be tools of conservative retribution. Alter the tax structure so the poor pay more and the rich pay less. Cut Medicaid and Medicare and other parts of the social safety net. Describe China as a “totalitarian enemy” to prompt pulling out of World Health Organization and United Nations agencies. Kos of Kos reported that news of Project 2025 is getting such bad press, people were finding so repulsive, that its sponsor, The Heritage Foundation, is shutting down the project. Project 2025 director Paul Dans is resigning. The nasty guy disavowed it a long time ago, though Vance is praising Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for having the foresight to create Project 2025. Kos says don’t believe it. Project 2025 is a blueprint or a roadmap. One doesn’t “shut down” something like that. Also, there is another component, a database of 20,000 conservative minions eager to implement it. That is most definitely not getting shut down. Michael Harriot has a thread in Threadreader about a passage from the Bible that is a warning from God that has long been used as a weapon of hate and a justification for MAGA and similar efforts. The passage is in the Old Testament and found at 2 Chronicles 7:14. Harriot quoted the King James version:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

When Reagan was sworn in as governor of California his Bible was open to that passage. When Pence became the vice nasty he wanted the same Bible opened to that same passage. It was cited in 1793 when a yellow fever pandemic broke out in Philadelphia. The pandemic was blamed on abolitionists and free black people. It was cited as payback when the Confederate Army surrendered and a week later Lincoln was shot. Also shortly after that Confederates loaded 1,800 Union POWs in a steamship. It exploded. It is still the deadliest maritime disaster in US history. It is used to explain segregation, mass shootings, the anti-abortion movement, the anti-LGBTQ movement, and why some church leaders say a second civil war is coming. And a lot more. I got to be thinking about the assumptions that prompt this passage to be so misused. I’m pretty sure the author of this passage (written originally in Hebrew about 3000 years ago) meant by “my people” was especially the country’s leadership, both religious and governmental. Americans see that and assume two things. First is that America is is ordained by God for greatness (all that Manifest Destiny garbage) so “my people” refers to the whole country. Second, they assume that God is not calling themselves to repent. God is calling the rest of the country, everyone but themselves, to repent. This passage (at least by itself) does not define “wicked ways,” so they say they get to. And they define it as those don’t follow their religious teachings, those who permit abortion, and those they label “sexual deviants.” They assume God has ordained a social hierarchy (with themselves at the top) and a wicket person is one that doesn’t uphold that hierarchy or one who refuses their “proper” place low in the hierarchy (see that bit about free black people). Since they defined “wicked” their way I’m going to define it my way – a person who believes in retribution and oppression instead of the love that Jesus teaches and demonstrates, one who works to uphold and enforce a social hierarchy that Jesus consistently teaches we should ignore, undermine, and subvert. The passage says that if people turn away from their wicked ways God will heal the land. It does not say that if people remain wicked God will smite them. So when a ship explodes and kills 1,800 people it should not be interpreted as an action of God against the wicked. It is not payback. I understand the interpretation (though also disagree) that if wicked people are still about then God will withhold his healing and we as a country won’t be as great as it can be. But the passage talks about converting and forgiving, not about killing off. Wow. Three profound misunderstandings in one small Bible verse.