Make America Great Again Politics Uva
When both Joe Biden and Mike Pence wrote opinion pieces in The Christian Post in the final week of the 2022 US entrada, the electric current and former vice-presidents vied for the Christian vote with theological and political arguments. But, like many politicians before them, they besides invoked history.
Nigh politicians seeking election claim that they have followed the founding fathers, embodied Christian ethics and respected the political procedure. These common grounds effectually Christianity, history and politics tin can become battlegrounds when Americans weaponise the ties that bind.
The contest for America's time to come is a struggle over its past. Because Americans lack a shared historical retentivity, increased reflection on the past contributes to polarisation.
Donald Trump's 2022 campaign slogan wrapped a historical claim about national decline around a vision of progress. America was bang-up, and Trump would "Make America Cracking Again" (MAGA). This slogan inspires hope and instils fear. Was America always corking for everyone? And volition Trump restore greatness for all Americans or merely for white Christian males?
In a new book, I explore the landscape of historical memory by looking at Protestant reactions to Trump's MAGA message. Although my research focused on Protestants, similar patterns of forgetful remembrance exist amid Catholics and likely among the wider population – religious or irreligious. Christians tend to approach the past in one of three ways: brand America great again, make America complaining, and make America better.
Make America Great Again
Christians who believe in MAGA are burdened by the history of Usa court cases and amendments that marginalised God and Christian ethics, nearly notably the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which regulates how involved religious organization can speak on politics, and the 1973 Roe v Wade example that legalised abortion.
Pence's op-ed praises Trump's protection of organized religion and remembers attacks from Barack Obama and Biden on religious liberty. It roots Trump's policies in America's founding and mentions "freedom of religion, freedom of spoken language, and the Second Subpoena right to keep and conduct artillery".
These Christians believe the left denigrates the past by running through history with chisel and axe in hot pursuit of unwholesome targets.
When MAGA Christians invoke history, they tend to recollect the adept. They emphasise the religious cause against slavery, non Christian justifications for enslavement. When condemning historical evil, their criticisms come in small doses.
Admiring the individuals, ideas and events that made America neat volition move Americans towards greatness. By focusing on the negative, Americans will become harsh, judgemental, unforgiving and cocky-righteous.
Brand America Complaining
Other Christians believe MAGA unravels difficult-won progress. They desire to brand America lament, remembering centuries of land theft, slavery and female subordination. Today's inequality amplifies past wrongs – and they cite voter suppression, mass incarceration or police brutality. For them, gaps in wealth, education or healthcare have historical roots. The past is not past, and its consequences do not play out in a foreign land.
Some of these Christians seem allergic to speaking fondly about history, as they don't want to curt-circuit national repentance. They believe that claiming greatness denies, dismisses or glorifies racism, sexism and exploitation. By revering historical persons who were racist, Americans will overlook present racism. Although they may admire parts of history, they emphasise critique. Neither Pence nor Biden fit this position.
Make America Better
A third group wants to make America better. These Christians are uncomfortable with unqualified historical praise, only they also eschew excessive critique. They emphasise two Americas: the founding reality was diff and unjust merely the founding ideal laid the groundwork for justice and equality. America'due south enduring inequities and the bulldoze for equality menstruation from the same source. Therefore, most historical people, institutions or documents should not exist totally rejected or wholly embraced.
Biden's op-ed comes closer to this position through the way he praises and critiques history: "Every bit a state, we take never been perfect nor gratis of prejudice. Nosotros've never fully lived upwardly to those ethics, but nosotros've never walked abroad from them".
This group of Christians lament history, merely add together a tempered and qualified appreciation of the past. They argue that the Us volition exist improve if Americans vocalise a deep appreciation for their deeply-flawed nation.
Bridging the divide
In Learning from the Germans, the philosopher Susan Neiman argued that Americans need to come to terms with their past. As a first step, she said: "The nation must achieve a coherent and widely accepted national narrative." Because the "Make America great again" and "Brand America complaining" positions but emphasise parts of the story, they are unlikely to become the widely accepted narrative.
Americans need to bridge the polarised interpretation of history so that the push for justice and equality in the present can be a bipartisan effort. Perhaps the greatest forcefulness of the "Brand America better" positions is in how information technology frames the struggle ahead. National self-critique tin can be patriotic. Historical criticism is non a sign of disloyalty, but national maturity. A nation has come of age when it tin squarely face up its past.
Is America not bad because information technology removed the knee from the slave'southward neck or wicked because it has knelt over the slave for centuries – or perhaps a mixture of both? This November, history will also be on the ballot.
Source: https://theconversation.com/from-make-america-great-again-to-make-america-better-how-us-history-shapes-christianity-and-politics-149239
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