Our Churches Put the Billionaires in Power

November 5, 2024 was a watershed election. Historians will look back on this pivotal moment and rehash it for generations to come. 

Pundits and podcasters have worked themselves into a lather “explaining” why so many Americans voted to be ruled by greed-driven billionaires, liars, traitors, sexual predators and kings. The finger-pointing and blame-assessing has gone on for weeks. I’ve heard one fantastical explanation after another. In all this talking, theorizing, nit-picking, accusing, abusing and excusing, I have not heard one single person address the decisive impact the churches had on this election. 

Almost all of the “Christian” churches where I live function as exclusive clubs for fascist elements in the Republican Party. The clergy, including Catholic priests and bishops, are operatives for right wing politics. 

Without the churches, Republicans could not have built the hegemony they have attained over the last 40 years. In the process, they have killed both the Republican Party and conservatism. 

Today’s Republican cult of one man does not resemble the Republican Party we had even 15 years ago. What exists under the name “Republican” now is something like the oligarchy that rules Russia, blended with the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini, along with a big shot of Al Capone-type hoodlumism. 

The billionaires who have taken over our government are not there to govern. They are there to raid and steal, to strip our country — and us — right down to the bone and take everything for themselves. They are willing to destroy everything we have, including all our freedoms, to do it. 

So how did anyone convince We the People to open the door and invite the raiding party to come in and do their worst? 

There are two groups who are responsible for this. One is the media, and by that I mean the whole media, not just “traditional” news outlets. The other is the Christian Churches, and by that I mean all the churches, not just the Evangelicals and right wing Catholics. 

I mean the evil, political-whore churches who sold Jesus Christ for tax advantages and government money. And I also mean and the sweet, loving, go-along-to-get-along churches that went la-la-la-la through it all and never disturbed themselves for one minute to speak out against this destruction of Christianity that was happening in their country, in their town, right down the road from them. 

They’re all to blame. The evil, sell-out whores for right wing $$$ are by far the worst. They sold themselves and their witness to evil. But the la-la-la-la, I’m-so-happy-to-be-me churches that did nothing have a big share of the blame too. One group bartered and mis-used their moral and prophetic voice. The other group didn’t use their prophetic and moral voice at all. 

That led to the dead silence of legitimate Gospel-based, Jesus Christ-taught Christianity in America. 

They were our shepherds. Most of them fed us to the wolves. The others stood around and watched while they did it. 

What appears to be a clear majority, perhaps a large majority, of the churches in America are nothing more than apologists and active operatives for anything and everything today’s Republican cult of one man does and says. That is one of the ways that they have enabled and empowered the takeover of our country by right wing billionaires who do not care at all about this country. 

The churches provide a number of essential services to the Republican cult. I’ll list some of them. 

1. Define everything the Republican cult does as holy. Justify and excuse Republican sins that can’t be redefined as holy such as shameless and constant lying, rape, taking and offering bribes and selling justice as not important, not essential, nothing much, “They all do it” stuff. 

3. Define everything Democrats do, even things like building our country’s infrastructure so we have roads to drive on, bridges that don’t fall down, jobs to go to, providing healthcare and vaccines; define all that as evil. 

4. Act as the Republican get-out-the-vote machine by making your followers think that (1) If they decide not to vote, it is a sin they can go to hell for, and, (2) If they vote for a Democrat, it is a sin they can go to hell for. Some churches do this with crude openness. Others, like the Catholics, do it with obfuscated, verbally nuanced “rules” that allow no other conclusion. The purpose is the same in both methods. 

Religious leaders that participate in this sell-out of the Gospel are rewarded. Big name religious leaders, such as Catholic bishops, leaders of mega churches and “evangelists” with large followings get appointed to right wing boards. They get to go on junkets, spend time yucking it up with billionaires and feel like they are players in the power games. 

Politicians call this “stroking.” They are “stroking” our bishops, big-name preachers and evangelists in exchange for these clergy using their moral and prophetic voice to deify what is in fact sinfulness that stomps all over the Gospels of Christ. 

Bishops on the billionaire dole can and I think do call in help when they run short of $$ for their building projects or “ministries.” I’ve heard stories about large amounts of money suddenly materializing when a right-wing bishop’s pet project ran short. 

The churches have been the decisive factor in the billionaire take-over of America. If they had actually taught the Gospels, if they had stood up for Christ instead of selling Him for money and power, this debacle could not have happened. 

If our clergy had followed Christ instead of the $$, the Republican Party would still be a legitimate political party and not just a wholly-owned billionaire men’s club. There would still be a conservative movement. Pro life would still be about the sanctity of all human life, and not a hate women movement. Most important, all of our churches would still be trustworthy moral guides and genuine expressions of the Gospel and not evil-empowering fakes.