Stand-alone Studies

Note: A week before the class meets, ask members to read the Doubter’s Parish article, “How the Religious Right Gets It Wrong and What to Do about It.” Send them this link to the article.

Begin the class by enlisting someone to read the following paragraphs from the article:

Today, many (although not all) religious right Christians believe Jesus dislikes LGBTQ persons, immigrants, liberals, elites, science, welfare, MSNBC, wokeness, critical race theory, non-Christians, and Democrats. On the other side of the ledger, they believe Jesus loves America, churchgoers, capitalism, the military, conservatives, Fox News, guns, MAGA Republicans, aggressive masculinity, and Donald Trump.

The fact that the life, teachings, and example of Jesus challenge these assumptions doesn’t deter religious right Christianity one iota. In short, when it comes to following Jesus, the religious right, in the words of Jim Wallis, consistently “gets it wrong.”

Note that in his article, Martin shares his first memory of the religious right “getting it wrong.” In his example, they got it wrong about race. Do you have early memories about the religious right getting it wrong? If so, would you share that with the group?

In his article, Martin says that bad religion needs to be challenged. He notes that Jesus challenged the toxic religion on his day, as we see in Matthew 23, which offers a scathing assessment of some of the religious leaders in his day. Enlist class members to read a few examples from that long text, including verses 1–3, 13–15, 23, 25, 27, and 33.

What do you think about these verses? Does it trouble you that Jesus was so harsh on some of the religious leaders of his day?

Quickly review some of the examples in the article of the religious right getting it wrong. Time will not permit in-depth conversation about the details. The idea is to provide examples of toxic religious right religion.

Invite someone to read one or more of the following four (out of eight in the article) examples:

• The religious right is wrong about women.In the name of God and Scripture, it promotes second-class citizenship for women. For example, it tells women to submit to their husbands and insists that women cannot serve as ministers, even if they are gifted and called.
• The religious right is wrong about the LGBTQ community. It tells LGBTQ persons that they are an abomination to God. It constantly fights against LGBTQ rights. And it promotes hateful prejudice and cruelty toward LGBTQ persons, with tragic consequences.
• The religious right is wrong about science. It constantly rejects proven scientific facts including evolution, human-made climate change, and the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. It often shares anti-science conspiracy theories from its pulpits and social media posts, making the world a more dangerous place.
• The religious right is wrong about politics. It engages in hyper-partisanship. It demonizes Democrats. It admires political authoritarianism. And it gives overwhelming and unyielding support to Donald Trump, who violates every value it claims to hold including character, decency, marital fidelity, truth telling, family values, and the preservation of democracy.

Ask members if they agree or disagree with these examples and why.

Ask them to list other examples of toxic religious right religion. For example, in his article, Martin says, “Unfortunately, many more examples of the religious right getting it wrong could be given, including demonization of immigrants, prejudice against Muslims, neglect of social justice, and an overall spirit of anger, fear, negativity, and self-righteous judgmentalism.”

As time permits, quickly review the three “do’s” about religious right religion that are listed in the article:

Three Do’s

• Do depart the life-diminishing environment of religious right Christianity. Staying will only poison your soul. And try as you may, you will not change religious right culture.
• Do find a new tribe of believers. Look for a community of faith that seeks to emulate the love of Jesus. Perfect places don’t exist. But reasonably healthy places can be found.
• Do try to be a positive example of authentic Christianity. Bear witness to your community that Christians can be kind, open-minded, and compassionate.

Ask members, Do you resonate with these suggestions? If so, why? Do you disagree with them? If so, why?

If time permits, review the three “don’t” listed in the article:

Three Don’ts

• Don’t argue with religious right believers. You won’t change their mind. Instead, you will only upset yourself (and them) for no tangible benefit.
• Don’t nurse superior or arrogant attitudes toward religious right believers. You are not better than them. You just see the world differently.
• Don’t ignore positive elements of religious right Christianity including biblical literacy and a commitment to reaching people for Christ and the church.

Ask members, Do you resonate with these suggestions? If so, why? Do you disagree with them? If so, why?