Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Empathy Mining

Home
Progressive Christian
Conservative Christians, It’s Time to Step Up: Where are Your Good Samaritans?

Conservative Christians, It’s Time to Step Up: Where are Your Good Samaritans?

Last updated on: December 9, 2019 at 2:49 pm by Shane Phipps

Conservative Christians, It’s Time to Step Up: Where are Your Good Samaritans? 2019-12-09T14:49:05-04:00 Shane Phipps

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Our nation lies stripped and beaten. We’ve been left for dead, lying in a roadside ditch. Things look bleak. It’s going to take the help of some conservative Christian Good Samaritans to save us.

That may scare the hell out of my progressive readers who wouldn’t count on a conservative Christian to spit on them if they were on fire, but I’m afraid it’s the truth. I don’t think there is any way that PresidentTrump will be convicted and removed from office if an impeachment trial goes to the Republican majority Senate. That means, he’ll be the GOP nominee for president in 2020. It’s beginning to feel like we’re heading down the exact same road we were on in 2016 when most reasonable people saw no possible way that such a selfish-charlatan-shyster as Donald Trump would actually find his way into the Oval Office. But three years later, here we are again.

It may sound rather hopeless, but I’m not without hope because I personally know a lot of conservative Christians and I’m confident that, when push comes to shove, they can temporarily separate their personal faith-based political convictions and do what’s best for our country. They can be the Good Samaritans we so desperately need right when we need them most.

Most conservative Christians are probably going to go all in and double down on Trump, but not all. The good news is, it wouldn’t actually take too many of them to stand up and do the right thing to make a huge difference. If we can turn a just a few key states blue, our nightmare could be over. The Democrats are almost assuredly going to win the popular vote with relative ease but, as we’ve seen all too often of late, that doesn’t get the job done. Hillary Clinton defeated Trump by almost 3 million votes in the popular election of 2016, after all. With the Electoral College poised to spin its unfair web to once again ensnare the will of the people, it’s imperative we find our Good Samaritans for 2020.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells of a Jewish man who was stripped, beaten, and left for dead along the side of the road. A Jewish priest and a Levite came by but just walked right on past the man without batting an eye. Then a Samaritan man–sworn enemies of the Jews–came along and finally did the right thing stopping to care for the injured man. Jesus used this story to demonstrate that we are to do the right thing and look out for the well-being of our neighbors even if we might not normally coexist in harmony with them. There is a large and growing rift within Christendom between the politically conservative fundamentalists and the ever-growing politically progressive Christians. We are not likely to come together on many of those hot-button issues like abortion, immigration, health care, and LGBTQ rights anytime soon, but that shouldn’t be necessary in this upcoming election. We need level-headed, reasonable conservative Christians to put aside those issues for one election cycle, at least, and cast their votes to help pull our nation out of the ditch.

As I see it, there are at least three kinds of conservative Christians–I personally know several examples of each–when it comes to the topic of Donald Trump:

There are those who’ve completely sold themselves to a political agenda who are so far in with Trump that they can no longer see him with discerning eyes. They are boisterous and flamboyant supporters of the president and will be to the bitter end. They are like the priest and the Levite in the parable. They will never be swayed and there is no sense even considering them.
Then there are those who put on a supportive front when it comes to Trump. They outwardly show subtle support but inside they have real concerns. They listen to him lie and spout hate, they see his policies that have brought shame upon our nation, but they are too afraid to speak out against Trump because they fear retribution from those from the first group. So they just go along with the crowd and won’t make waves.
Finally, there are those who are secretly repulsed by the words and actions of Trump. They see Trump as detrimental to the Christian message and they’d love to see him out of office. They are hesitant to speak out, though, because they are uncomfortable with the idea of promoting a Democratic candidate since they disagree with their stances on some of those morally-sensitive issues. These are the potential Good Samaritans in this analogy. These good people could be the heroes in the 2020 election.

We need the conservative Christians in that third group to temporarily lay aside those issues that make it so difficult for them to vote outside the Republican Party and do the right thing for this country for this election. We need them to take the bold step of being vocal in their opposition to the policies of the Trump Administration and to point out how much damage they are doing to the reputation of the Christian Church which continues to support them. We need them, just this once, to vote with their reason rather than their faith. Silence amounts to implied consent. A crucial moment is upon us and reasonable conservative Christians hold the key to our immediate future.

It wouldn’t take a huge amount of Good Samaritans to have a tremendously positive impact. I know a lot of people who fit the description of that third group of conservative Christians and I have faith that, when they step into the voting booth next November, they will summon the courage to be like the Samaritan.

God bless America. Let freedom ring.

Previous Post

December 2, 2019

How America's Anti-Gay Bigotry Manipulated the "Infallible Word of God"

Next Post

December 15, 2019 An Open Letter to all the Conservative Christian Friends I've Unfollowed During the Coup

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth

Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the villain plotting to destroy the Jews in Esther?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sanballat Ben-Hadad Haman Tobiah

Support this
Column