Polarized, Paralyzed, and Politicized: An Awakening for Christians and Non-Christians

By Dr. Michael Rucker and Pamela Rucker

America has become the divided states instead of the united states because it has polarized, paralyzed, and politicized all Americans. Since 2016, there has been a lack of leadership at the highest level of government, increased racism from White supremacists, and a failed response to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, we are a country in crisis that will require Christian and non-Christian Americans to come together in unity. The Scriptures tell us unto us a child is born, a son is given (Jesus Christ), and the government will be on his shoulders. Today, it appears the church is on the shoulders of the government. To place the government back on the shoulders of the church, much prayer will be needed to invoke the power of God, through Jesus Christ, to carve an individual and national path to heal Americans and our land to move forward in 2021.For unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. (Isa. 9:6)However, presently in America, it appears politically the church is upon the shoulders of the government.Any society that substitutes humanity's latest and greatest ideas for God's truth and authority is on the fast track to ruin.… Much of the responsibility to change the trajectory of the nation lies in the hands of the Church and the family unit.… The restoration of biblical truth can facilitate the turnaround of a declining society. (George Barna)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662422102

Book preview

Chapter 1

Polarization of Christians and Non-Christians Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

There are several issues or preferences our culture provides, which polarize Christians and non-Christians. The Human Rights Campaign³ (HRC) is promoting the Equality Act, now in Congress, to enshrine sexual orientation and gender identity (or SOGI) ideologies/policies to place sexual orientation and gender identity on par with race and religion as protected classes under the Civil Rights Act. The ramifications, if enshrined into law, would impact schools, libraries, public and private restrooms, homeless shelters, and havens for victims of abuse. Such social pressure would apply to all individuals and businesses and further divide believers from nonbelievers, also dividing believers among believers and nonbelievers among nonbelievers. Social and corporate professionals would lose the ability to live out their faith in their work. Christian organizations that provide public services, like foster care facilities and adoption agencies, would be forced to choose between their convictions and their existence. This type of social pressure can leverage political bodies to take legal action against individuals who refuse to advocate for and/or accept LGBTQ equalities (Prophecy News Watch [PNW] February 24, 2020).

Additionally, in America, same-sex marriage is recognized by the federal government and has been legalized in thirty-six US states. These states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, including the Washington, DC, and twenty-two Native American tribal jurisdictions. More than 70 percent of the population live in jurisdictions where same-sex couples can legally marry.⁴

Findings from Public Religion Research Institute’s (PRRI) American Values Atlas, which drew on forty thousand interviews among a random sample of Americans, provided an in-depth portrait of attitudes on same-sex marriage by religious affiliation. They reported that most supportive major religious groups of same-sex marriage are Buddhists (84 percent), Jews (77 percent), and Americans who select Other religion (75 percent); additionally, more than three quarters (77 percent) of the religiously unaffiliated also support same-sex marriage. More than six in ten (62 percent) White mainline Protestants support same-sex marriage. Among White mainline Protestant denominations, support ranges from 69 percent support among White mainline Presbyterians and 68 percent among both White Episcopalians and White Congregationalists / United Church of Christ members, to lower support among White mainline Baptists (53 percent) and White mainline Church of Christ / Disciples (50 percent). And while the Catholic Church officially opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage, about six in ten White (61 percent), Hispanic (60 percent), and other non-White Catholics (60 percent) support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. A majority of Orthodox Christians (56 percent) also support same-sex marriage.

On the other side of the debate, majorities of Jehovah’s Witnesses (75 percent), Mormons (68 percent), White evangelical Protestants (66 percent), Hispanic Protestants (58 percent), and Black Protestants (54 percent) oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. Among White evangelical Protestant denominations, White evangelical Baptists are the most opposed (72 percent) while White evangelical Lutherans are nearly evenly divided (45 percent favor, 48 percent opposed). Among all religiously affiliated Americans, 47 percent favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, compared to 45 percent who oppose. Support among all religious Americans has jumped nearly 20 percentage points, up from 28 percent in