More Christian than the Republican Party?

Moral clarity is a condition of Christianity. That is not merely a statement of theological opinion. That is a biblically grounded truth. A true Christian – i.e., someone who has been moved by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior – awakens with a renewed sense of sin. He knows right from wrong at a deeper emotional level because the Christian has within him the Holy Spirit as a resident. As such, the Holy Spirit which hates sin compels the Christian to hate sin, as well.

Correspondingly, the Christian who hates sin ensures that sinful behaviors are not acceptable in a Christian-led society. There is no equivocation on this subject. The true Christian cannot abide LGBTers any more than he can abide thieves, rapists, or murderers. They are all sinful and therefore they are by definition equally reviled by the Christian. Sin has no tiers, even if society views some sins worse than others. God makes it clear that all sin is bad.

This leads me to weigh the actions of our elected (selected) leaders. A Christian should agree that the platform of the Democratic Party is immediately in violation of Christian morality and therefore, a Christian can never be a Democrat. After all, the Party’s open embrace of LGBT policies and abortion automatically disqualifies the Democratic Party from Christian affiliation. If Christians are commanded to associate with Christians and divorce themselves from non-Christians, (beyond proselytizing the Word), then the party that openly embraces sinful behavior as its political mantra is forbidden. A true Christian would be spiritually moved away from the DNC. But what about the Republican Party?

Superficially, the Republican Party should be the default political party of the Christian. Before I go further, let me address an often-touted criticism of politics by the faithful: Christianity transcends politics and, therefore, politics has no place in a conversation on faith. I disagree.

If we accept that God’s hand is in everything, we also accept that God’s hand is in the political process and governance of mankind. God is above all, but that does not mean the Christian should not be engaged in the political affairs of his country – especially, if that country invites the Christian to participate in the selection of its ruling law makers by means of a vote. It is an obligation of the Christian to engage in the political process, not as an American, but as a Christian.

Returning to the Republican Party, we see a political side that claims to support many of the same things as Christians – such as the elimination of abortion and same-sex marriage. Yet, the 2024 Republican Party Platform is interestingly muted on all social subjects. It takes no such clear stance on issues of morality. Additionally, many of the leaders within the Party support sinful behaviors that are antithetical to Christians, including Donald Trump. For example, two of Trump’s most senior members are homosexuals (Treasury Secretary Bessent & Special Envoy Richard Grenell). Finally, the unabashed defense of the Jewish state calling itself Israel – a country literally predicated on a defiant rejection of Jesus Christ – is an open embrace of those whom John the Apostle called “antichrists” (1 John 4: 2-3) and Jesus Christ called the children of the Devil (John 8:44).

If a Christian is compelled to hate sin, and we acknowledge that a rejection of Christ the King is sinful, then Christians should not support sinners who keep sinning. They should pray for sinners. Christians themselves will sin. But true Christians will feel remorse for the sin and hope to distance themselves from repeated sinful behavior. Part of that distance is disengaging from associates who embrace and even encourage sinning.

Just as a Christian would not associate with an unrepentant thief or a rapist, a Christian should not associate with those who reject the Holy Spirit and the Messiah. As stated earlier, a Christian should share the Word with the unbeliever, but that should be the extent of his interaction. Correspondingly, an entire country based on the rejection of Jesus Christ should not deserve Christian support, let alone loyalty. In this regard, and in the eyes of God who gave us Himself manifested in the flesh, the nation-state calling itself Israel is equal to Saudi Arabia. They are two nation-states grounded in a rejection of Jesus.

Having laid down a foundational principle as to the relationship between a Christian and sin, viewing a governing entity should be clearer for the reader. The National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) – often called the Nazis – was by definition more Christian than the modern American Republican Party. This is not a statement intended to be explicitly provocative. Rather, if you look objectively at the NSDAP’s platform of the 1930s, then you will see a more pro-Christian political entity.

The Nazis banned LGBT activities outright. In fact, the famous book burnings were not books on sewing or even Judaic theology. They were literally books with homosexual topics, many of which were graphic and targeted German children.

Homosexual bars that were opened in the 1920s Weimar Republic, were closed by the NSDAP. Transgenderism – a major problem in post-World War I Germany – was banned. Pornographic depictions of any kind were made illegal, but imagery that was homosexual in nature led to imprisonment.

In addition, the socioeconomic policies of NSDAP Germany corresponded with pro-family virtues. Abortion was illegal. To encourage women to embrace motherhood, policies were implemented to assist family growth and male head of households (an important topic of Paul’s epistles). In effect, while abortion was illegal, married couples enjoyed subsidies that empowered the women to stay at home and “be mothers” while men were encouraged to work. The Republican Party would never embrace such a platform so openly.

As it pertained to the Jews, the policies of the NSDAP – at least until 1942 – was one of separation from German society. Without getting into a discussion on the Holocaust (an event I personally do not believe occurred as told), the NSDAP encouraged Jewish repatriation to British Palestine (currently called Israel), to include subsidies for Jewish settlers to leave Germany (Haavara Agreement). Whereas anti-Jewish animus was present in Germany up until the beginning of World War II, there is no indication that it was any different than anti-Jewish animus in France, Greece, or the United States in the 1930s. Even the infamous event of Kristallnacht in 1938 (precipitated by the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish antifa member in Paris), was widely condemned throughout NSDAP Germany, including by Hitler himself- who felt the actions were disorderly and not becoming of German citizens.

As it pertains to foreign policy, some will claim that the invasion of other countries was demonstrably un-Christian. While it is true that war is terrible and violence is condemned by God, it should also be noted that NSDAP Germany did not invade any country that was not part of its pre-World War I territory until war was declared on Germany by France and the UK.

Austria invited Germany. The Czech leadership after the Sudetenland reacquisition (former German territory), invited German occupation as a counter to potential Soviet aggression. Poland, meanwhile, was given ample opportunities to protect former German residents from attacks by Marxist activists (many of whom were Jewish antifa), before Germany invaded – and even then, Germany stopped its territorial gains after reclaiming East Prussia (also territory lost with the Treaty of Versailles). The invasion of France happened after France declared war on Germany.

By contrast, the Republican Party has supported military activities that have no historical basis of justification. The party has supported the bombing and killing of civilians around the world for no discernable purpose other than the propagation of lascivious behaviors. In other words, the Republican Party supports a war against a country like Iran because it will not allow homosexual television content.

We have no historical claims in Ukraine.

As it pertains to the use of pagan symbols, that was clearly problematic. But the NSDAP called itself a Christian movement. The Republican Party would never make such a claim. Christian conservatism was clearly more deeply intertwined with the policies of the NSDAP than those of the GOP. There are many more examples of Christian political positions made manifest by the NSDAP – especially its hatred of atheist communism – that the Republican Party simply refuses to embrace.

Cumulatively, this post is not an endorsement of the NSDAP; it is an indictment of the Republican Party. The majority of politically engaged, professed Christians vote Republican. Yet, the Republican Party either ignores or refuses to adopt explicitly pro-Christian policies. In such a scenario, it should be evident to the Christian that either (A) he demands the party to embrace the Christian virtues he holds dear or (B) walk away from the party – because accepting the sinful behavior of a political party is not acceptable, even when it calls itself “Republican.”