I saw a post on Facebook by a bunch of church leaders that were pontificating about the right co-opting the name of Jesus and also about the authoritarian trending of the current administration. But I was thinking, they haven't got a leg to stand on, because they are leaders of an authoritarian church. And no matter how liberal their churches are, their theology is still top down.
If there's anything I've learned in my 65 years, from reading Tom Paine, Ethan Allen, and recent libertarian writings, is that things always work out better if they go from the bottom up. Things would go a lot better if the people on the bottom, right and left, would stick together and let all the leaders know in no uncertain terms which side their bread is buttered on.
People can say companies are top down. But the best companies, if an employee is doing their best to serve their internal and external customers, give their employees a lot of latitude. And even in the military, especially during war, if you are moving toward the objective with initiative and common sense, you can move the conversation past just following orders.
I don't consider myself a Christian. The older I get, I don't believe in the atonement, eternal life or an all-powerful God. I don't think Jesus meant to set up an authoritarian church. The church was fomented by St. Paul and the Emperor Constantine and we've been stuck with that structure ever since. I'm not really a Jesus follower either, as libertarians don't follow very well. I consider myself a Jesus Reader. He had some good things to say, and some are worth putting into practice. The basis for most of what he taught, I think, was Micah 6:8, be just, be kind, be humble; I fail miserably at all three, but I try.
Historically, if the people on the bottom are not listened to, things don't turn out well for those at the top. And if that sounds kind of irreverent towards God; I've ways thought that the God power in the universe was always bottom up. And leaders in politics, religion and business try to co-opt that power into top down at their peril.
