The golden rule, so widely taught, has woeful traction

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Much of my youth was spent in church, where on Sundays I could don my “clothes for good,” those without patches or parts worn. A big deal. Our Methodist minister was a large and kindly man, with sermon parables made better by a seldom-heard drawl; he made Bible study fun.

One Saturday, the pastor’s catechism was short, exploring Jesus’ famous command in Matthew: “In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.” He read it a couple of times, then asked we close our eyes and consider how it may be applied. “Think,” he implored every few seconds of a longish minute.

“And that,” he finally said, “is the root, the core, the primary message of this Bible. Follow it and God’s kingdom will be better … but you must think.” Pause. “Class dismissed.”

Our small town was mostly German and Scandinavian stock; one Mormon family, no Black people and the only Jew we knew of was biblical. It was tranquil deference — except among adults there was tangible disdain between Protestants and Catholics.

Some years later I happened onto a kiosk selling religious stuff and noticed a poster titled “The Golden Rule” that quoted Rabbi Hillel, the Jewish sage who predated Christianity: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is explanation.” Muhammad directed Islamic believers to “wish for others what you wish for yourself.”

More poster quotes revealed consensus in Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Sikhism, all invoking the same moral ideal simply, without condition.

And yet, the good words seem to have a woeful lack of traction: historically the Crusades, the Inquisition, fascism and the Middle East’s unending murderous hate.

Minnesota’s shameful treatment of the Dakota people sparked the ugly 1862 War, and later the denial of loans in redlined Minneapolis neighborhoods combined with racial title exclusions and blatant discrimination that persists today.

Some hate is wrapped in twisted myth. “Manifest Destiny” gave divine cover for horrors of America’s westward expansion, and Jim Crow laws shielded bitter Southerners who wouldn’t (still won’t) accept Civil War reality. The brown, black-haired historical Jesus was transfigured as a tall, blue-eyed white guy so that early European and Greek Christians could worship one who looked like themselves (that’s still with us).

The Rev. Robert P. Jones documents how many Christians, especially Southern evangelicals, use the Bible to justify raw hate. Notably, Christians were drivers of the Ku Klux Klan, whose cross-burning intimidation and cruel murders were rampant throughout the South and Indiana, with support in Montana, Idaho and Oregon.

The lies, ridicule and crude denigration permeating today’s public discourse expose divisive hate, often disguised as protecting “traditional cultural values.”

Then there’s Donald Trump, a convicted felon, who won the presidency after the National Catholic Reporter and others detailed how he embodies “the seven deadly sins.” Christian Nationalists call Trump a “savior,” something he embraces: At his inauguration, Trump claimed he was “saved by God [from an assassination attempt] to make America great again.”

On Tuesday, the National Cathedral’s bishop urged “mercy” for LGBTQ people and immigrants, with Trump and family in front-most pews. Trump’s decrees vilified and cast genuine fear in both marginalized groups.

Christians often strain to interpret biblical text to justify racism targeting anyone with shaded skin tone for ridicule, exclusion and worse. So many are anti-LGBTQ, anti-mixed marriage, antisemitic, anti-Islam, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, dismissive of the poor, against teaching racial history — none of it with basis in the Bible’s Synoptic Gospels.

“Think,” the pastor implored.

Anthropologists say human DNA is indelibly imprinted with a primal fear of anything different, rousing an impulse to diminish any supposed threat. Perhaps, but that’s an easy, modern-day pass that degrades moral guidance of long-ago sages to mere blurred words on withered pages.

Humans are imperfect, heaven knows, but geez … .

Ron Way lives in Minneapolis. He’s at ron-way@comcast.net.