Prager: The Banner on Boston’s Church of the Covenant and the Decline of Christianity

On the front of one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in the country, the Church of the Covenant in Boston, hangs a large banner on which is written:

“And God said…
“Protect Abortion Access 4 All
“Ensure Black Lives Matter
“Honor Bodily Autonomy
“Defend LGBTQ+ Rights
“End Voter Suppression
“Turn Guns into Plows
“Abandon Fossil Fuels
“Provide Sanctuary
“Abolish Prisons
“Disarm Hate
“Speak Truth
“Breathe
“In other words…
“Love”

If you needed one example of how destructive leftism has been to mainstream Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, and to non-Orthodox Judaism, this banner would suffice.
God says, “Protect Abortion Access For All”? Where? Why? Terminating innocent life, that’s God’s will? Does this include abortions of viable babies undergone by healthy mothers? Is that, too, God’s will?

“Ensure black lives matter”? Blacks, like every other racial, ethnic and national grouping of human beings are created in God’s image. But if this banner implies support for the group Black Lives Matter, that is another matter. God abhors groups that affirm racism. Unlike the Left, the Bible knows that anyone, black or white, can be racist.

As regards LGBTQ+, the Bible goes out of its way to uphold divine distinctions such as good and evil, God and human, human and animal, and male and female. When God creates the human being, the Bible asserts this last distinction as clearly as possible: “Male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

“Turn guns into plows” is, of course, taken from the Prophet Isaiah’s call to “Beat your swords into plows” (Isaiah 2:4). Unfortunately for the Church of the Covenant, another biblical prophet says the very opposite: “Beat your plows into swords… let the weak say, I am strong” (Joel 4:10 Jewish Bible; Joel 3:10 Christian Bible). Unlike the Left, the Bible understands that while the ultimate dream is that human beings have no need for swords, until that messianic age, the weak must have swords.

As for abandoning fossil fuels, these ubiquitous sources of energy have been one of God’s gifts to humanity. Without them, the modern world would not have been possible. No hospitals, no reliable heat in the winter (not to mention cold in the summer), no transportation beyond riding animals. No modern medicine. Nothing in the way of modern technology. Just a primitive life—and a short and painful one at that. God would say before abandoning these fuels, make sure you have a reliable substitute. (We do: nuclear power.) Until then, thank God for His gift of fossil fuels.

As regards sanctuary, if the meaning is sanctuaries for illegal aliens, on the basis of what biblical idea does the Church of the Covenant infer that God wants America—or any other country—to have open borders?

“Abolishing prisons” alone is an idea that should alienate any rational and moral human being from the Left. Abolishing prisons means allowing an enormous number of innocent people to be murdered and beaten, of women to be raped, of shops to be looted, and of children to be molested. Nothing exemplifies the moral idiocy at the heart of leftism as well as “abolish prisons.”

Perhaps some prominent conservative Christian church should put up a banner addressing the same subjects:

“God said…
“Protect The Life Of Mothers—And Their Unborn Babies
“Human Worth Is Not Related To Race
“Honor Bodily Autonomy—End Vaccine Mandates
“There Are Only Two Sexes: Male And Female
“Protect Voting Integrity
“Defend Yourself And Others—Get A Gun
“I Have Blessed Mankind With Energy
“Protect Your Citizens by Protecting Your Borders
“Imprison the Guilty To Protect The Innocent
“If You Love Me, Hate Evil (Psalms 97:10)
“Speak Truth—Because There is Only One Truth
“In other words…
“Love”

If a traditional church did put up such a banner, it would make national news and its leaders would be dismissed as right-wing religious zealots for putting words into God’s mouth. Only left-wing churches and synagogues are allowed to speak for the Almighty.
Of all the Ten Commandments, only one states that its violation cannot be forgiven. It is the Third Commandment: “Do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain because He will not forgive whoever takes His name in vain.”

Nearly everyone familiar with the Commandment thinks the Commandment prohibits saying the word “God” outside of prayer or Bible study. But it cannot mean that. What kind of God would forgive a murderer but not someone who said, “God, did I have a tough day at work today”?

Clearly, the Third Commandment must mean something else. And it does. As I explain in my Bible commentary, “The Rational Bible,” the Hebrew actually says, “Do not carry the name of the Lord thy God in vain…”

“Carry,” not “take.”

Doing evil in God’s name or attaching God’s name to false or immoral ideas is the one sin God will not forgive.

And that is the sin of left-wing churches and synagogues. They carry God’s name in vain. Indeed, they desecrate it.

What is happening to Christianity and Judaism provides yet another example of the most important principle of modern life: Whatever the Left touches it destroys.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest books, published by Regnery, are “The Rational Passover Haggadah” (March 2022) and “The Rational Bible,” a commentary on the book of Genesis (May 2019). His film, “No Safe Spaces,” was released to home entertainment nationwide on September 15, 2020. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.

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