The Biblical Coating

The Bible (God, religion, etc) has been misused and abused in the past and continues to be manipulated today to fit or support whatever cause we want it to fit or support.  If we can co-opt Holy Writ to fit our particular stance, use it as a veneer for our cause, that cause becomes readily acceptable by those who revere the Book (God, religion, etc.).  Historical evidence from what is now known in our American history as the era of “Coolidge Prosperity” in the early decades of the twentieth century demonstrates this misuse, abuse, and manipulation of Holy Writ. The overarching idea in America at that time was simply this: whatever was good for business helped prosperity and prosperity was good for the country.

How was business and prosperity given its sacred veneer? It was supported by getting a helping hand from the Bible (just as the Bible has been used to support human slavery, the place of women in the world, and a host of other less than sacred ideas). The Metropolitan Casualty Insurance Company distributed a pamphlet on Moses, Persuader of Men.  The pamphlet suggested that, “Moses was one of the greatest salesmen and real-estate promoters that ever lived.”  He was a “Dominant, Fearless, and Successful Personality” engaged in one of “the most magnificent selling campaigns that history ever placed on its pages.”  The best-selling non-fiction book of the time, The Man Nobody Knows, written by Bruce Barton, announced Jesus not only as “the most popular dinner guest in Jerusalem,”  but also a great executive. “He picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world…Nowhere is there such a startling example of executive success as the way in which that organization was brought together.”  Jesus’ parables were “the most powerful advertisements of all time.”  In fact, Barton declared, Jesus was “the founder of modern business.”  This Gospel According to Bruce Barton made “business” the national religion of America.  Making “big money” was right and proper under all the law and the prophets. And behold, men like Carnegie, Ford, Rockefeller, and Mellon and all businessmen, for that matter, big and small, wore their halos and became the saints of the time. 

The Bible (God, religion) is still misused and abused today.  When we hear an alleged Christian evangelist  say that the 2016 election was God acting “to stop the godless, atheistic progressive agenda from taking control of our country,” how can we possibly think Russia might have had something to do with it?

Grand Tetons