Reaganism is a Religion

Patriotism wrapped in hymnal tones, flag-waving over record budget deficits and tax increases, warm words of the innate heroism of every American, such soaring rhetoric characterized the Reagan President.

Such open optimism is wanting in this country, one where citizens are longing for long-gone glory days, a strong military, a strong economy, a strong sense of self and purpose

January 2012 -- "We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free." We will not, we will not, we will not. Such soaring hopes and dreams refuse to recognize the ups and downs of man's frail life in three-dimensional world of scarcity and limitations.

Reagan believed in God:

"If we forget that we a "One Nation Under God", then we will be a nation gone under."

Of course, such a vapid statement fits perfectly into all creeds and calling. Such civic religion is appropriate, to the extent that religious liberty is protected:

"The Constitution was never meant ot prevent people from praying; its declared purpose was to protect the freedom to pray."

Without a doubt, religious liberty is essentially protected in our Bill of Rights. Yet the wit and wisdom of the Gipper suggested a grand trust in the goodness of man, a notion that runs counter to many established religions, which in fact incites a religious fervor all unto itself.

For the believer, however, the greatest threat to the truth is not religious persecution, but the anti-Christ spirit which replaces and repudiates the centrality of Christ, the Beloved and Only Son of God (cf Matthew 3:17) President Reagan did not promote the gospel, and for all his home-spun homilies on the role of religion in our daily lives, he did not promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a president in a free society, he should be commended for not forcing the gospel on anyone; but no one should conclude that his diaphanous religiosity is respectable spirituality.

He had not received the full gospel of Christ, declaring at least privately that He died for our sins, reconciling us to a righteous and holy Father. Many would be hard pressed to justify Christian elements in Reagan's religion based on the following assertions:

"Work and family are the center of our lives, the foundation of the dignity of a free people."

Jesus Christ is the essence and essential status for every believer and for every human being:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3: 16-18)

Apart from Christ, it is condemnation for every man. Though God the Father has exhausted his righteous wrath against unrighteous man for his sin, man must believe and receive this grace by faith, something which Reagan did not declare.

Not family, not work, not these things, but Christ and him alone:

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Reagan testified to the efforts of man as fulfillment: "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."

Jesus Christ preached otherwise:

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Jesus Christ is life (cf John 1:4; 14:6)

Of, course no motto better exemplifies (or rather, exposes) Ronald Reagan's rugged, self-actualized individualism than the quote etched on his tomb at His Presidential Library:

"I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life."

Yet the knowledge of man's heart, apart from regeneration made possible only by the grace of God through faith, is a gross wickedness:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

No Scripture better exposes the lie and empty fraud of the innate goodness of man, no matter how heartfelt or sincere the belief.

Reaganism is a religion of individual optimized missed with a tip of the hat to the Almighty, whoever He may be. Such fervor permitted man to expect from government without feeling bad about it. Such a mentality invested voters with the belief that they could challenge Washington, demanding grand tax cuts, a large outfitted military, and then not worry about the consequences of scarce resources and running deficits.