The Holy Church of the Line

It is often wrongly stated that America doesn’t have an official religion — we do, but it is not Christianity as some in power would assert.

America worships at the Holy Church of the Line, a postmodern interpretation of the standard Bible that substitutes humanity for economy. A version of Christianity that eschews the words of the Teacher in favor of the Venture Capitalist.

The Church of Line cares not about Proverbs 14:31

Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Nor the words of Luke 6:20

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.’

Nor even the words of Mark 12:41

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’

The Church of the Line only cares about Line. An all-powerful, totalitarian deity that can be served but never known; that can be fed but always hungers; that gives blessings to those who spew vulgarities from the altar but disregards those whose tireless labor fills the pews and pays the tithes.

This is a Church of cruelty and neglect. An intentionally dissociated mashup of hypercapitalistic ideals and American amorality. A faith based entirely on self-service and selfishness, rather than shared spirit or commonality. A belief that so long as the Line is serviced, nothing else can ever matter. A Church whose Elders are not selected by their service but rather their greed.

“Line Must Go Up!” the devotees chant, a Commandment above all others. Written to hide the ugly truth that even as the stock markets climb, more Americans than ever are committing suicide or are drinking themselves into oblivion. It ignores the millions of Americans who are struggling to find food and instead focuses on those among us for whom decadence is a character trait.

To serve the Line is to recognize that your own livelihood matters little to the Church — rather, your sacrifices are what matter, like attending schools riddled with virus so that Line can move up a fraction of a fraction or losing your home to a recession that was driven by the very same people telling you to just Trust the Line as you took out that mortgage they damn well knew was subprime.

“Line Cannot Go Down!” screeches the Preacher, a man who dedicated his entire life to the almighty Line, while worrying not about such Earthly troubles as 160,000 dead citizens or petty squabbles over ripping apart families by locking children in cages.

“Without the Line, our lives would be horrible like all those other people!” shout the bullies from their pulpits, unwittingly acknowledging that life can in fact exist outside the Church and its creed.

True enough, not worshiping the Line can lead to great uncertainties. But in freedom from the rigid laws of the Church, some people have found a greater understanding of the Line and what it means to them. A liberation that services the many, not the few. A system that recognizes that the value of the Line is not within the Line itself, but rather in what the Line can do for its people.

We might call this a Reformation — an Enlightenment of ideals and a new belief in what’s possible. The value of a man is his share of the Line, sure, but the value of a nation is its culture. That culture must depend on more than just the Line to thrive and survive.

When America wakes up to realize that people and their humanity matter more than the Line — when it rises to tackle hard challenges like healthcare, inequality, and social justice that this fraudulent and chaotic Church was simply never structured to handle— that will be the day America’s faith can be restored.

But to achieve this liberation, we have to first acknowledge that the Line is not our master — that this Church is unworthy of our devotion. That both Profit and its prophets are not the only lights by which Americans should warm their spirits.

GDP means nothing if millions of people are just a paycheck away from homelessness. Stock gains and the Line going up doesn’t provide clean drinking water for Flint or solutions to our rampant social ills. No amount of money can ever prevent racism and no 401K jump will ever put a stop to pandemics, nor gun violence, nor the devastation of our climate.

Only we can do that.

It’s time America stopped believing in the Line and started believing in ourselves.