It seems like every day, we see headlines about Fundamentalist Christians in the US saying and doing some truly unimaginable, abhorrent things. My thoughts ...
Trumpism - in all of its ugliness and malevolence, has turned society upside down. And as with most things that get turned upside down, things that have for a long time laid low at the bottom get brought to the surface.
I still call myself a “Christian” because it’s a lot easier to say than “a follower of the 1st Century reformist, anti-imperialist, pacifist, anti-legalism, subversive Jewish prophet Jesus of Nazareth who was murdered by corrupt religious leaders aligned with empire.”
But the twisted, misguided, and abusive caricature of Christianity that we have seen emboldened by Trumpism is something I literally fought for my life to break free from in 1999-2000.
With that out of the way ...
To those who aren’t part of my faith tradition ...... it is vitally important to me that you know that those who hate, exclude, abuse, and dehumanize do not accurately interpret, understand, nor represent the teachings of Jesus. These people are profoundly lost, driven by fear, and are lashing out against all kinds of things that they’ve been wrongly shaped and molded to believe are their enemy. (And even if these imagined enemies were actual enemies, didn’t Jesus command that we should love our enemies? But I digress).
We are in a time of profound societal change and spiritual awakening. Those who have been programmed to fear change - specifically that threatens their hegemony/privileged position in how things have been - are a counter-awakening backlash.
However, I remain steadfast in my belief that it is never too late for people to change; because I did. I myself was once captive to this very mindset.
Also, there are a lot of principled, conservative Evangelical Christians who are opposed to Trumpism on moral grounds - and many spoke out against it as early as Trump’s entrance into the race in the early summer of 2015. Their mindset and hearts are not accurately portrayed in over-generalized characterizations of “conservative Christians” or “evangelicals.”
To those in my faith tradition who, like me, are dismayed at what is being done and said in the name of it ...... based on everything I see, people who aren’t part of our faith tradition have tremendous respect for what Jesus taught and know that what is being done and said in his name is incongruous with those teachings. They see right through it.
This doesn’t mean that we should relent in assertive resistance to this most recent hijacking of Jesus. But be encouraged that this spasm of extremism and idolatrous worship of power, fear, and control are telltale signs that Christianity - like the rest of the world - is in the process of realigning with the shifting cultural tectonic plates from the Modernist era into the next era. We’re in the midst of a 2nd Reformation and, though this in-between time is difficult and fraught with seismic activity, the future is open to revitalizing and renewing our faith.
To me, that’s exciting - but I’m also deeply concerned about and aware of the real damage that has been done and could still be done by the forces of counter-awakening until this transition phase is complete.
