During last week’s inaugural prayer service, Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Budde urged President Donald Trump to have mercy and empathy for marginalized people groups. The statement came after Trump’s administration had already put out executive orders targeting immigrants and transgender people.
“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said in her address.
She went on to describe how members of the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants are fearful of how the Trump administration will act. Budde emphasized that the vast majority of immigrants aren’t criminals, but are good neighbors, citizens and members of faith communities.
It seems like a simple, inoffensive message that echoes Jesus’ commands to love your neighbor and care for those that are overlooked and mistreated by society. However, Budde’s sermon was met with nothing but disgust and contempt by the GOP – a party I’ve been led to believe any self-respecting Christian would vote for.
Oklahoma Congressman Josh Brecheen introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives attempting to “condemn the distorted message.” Right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Budde “disgraced herself with a lecture you’d hear on CNN.” Georgia Representative Mike Collins chimed in on X that “the person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”
This extreme reaction to what Jesus said was the second greatest commandment in Mark 12 – loving your neighbor as yourself – is the culmination of a decades long process. Since the late 70s, there has been a concerted effort by people like Jerry Falwell to align conservatism and Evangelical Christianity in America.
The Moral Majority, an organization dedicated to representing the political right as the “Christian” party, spent large amounts of money funding efforts to mobilize the religious right. Ronald Reagan’s administration is where the Moral Majority started to leverage the “culture wars” and use fear mongering about gay rights, abortion, prayers in schools and many things that seem very familiar today.
Over time, voting red became the only “acceptable” way to vote in many white Evangelical Christian circles. Democrats were cast as demons who wanted to somehow take away the rights of Christians through the separation of church and state or something.
Through this undue amount of focus on “culture war” topics, conservative Christians were duped into following along with whatever the Republican party wanted to do. Although I would personally disagree with the argument that the Bible is clear on these topics – I’m not a big fan of Biblical fundamentalism and literalism but that’s a topic for another day – the end goal has been achieved.
As America has become increasingly divided and politics have become even more extreme, there’s been a dramatic shift in how Evangelical Christians approach politics. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t see Jesus in the way a lot of my family and friends interact with the political landscape.
There are three main characteristics of today’s Christian Nationalism that I want to compare to how Jesus acted in the gospels. First, I want to show the love of Christ compared to how conservative Christians dehumanize people.
Second, I want to contrast the humility of Christ to the positions of Christian Nationalists. Finally, I want to look at Jesus’ value for human life and compare that to the blatant disregard for human life that Trump’s administration is showing.
It’s not hard to argue that Jesus’ love and forgiveness is one of the main points of the gospel. After all, some of his final words in Luke’s gospel were “Forgive them.”
What I’ve seen from Christian Nationalists is far from the radical, illogical love that Christians are called to emulate. Anybody who disagrees with them is dehumanized, insulted and dismissed.
The dehumanization doesn’t stop at immigrants, LGBTQ+ people or liberals either. As we’ve seen from the reaction to Budde’s words, this pure rage and disdain even applies to Christians who don’t take the same approach and Biblical fundamentalism as them.
Humility is another area where Christian Nationalism is barren. Jesus came down to earth “not to be served but to serve,” as it says in Matthew 20. He submitted himself to God’s will.
Often, Christian Nationalists equate their interpretation of the Bible, or the Bible itself, with God’s will. When examined closely from a scholarly perspective, it’s easy to see that the Bible isn’t as clear as reading our English translation and taking it at face value.
The certainty and arrogance that comes with the belief that they’re living a “Biblical” lifestyle leads a lot of conservative Christians to have a concerning lack of humility. I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t know everything, and I never will. There’s a lot to learn.
The last point to touch on is the glaring difference between the GOP’s regard for human life and Jesus’. Because of how entwined the Republican party has become with Evangelical Christianity, there are a lot of inconsistencies to be found.
Just as a quick example, why is the party that calls themselves “pro-life” doing absolutely nothing to stop the senseless mass shootings in America? Why are Christians who have an obligation to recognize the value of every human treating the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants like filth?
I want to call out this belief system because it’s so damaging to so many people.
It’s damaging to everyone that’s being discriminated against. It’s damaging to other Christians who are just respectfully disagreeing with this mindset. It’s damaging to the name of Christ.
I do believe there’s hope going forward, but that hope starts in embodying Jesus’ love, humility and respect for human life. There’s a desperate need for civil conversations and humility right now.
Above all, there’s a desperate need for unconditional love.
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