Thoughts on the Church Part 2c (politics)

The third big social issue that the church struggled with in 2020 was politics. I have always been a political nerd. I love the debates, I like the process and I usually stay up late on election night to watch the returns but not this time. I was so put off this time around. On one side you had a 78 year old pre-dementia patient that couldn’t find a complete sentence with a flash light and on the other a huge narcissist who was morally questionable and a terrible communicator. Couple that with a national press corps that were dishonest cheerleaders makes the 2020 election one of the worst spectacles we’ve ever had in the history of this country. The repercussion of that election will be far-reaching.

However, the worst part in my estimation is how Evangelical Churches and Christians jumped on the Trump bandwagon. Exit polls show nearly 80% of white evangelical voters voted for Trump. They did so in spite of his unfamiliarity with the Bible, his divorces, his vulgar rhetoric and his association with porn stars. White evangelical leaders were often filmed praying over the President. While praying for the President is important, it took on the appearance of a staged event for the consumption of his voting block. Is Trump a Christian? I don’t know but the scriptures do tell us that will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16) At times some of his fruit seemed spoiled.

Support from Christians took on a almost cult-like obsession; at times he was looked upon as the great savior of religious freedom. There were several things that his administration did that supported religious freedom, which was good but to say that the President was the protector of religious freedom is pure rhetoric. Trump was fixed on only one thing- the economy and it was what he was good at. My vote for him was largely based on the fact that he was a business man and we needed to get the economy going but I would cringe every time he opened his mouth as to what insult might come out. As time went on I was put off by his antics and his ego. When the pandemic hit I would watch his daily press conferences and hope that he would just let the experts talk. Now to be fair he received the worst and most biased press coverage of all time and democrats acted horribly during his time in office but he at times was his own worst enemy. In 2020 I did vote for him because in my estimation the other choice was no choice at all.

The problem with White evangelical Christians in 2020 were they seemed to echo what Trump was bad at. Attacking those who disagreed, spreading falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and being generally argumentative. Fake news was all the rage and it was often difficult to separate fact from fiction but what shouldn’t have been difficult was to follow Mark 12:31

‘You must love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.’ You will never find a greater commandment than these.”

If the church is supposed to be the soul of the nation I think we performed rather poorly. Instead we replaced being the prophetic voice of the nation with a version of Christian Nationalism.

Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a “Christian nation”—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future. Christian nationalists do not reject the First Amendment and do not advocate for theocracy, but they do believe that Christianity should enjoy a privileged position in the public square.

This view that the United Sates was founded as a Christian nation is a misunderstanding of history. The first settlers did come here seeking religious freedom but the founders of our country ensured that this nation would be religiously neutral. Why? Because they had come from European countries that had official state churches and they knew that when the church is made the official church, oppression happens and the church stops being what Christ intended. They wanted people free. Free to exercise their religion or have no religion at all.

In 2020 there were many pastors out there who stood up in pulpits and said that if you vote Democrat you can’t be a Christian and in one case a pastor told anyone who was not a republican they should leave his church. There are pastors today who continue to peddle conspiracies in the pulpit about the election. The white evangelical church has become too entwined in the GOP. We, too often, are looking at our faith through the lens of our politics instead of the other way around. The Republican party will not save us. Donald Trump is not the savior, he’s not Jesus. This country needs more of Jesus not more of any politician and yet much of the Christian right believes that we have to get the “right” people elected and we will be fine. The issue is what happens when there isn’t the “right” candidate like in 2020 when the either choice was bad?

We must get the church to return to being the prophetic voice of the nation. Let us return to praying for our leaders, whatever party, but calling them out when their policies don’t align with the Bible. Let us stay away from personal attacks remembering that everyone is loved by God and made in His image and worthy of dignity. Let us be examples of good behavior and good speech, online or in person. Let us fulfill Matthew 5:16

So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that your commendable works will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.”

And then maybe people will listen when we stand up to talk about how the path to real freedom is Jesus.