A year or two ago, I planned to write a book both entitled and about “The Lies that Led US Here.” I even have pages of material I intend to incorporate into this blog, which I do intend to publish as a paperback, all being well. Around the beginning of June 2020, I almost gave up the idea of writing at all, because the tear gassing of Christians and peaceful protesters in Washington, DC, a place I hold dear in my heart, broke me yet again.
These past four years of Trumpism have been a very painful time. I have lost not only my evangelical community; I found that even the mavericks in it who were talking about abuse were subject to its vows of silence and lacked integrity. Furthermore, I discovered a majority of people in my own extended family held beliefs that run contrary to my Christian understanding of what a pro-life ethic or Christian behavior should look like. In short, it has been a truly disappointing time.
I’m sitting here at my computer in the back room, typing out some thoughts in the context of what led America to where she is. Just listened to Alan Jackson, then Aretha Franklin, singing Amazing Grace: a song that frames my overall thinking about my birth country. (I intend to speak more on that towards the end of this series.) After listening to those songs, I opened up the first chapter of “God and the Pandemic” by N. T. Wright. I meant to clean out the spare/music room and a closet today, but some thoughts came together, so here I am.
Have you seen the Dave Chappelle comments on George Floyd during the pandemic? If you, like me, wouldn’t recommend his commentary on sex abuse, you probably haven’t. Take ten minutes sometime and hear him on this, though. One thing really struck me in what he said: “I’m just a guy.” He makes excellent points about celebrity and also communicates the horror of the George Floyd murder, while throwing in a bunch of thoughts that frame the situation from his point of view. But that comment. The simple humanity of it. He’s human. We all are.
Here’s the thing: I’m just a human being trying to make sense of all this stuff. I just got my Masters of Communications this year, and I teach French and German, yes, I’m trying to learn Spanish too, and I’m no expert on narcissism, except from my experience of it and my subsequent reading about it for ten years. I’m no expert in Nazi Germany: I did a Bachelors in European Studies and Languages that covered German and French culture and politics, but I’m no expert in it. The issue is this: I just know a little more than a lot of those who tell me how dare I talk about the parallels I see. Of course the parallels aren’t perfect, of course America has always been racist, of course these are very different times globally, but I have a little knowledge and perhaps, understanding some don’t. And there are better people than me to listen to for expertise. Doesn’t mean we can’t form an opinion or think aloud about the things we see that trigger memory.
In the end, I’m just a person. A woman, yes, white, yes, educated, yes, privileged, yes, still, foreign no matter what, definitely. What I know and how I understand comes from my experiences and my studies and reading choices. I read a lot. I consider the slant of my sources. But in the end, what you are reading here is just me talking honestly, as a human being. Take it or leave it; most definitely feel free to critique it in good faith, and that’s why there’s a comment section on the blog. We are all in this together. We don’t get better without thrashing things out and bouncing ideas off one another. That’s freedom.
We are all, “just a guy.” Doesn’t matter if we are celebrities or high school drop-outs or university professors. We’ve all experienced something. What I’ve found so hard about the past couple of years, is how some ignorant people, with monocultural and mono-linguistic skills, seem to think their limited experiences should shut down everyone else’s grief and honest expression at their cruelty.
I can’t believe the bubble I see in my former faith community. Evangelicals are still arguing online about basic manners and common decency in how to treat one another, what the value of women is, and basically, how to be Christlike, while the world around us is literally burning, grieving and in pain.
I am concerned, because I grew up in the evangelical subculture as a missionary kid, and by no means has my God changed. But there is a lack of integrity in the evangelical and wider Christian world, that is unable to just speak frankly about what is going on, to just face it without offering band aid solutions.
When I started this book, the racism and police brutality we have been dealing with had not yet come to the fore in our collective community consciousness. COVID19 did not yet exist in any significant way. Things have got worse, not better, and we can see the impact of bad and even evil leadership, globally.
In the midst of all this, the evangelical community I grew up in has failed the world. They’ve thrown their weight behind narcissists like Bolsonaro or Trump and hunkered down for the return of Christ at the expense of their neighbors. They’ve become arrogant and hateful, calling themselves pro-life while blaming victims of poverty and abuse for their sufferings. They even call anyone who challenges their shallow worldview a “baby-killer” for trying to inject some nuance in to the conversation. (It reminds me of Christ-killer, to be honest.) They are so lost. Meanwhile, they play the victim as “persecuted,” because of natural revulsion at their hypocrisy, resulting in predictable outrage and rebuke.
Trumpism has been worse than I expected, and there’s the problem. We expected more from our leaders, including our church leaders. We expected - younger generations certainly - far more from our elders. We feel that they sold US (I use this to mean both “us” and the “United States”) out for a few pro-life judges. We aren’t convinced we are going have a safe or happy future if this craziness and cruelty continues.
What I hate the most is that we have a dysfunctional government to the point we are being personally impacted on an almost daily basis, at least on an emotional level, if we love our neighbors. People should not have to fight this hard to maintain our hard-won freedoms. No, we should not.
The evangelical-backed leaders we have right now in America trigger memories of spiritual abuse, and they use abusive tactics to wear Americans down so they just don’t care anymore. At the same time, the government is not working for the majority of the people. This is why we have to get online every day and protest injustices.
I remember Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton and Obama, and even when I started to form my own political opinions, I never saw any of those leaders governing the country in a way that would purposely do harm to half of its inhabitants. Those Christians who whine otherwise are selling something false.
So if you have coped thus far with the popular culture references and the analysis of political-historical events, you may want to read more from me. This blog/book is intending to flesh out some of the major lies that were spread in America, mostly through church, but also online in my lifetime, as well as through bad actors in media before the Internet was a thing.
My intended audience is much less the evangelicals I left and far more just people who see the hypocrisy, but maybe, like me, have a hard time nailing down what specifically led to where we are now. I’m sure there are political and historical reasons for the situation in America, and I’ll leave it to the experts to answer those questions. I highly recommend following political scientists and historians, as well as a broad range of experts in all fields, right now.
But my focus here is more on the spiritual level: what I see as the lies that American believed, mostly because they were spread in churches. It is my contention that in 2016, the spiritual abuses and tactics of control many of us were fed up with in evangelical churches, were mainstreamed by the Republican Party, in electing a narcissistic abusive troll as president.
Judging by the DHS and White House and DOJ Twitter feeds, subtle or more obvious abuse of power as a way of life, as an attack on free thought, the press and honest expression isn’t just rampant in our churches now, but all over our country. Social media has revealed hearts, and even many of our leaders show an ugliness that is hard to fathom. And their example absolutely has impact: we’ve all lowered our tone and expectations of one another.
This blog/book intends to dissect some of the more common themes running through the quasi-fascist mainstreamed spiritual abuse in America today, showing how many of the repugnant ideas being spread are both anti-American and antiChrist. This book/blog will also seek to offer some fact-based and truth-centered responses to the lies that led US here.
I leave you with an adapted example of the kind of questions I have asked evangelical friends, who in defending Trump, have denied the precious faith I have believed and to which I still hold. The original source of these questions is noted. Many of these questions are obviously rhetorical, and several of them should be analyzed in more detail. I commend questions to you, particularly at this time in history. Keep asking questions.
As originally posted on Facebook:
Please share with any remaining Trump (or Bolsonaro)- supporting evangelicals among your acquaintances.
Some questions (choose as many as you think pertinent-and there’s more where this came from) to stimulate critical and Biblical thinking:
Why is lying and deceit not serious sin to you?
What happened to holiness?
Why do evangelicals seem to believe Christians need any champion other than Christ?
If you don’t believe that, why does it matter if a leader appears to favor the evangelical community?
Why might he be favoring certain groups?
Why are you suggesting he is a friend of Christians, when folks like me have been persecuted by his followers for following Christ?
Can you define fascism? Conservatism? Communism? Socialism? Democracy? Which system is most likely safest for freedom of religions besides our own?
Is it appropriate to mock as ugly and set an internet mob on women who complain of sexual assault?
Is it appropriate for any Christian to promote a leader who supports and encourages the violent who threaten and assault protesters?
Are you aware Pastor Niemoeller’s confession is translated as “first they came for the communists/socialists, but I did not speak up, because I was not a communist/socialist” goes through a long list, then ends with them coming for him, when there was no one left?
Do you understand the danger of extremist authoritarian leadership? Explain.
Do Episcopalians deserve to be tear gassed for handing out water?
What did Jesus say about a cup of cold water?
Who would Jesus tear gas?
Who would Jesus push to the ground?
Should we respect and protect the elderly?
Is peacefully protesting murder and abuse sinful?
Is carrying a gun to intimidate an electorate during a health lockdown Christlike behavior?
Is lying sin?
Who is the father of lies, in scripture?
Do you care about your neighbor?
What is the importance of humility for the Christian?
How do you reconcile these men’s actions and attitudes with a pro-life or Christian ethic?
Do a few good deeds change their historic character?
How do you explain their racism and ongoing abusive attacks on the press for reporting what they say?
Why don’t you trust what is recorded that Jair or Donald say, do or write/type?
Who may be interested in turning you against secular reporting?
Are you in favor of the suppression of the freedom of the press?
Do you think such a thing would not affect you?
Where do you get the idea Hitler didn’t pander to Christians?
The NSDAP was a political party, was it not?
Should Christians during the 20s and 30s have excused support for Nazis as just a difference of opinion?
Is anti-Semitism sin?
Is racism sin?
Is abuse sin?
Are indigenous people and Black people and Mexicans and disabled people and refugees and immigrants and foreigners created in the image of God?
Do Muslims need to change religion to be loved by God?
Why are Bolsonaro and Trump supporters ok with leaders mocking the most vulnerable in our world today?
Did Jesus give us instructions for how to treat immigrants?
What and how did Jesus tell us to judge?
Is what we are seeing the kind of leadership Christ exemplified?
Shouldn’t our leaders be reprimanded and held to account when they abuse power?
Why is it apparently wrong to object to brutality, and why is it apparently worse to refuse to worship alongside those who excuse such sin?
Does God forgive the unrepentant?
What is the danger to the church if we as Christians refuse to separate from evil?
Why are you more offended by my decision not to worship with you than by so much serious sin?
Prayerfully consider these things.
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