I want to take a moment, in the midst of this series on some of the lies that permeated American thought enough to make US vulnerable to nefarious influence, to address this notion that talking about negative realities equals divisive partisanship. This is an insidious idea in evangelical circles, and this idea that everything is a partisan issue has permeated our society.
As someone who grew up with spiritual abuse as a constant reality, the initial message I heard here was that to be angry at certain leaders for very specific failures, is "being political." That is manifestly outrageous, as is the constant (and actually partisan) targeting of the press -the messenger- as the "real" problem. It's just so totally dysfunctional- and definitely partisan. My reaction was thus as follows:
A lot of people might not see what Kinzinger posted as all that bad. I'm sure some will argue that how I initially understood it is not how he meant it. Yes, Americans should be outraged that Putin apparently thinks he can play with US like a chew toy. But the problem is, we already know Putin's an enemy, at least, those of us with common sense are aware he is scornfully deceptive at best towards the American people. This issue is, as my angry response bears out, Christians in America-and now Trumpists of all beliefs- have been repeatedly telling us not to talk about anything negative, because the greater mission and unity and image of the group is more important to them than her actual health. This kind of messaging denies the fact our leaders were responsible to lead us. It's irresponsible, and it is not just enabling of abuse, it is in itself abusive.
Perhaps Kinzinger was speaking to his GOP base, and with hindsight, I'd say his tweet could probably be understood as an appeal to Republicans as Americans. But the reaction he got- from more than just me- comes because (81% evangelical-backed) GOP partisanship has done damage to their politicians' credibility, because they blindly support their president, and not the American people against our enemies. If you are going to say, "Don't be partisan," then you can't be a partisan yourself. That would mean addressing the elephant in the room directly. Had this politician stated clearly that it is wrong of any US president or political party to make American outrage at Putin a partisan thing, he would have made a whole lot more sense and shown unbiased judgment and good character. As it stands, a lot of citizens feel gas-lighted.
Leaders bear huge responsibility for what they permit, and when they fail, when they permit or indulge in evil, certainly when they abuse power, WE have a leadership responsibility to protect others by warning them. This is, in fact, a very Christian-Bible-based principle.
But it's a Biblical principle that is easy for spiritually abusive authoritarians to truncate by misuse of such verses as "touch not Mine anointed" or morally lazy tropes such as "Trump's not a pastor, he's the president." Meanwhile, part of the spiritual abuse that was mainstreamed in 2016 is a propensity to throw out accusations of divisiveness, if you speak directly to evil in leadership.
Evangelicals like to beat around the bush about "negativity," and they will almost always be far more upset with you for the kind of language you use about abuse, than the abuse itself.
If you don't have their approved language for discussing such sins as abuse of power or bullying, if, God forbid, you should swear about evil, they won't listen to you and are likely to dismiss you as "broken," "bitter," "unsaved," or, this particular one that I believe has been translated into politics as "partisan," "divisive."
There was perhaps no greater sin in evangelicalism when left it in 2016, than that of being divisive. The definition of that crime varied from person to person, but to the evangelicals, including many family members, the major issue of 2016 was not that Trump was purposefully and sinfully participating in dividing US, but that Christians were "being divisive" by saying Trump could not be a Christian option because of his character. That quite obviously Christian statement was the "true" divisiveness, partisanship, being political, in their minds.
When this kind of thinking is taken to its natural conclusion, its results are self-censored Christians, who think speaking truth is divisive, therefore, they do not speak the truth. The problem with that is that Christians were called to be truthful with one another. It is not that Christians should self-censor to please the majority, but that they should speak (and implied-live!) the truth in love, even if the wounds from a friend have to hurt for a little while. No Christian should have felt ashamed in 2016 for being revolted at evangelical support for Trump. The evangelicals failed US just like Trump has now. And now there is a true bitterness for many of US, a legitimate grief as described in Lamentations 3. It's not the same thing as missing the grace of God, as many of the 81% evangelicals unfortunately still have.
"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things, rather than the Creator Himself, who is to be truly praised," to quote from memory (I'll check it and cite so you can see it here.)
You see, we Christians never expected the betrayal we had from our friends. And then on top of it they weighed us down with attacks calling us "partisan," "playing politics," "being divisive," "bitter" or "sore losers." I mean, if you want to understand the average Trumpist troll, just check out how the Christian nationalist fundamentalists of American evangelicalism treat other Christians online to [avoid] discuss[ing] important issues.
So yes, this post needed to be inserted here because we know already what the refutations of any truth spoken by me will be. If it's not an attack on my gender, it will be this attack on my character: that I am "divisive and seeking to destroy what God is doing through Trump." This is particularly an expectation I have whenever I tweet online and bump into fundamentalists of the evangelical variety. (My only question to them is how do they reconcile their rose-tinted ideas of Trump's "goodness" with Proverbs 22:10?) I have found they will hate you for telling them the truth, and if they can't fault the truth, they will fault your motivation.
Item: motivation is mostly irrelevant, though context does indeed matter. Seek the truth!
I'm going to leave this here, with one final thought I found compelling. It's not partisan, nor is it political, nor is it divisive to speak the truth as you see it. And I'm keeping the comment section open because you might see something I have missed and want to point that out to me. I could be wrong, too! But that shouldn't mean I don't have the right to speak to the situation at hand, nor does it mean Christians should have to censor themselves in the Body of Christ, or Americans should avoid speaking directly to issues in America. Nor does it mean we should be unkind to those who have suffered more than ourselves, or to those who are genuinely trying to learn and change (just don't ever waste your time with mockers who seek to "educate you.")
We can all learn how to better learn and communicate and how to understand others' points of view and experiences, in our development of what we already know. And for Christians, there are some truths that have not changed; sadly, 81% evangelicals have redefined "divisive" to mean those of us who object to abuse, as opposed to the abuser. But if we don't, won't or can't risk telling the truth, how can we ever grow?
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