Christian America’s Politics of Fear

Commenting on political theorist Romand Coles’ reading of John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas writes in Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary:

Yoder argues that the church precedes the world epistemologically, but Coles rightly argues that does not mean that Yoder thinks the church has nothing to learn from the world. Rather it means that there can be no “politics of Jesus” that could be coercive, selfish, nondialogical, or invulnerable. Therefore, Christians, from Yoder’s perspective, should welcome the diversity of peoples that Babel represents because only by engagements with different communities does the church learn what it means to be a community of truth and love.

No one can accuse Hauerwas of any partisanship, or even a affinity for American democracy (this book, after all, is a series of essays by him and Coles imagining a new sort of politics the church can pioneer over and above liberal democracy.) But I think this passage here could be applied quite aptly to the political scene in America right now, and really for the duration of this last election.

American politics has become quite dependent on what Hauerwas and Coles term the “politics of fear.” Yet, one of the central ideas of Christianity is a “love that drives out all fear,” and consequently, a way of engaging in the world that reject the structures that are dependent on fear for their own continuance. Liberal democracy, in Hauerwas’ view, is such a structure.

That fear has been especially evident this election season, as we saw Donald Trump sweep to power on a platform that largely was driven by fear of almost every “Other” one can imagine. Fear of the Other has become the primary driving factor for white Christians in America in 2016, in direct contradiction to the dictates of the Gospel message, as was made evident by the 81% of white evangelical Christians who provided the key support that delivered Trump the white house.

Indeed, Hauerwas notes here that a Christian politics is one that happily engages with the Other, because only then does the church live fully into it’s inheritance. Rather than being driven fear, Christians are called to be driven by love and self-giving. The politics of Jesus looks like the life of Jesus: compassionate, humble, just, and concerned with the “least of these” first and foremost.

American Christianity is at a point of reckoning. In a monomaniacal focus on culture war issues, most notorious of which has been abortion, the church has ceased to be a reflection of the life and example of Jesus in the world. It has cloistered itself, becoming inward-focused and obsessed with preserving a white nationalist, hyper-moralistic, us-vs-them vision of politics, rather than the life-giving, love-filled Politics of Jesus. In order to “be for the world what the world can become,” as Hauerwas writes, it must reject it’s fealty to white American exceptionalism and regain it’s vision for a future predicated on love for the Other that is all around them.

Vote For The Losers

Elections are about winning.

That’s an obvious thing to say. Of course they are. Candidates, for the most part, are running to win. And while they may see the writing on the wall, or they may know they are a long shot, or even they may understand that in the end they won’t, in fact, win, they are all out there every day trying to convince their fellow citizens that they need to win, for very real reasons.

This Election season, in particular, we have heard a lot about winning. One of our major party presidential candidates has made the idea of winning – at all costs, no matter who or what gets left behind, destroyed or dehumanized in the process – the center of his campaign. We have heard that the only real Americans are the winners; that those who are different, who are having a hard time, who speak a different religion or encounter God in a different way or hold different ideas about how to make America great, are the losers.

And you don’t want to be a loser, do you?

Losers aren’t what make America great again. Losers are worthy of our scorn, our hate. They are the scapegoats. They only want to take, not make. Losers deserve nothing, not a vote or a voice, or the means to live a minimally-comfortable life, or even a place in OUR country. Losers should self-deport, should be cordoned off behind a wall. Losers aren’t real Americans.

This how the world works, right? Winners win. Losers lose. Be a winner. Give a little to Salvation Army bell ringers for the losers, but don’t worry too much about it. They probably got just desserts anyways.

This is not the message of God.

God is the God of the losers. The God we see experienced in the man Jesus was not a God that came to reward to winners and punish the losers.

Instead, in Jesus, we see God experienced again and again the losers of society. We see God found in lepers, in immigrants and foreigners, in unclean women, in enemies, in those society forgot and left behind.

God was experienced not in a victorious army riding into Jerusalem, destroying the Romans and the corrupt Temple priests, and establishing a conquering kingdom that never fell.

God was experienced in death and defeat. Jesus lived the Way of the Divine by failing, by being captured, tortured, humiliated, and executed.

Rob Bell writes of this in What We Talk About When We Talk About God:

…there’s a moment when Jesus first tells his followers that he’s going to be killed. They don’t get it: they push back, they resist his prediction, because they assume that he’s come to win, not lose. To prevail, not surrender. To conquer, not hang on a cross.

They say no because they’ve come to believe that he is in some way God-among-them, and what kind of God fails?

It’s all upside down,

backward,

and not how it was supposed to be.

And that, we learn, is the point.

God wins not by conquering, by getting the most votes. God wins by showing us the futility of our earthly conceptions of victory. Victory is not found in honor and glory that builds us up individually. Victory is found in self-sacrifice. Victory is found in concern for others before self, even unto death. Victory- real, God victory – is found in understanding that we win by loving others- loving radically and irrationally and against our own interests, even when that means getting poorer or ridiculed or killed.

It was, basically, just like Jesus said: “The first will be last.”

Like Rob says, that’s point. We go to the polls every two or four years with the intention of making our country, and by extension, the world a better place. And sometimes we do, in small ways. But there is only one way to make the world a truly better place, a way modeled by Jesus two thousand years ago. That way is the way of putting others first, of doing everything we can to spread unconditional love and pulling up the least and the lost so that there is no first or last, but just US.

No matter what happens tonight- no matter who “wins” and who “loses,” we will still have a lot of work to do. America won’t become a “Christian nation” by voting someone to victory. America won’t win because of strength or our military or the perfect public policy initiatives, no matter how important all that is.

America, and the whole world, will “win” when we realize that winning means looking out for one another, making the world better for all people, and especially those who are oppressed and in need of liberation. We win when we feed the hungry and quench the thirsty, when we invite in the immigrant, when we clothe the naked, heal the sick, and free the oppressed.

Go vote. Vote for the person who you think will improve people’s lives the most. Vote not just for president, but for Senate and House and state office and local officials and ballot initiatives.

And then, remember: there is much much more work to be done, work that can’t be done in the ballot box or by elected officials.

And then, go do that work. The self-sacrificial work of love.

Be a loser.

That’s winning.

A Open Letter to Donald Trump, On the Occasion Of Your Salvation

Dear Donald Trump,

Congratulations! I just heard that Dr. James Dobson, who was at your little get together with evangelical leaders last week, has confirmed for us that you have indeed been saved and are now a born-again Christian. Great news!

We in the DaMetz household are ecstatic that you, like us, have decided that following the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth is the best way of going about life. It’s something really important to us, and to millions of others, and because of that, I just know you wouldn’t be claiming the name Christian as a political tool to win votes. You must be very sincere! So, welcome to the family, brother Trump!

And because we know being a Christian is really hard, as we are still figuring it out ourselves, I just wanted to drop you a note on what we have been learning, because, as the esteemed Dr. Dobson said, you are just a “baby Christian.”

So, here we go.

First of all, that whole thing a while back about your favorite Bible verse. You see, it sounded like you said “An eye for an eye” was your favorite. Which is great! That’s actually in the Bible, way back in Leviticus, so kudos to you. But, see, now you are a Christian, and Jesus did have something to say about “an eye for an eye.” It was something like this:

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. — Matthew 5:38-39

Yeah, geez, ok, so maybe you should find a new favorite verse, since Jesus kind of slapped that one down. But that’s ok! There are lots of other good ones to choose from!

(And really, this should be easy for you, right? I mean, you are the man with a warehouse full of Bibles in the middle of Manhattan, right?)

So anyways, let’s move on. Jesus was pretty explicit about what it takes to follow him as a Christian, and since you seem like the kind of guy who really appreciates easy-to-follow instructions, this whole Christian thing should come pretty easy to you, with just a little Bible study.

I mean, for instance, there is the one above: “turn the other cheek.” Basically, what that means is, if somebody does you wrong, you don’t try to get even or strike back. The Christian thing to do is submit, in love, knowing that breaking the cycle of violence is a lot more important that getting even. You can do that, right?

Then there is Luke 6:37-38: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” So that’s all pretty cut-and-dry: Don’t judge, don’t condemn, forgive, give. Check, check, check, check.

How about some more from Matthew 5; these are some of my favorites, so I’m sure you’ll love them too. See, in this part of the Bible (called Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”; it’s a really big, like, rally speech he gave. Just like you do!!), Jesus gives us a list of people to bless. Now, you always tell us how much you love all the people (especially winners, right?), so you should really like this part. Here are the people Jesus thinks we should exalt:

the poor
the mournful
the meek
the hungry and thirsty
the merciful
the pure
peacemakers
the persecuted

So, yeah, I know that, technically speaking, none of those seem on the surface like “Winners” or the rich and powerful or influential or anything. But, hey, this is what Jesus said it takes to follow him, and you are now a born-again Christian now, so I guess you can get on board, right?

So, jumping ahead a bit in Matthew 5, Jesus says that if you are angry, then that’s really bad. So, yeah, no more anger towards other people.

Jesus also says we need to love our enemies. Now, I know this is hard. Because there are a lot of enemies out there. And it would be really great to just bomb them back to the stone age, and move one, right? Or at least, build a really big wall so that we don’t have to see them anymore. But, see, that’s just the thing. Jesus said we can’t do that. Like, he’s very adamant and everything. So make a note, we are going to have to revisit that part of your campaign platform.

Oh, and right after that, he says this:

“Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others.”

Now, I know you made a big deal about giving $1 million to a veterans group a few weeks ago (except you actually didn’t give them the money, and then lied about it. Oops!) Donald, you can’t do that. Just donate the money and move on, because it’s not about you, right? It’s about them, and your reward is in heaven and blah blah blah. Ok.

Along those same lines, Jesus says “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” So we are going to have to talk about you giving away a lot of stuff. Like, a lot. Start picking a few things to keep. This is really important, because just a few verses later Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and wealth,” and then “It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (He said that last thing after telling the rich man to go sell all he had and give the money to the poor. Yeah, I know.)

Now, I know you’ve been told your whole life that the fact that you are rich and powerful and well-known means that you are obviously blessed and favored by God. But, well, see, Jesus actually says that’s not true. Jesus’ overarching theme is that favor rests on the meek and oppressed and poor and lowly. I know, that kind of turns this whole world upside down, and reverses everything we’ve been told about how the world works. But that’s the point! Jesus turns it all upside down! Crazy!

Because, here in America, we like to tell ourselves that Jesus is found in the boardroom, in victory lane, on Wall Street, in success and riches and power. But, again, that’s just not what the Bible actually says. And, I mean, if you are a Christian now (and James Dobson says you are and who am I to doubt that ringing endorsement?) then you have to start following what Jesus actually said. And later on in Matthew, in chapter 25, he says this: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me,” and by least of these, he means the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned. What he is saying is, he (Jesus) is found with people like that.

I know, this whole Christian thing is starting to seem really hard and uncomfortable. I get it, ok? But, I also know that you have “Really great stamina” and that you are really strong and smart and powerful. I know all this because you told me this. Over and over and over again. So, I know you can do this. I believe in you Donald.

Anyways, I know this is a long letter, and it’s hard to focus for this long, so I’m gonna wrap things up. Again, I’m so excited you are a Christian now. And I know how sincere you are, and so I can’t wait to see you start living out the Way of Christ in your life. What better way to spread the message of Jesus, then by having someone of your stature living it everyday in the public eye!

Your brother in Christ,

Justin DaMetz

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