As he held the Bible, Trump showed that the Christian faith in
the United States travels in two opposite directions.
Trump, the “President of Law and Order”
Trump had just spoken in the Rose Garden, pledging that:
“The biggest victims of the rioting are peace-loving citizens in our poorest communities, and as their President, I will fight to keep them safe. I will fight to protect you. I am your President of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters.”
More: Trump and Multivocal Communication
“Law and order” are good things, of course, but the phrase “law
and order” is also a long-standing racist trope. (Another example of “multivocal
communication,” which I wrote about the other day. Call it a dog whistle if you
like.)
Liberal Christians Respond
Washington, D.C. Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde responded to Trump on National Public Radio. She pointed out that Trump did not pray but merely posed for a photo, and she commented:
“He did not offer a word of balm or condolence to those who are grieving. He did not seek to unify the country, but rather he used our symbols and our sacred space as a way to reinforce a message that is antithetical to everything that the person of Jesus, whom we follow, and the gospel texts that we strive to emulate.”
Expressing a similar view, religion scholar Diana Butler Bass tweeted this comment in fine rhetorical style:
“As an Episcopalian, I utterly disavow this use of my church as a racist prop. As a Christian, I utterly disavow this use of scripture as a racist prop. As a person of faith, I utterly disavow this use of God as a racist prop. As a human being, I vow to work for love & justice.”
Joseph Biden’s Response
In a speech yesterday in Philadelphia, the home city of American freedom, presumed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden chastised Trump for waving a Bible without following its teachings:
“The president held up the Bible at St John’s Church yesterday. I just wish he opened it once in a while. Instead of brandishing it. If he opened it, he could have learned something. We’re called to love one another as we love ourselves, it’s really hard work. But it’s the work of America.”
The Christian Right Defends Trump
Dallas, Texas Megachurch pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress jumped, as
we all expected, to Trump’s defense. He tweeted:
“Thank God for a President like @realDonaldTrump who is intent on protecting our great country from anarchists who are trying to destroy it. As the Bible says, ‘Sin is lawlessness’ (1 John 3:4).”
I think Jeffress got that backwards, since he was implying
that “lawlessness is sin,” not “sin is lawlessness,” which is what the text
says, but that’s really part of his whole concept.
Jeffress then appeared on Fox & Friends to praise President Trump “for demonstratin’ his intent to protect churches from those who would try to destroy them.”
So, Jeffress did not praise Trump for acting in a Christian
fashion. That would make no sense, even to him. Instead, he praised Trump for defending
the church.
Isn't that how we got the Crusades? But that’s a subject for another day.
Two Christianities
We in the United States have two Christianities, and I don't mean Protestant and Catholic. One Christianity, which, for some bizarre reason, is now called liberal Christianity, is a Christianity that draws on the four Gospels – “gospel” is a Greek word that means “good news” – which teaches that Christians should, above all else, demonstrate their faith by following the gospels’ teachings. These include such supposedly liberal ideas as the Sermon on the Mount’s promise that “Blessed are the poor.”
We have, also, what is often called the Christian Right. I won’t say that Christian Right pastors never cite the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of comfort and love, but it doesn’t happen often. In fact, since I moved to the deep South in 2005, I’ve heard precious few sermons, even in my supposedly liberal social gospel church, using the Sermon on the Mount for a text.
Instead, the Christian Right takes a different view, the view that Dr. Jeffress expressed so succinctly: “to protect churches from those who would try to destroy them.” The Christian Right famously considers religion to be under attack and, despite their enormous political power, its members think of themselves as a persecuted religion. So, when St. John’s Church was damaged during yesterday’s sometimes-violent demonstrations, Jeffress leapt to the view that the entire Christian church is under attack and needs Trump to defend it. The fact that St. John’s Church’s leaders entirely rejected Trump’s visit was irrelevant to him. All that mattered was attack – and defense.
I don’t suppose that any one person has a right to say that he or she defines what is the real Christianity. But if we are going to understand our religious and cultural divide, we need to understand that the United States lives with two versions of the Christian faith and that they contradict one another. One supposedly liberal version draws on the gospels’ teachings and undertakes, as best as fallible people can, to follow Jesus’ example. The other, supposedly conservative, version believes that the church is under attack, seems to assume that God is helpless to defend himself, and justifies a vicious, unethical, and violent response to protect the church from perceived imminent destruction.
So, yesterday’s speaking taught us two lessons in faith. Which lesson do we plan to learn?
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