Jesus could have taken over the Roman government, become Emperor and implemented the most perfect and Godly government possible if he wanted to. Instead he did as literally opposite from that as you can get, instructed us to do likewise, and pointed to self-sacrifice and love for our enemies as how to make "earth as it is in heaven."
The problem with "Progressive" Christianity isn't just the failure to let go and let God when times get rough. It's that they pursue and judge success by a measure--power over this world to enforce righteousness via law--that is literally the opposite of what Christ taught. It's not even the other side of the coin from Christian Nationalism. It's the same damned thing.
If someone in particular winning the Presidency makes you lose faith, then good, lose that faith, because it wasn't a faith worth having, and you were utterly missing the point of Christianity.
“Sure—tell me how responding to gerrymandering with more gerrymandering will solve our problems.
“But I digress.”
Know that I am trying to say this in the gentlest way I possibly can . . . I think you need to talk to some marginalized folks, people in the Black church tradition, people for whom elections have life-or-death consequences, like women who can be denied healthcare because of abortion bans, people who will lose their healthcare coverage, people who get racially profiled, people who say “I am a US citizen” and still get no due process, people who have literally lost 50-70 years of rights gained through much blood and tears. Our hope is not in a party or president, but we sure will do everything we can to limit harm, with or without the people whose lives will be relatively unchanged by the gerrymandering.
Thank you for the comment. I certainly don’t want to minimize the very real consequences elections can have for many people.
At the same time, I’ve spent a fair amount of time listening to voices from the Black church tradition and other marginalized communities, including people like Justin Giboney, whom I recently interviewed for the podcast. Part of what I’m wrestling with is how often the argument for a particular political strategy becomes, “We have no choice because the stakes are too high.” I’ve heard similar reasoning used by evangelicals in defense of Trump.
I’m not dismissing the concern about harm. I’m simply asking whether our political assumptions and strategies can still be questioned and examined.
I should say that the Black church is also not a monolith. I am not super familiar with Justin Giboney, but from a quick search he seems to be on the more conservative side of the Black church, maybe evangelical, since he was platformed by the Gospel coalition and published by IVP. That's not a dig, I was on staff with IV once upon a time and still have a great respect for IV and IVP, but my guess is that means that Giboney is not LGBTQIA affirming and/or pro-choice, which can factor into one's political strategy.
I would recommend looking to Black women and those who birthed the language of intersectionality and critical race theory. May I recommend Rev. Traci Blackmon, Rev. William Barber II, Senator Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, Dr. Jemar Tisby, Lisa Sharon Harper, Daniel Hunter, Rev. Brenda Salter McNeil, and many more.
It's never "we have no choice because the stakes are too high", but "we will use all the tools at our disposal." I think there is a big difference between what the evangelicals said/did in supporting Trump and what the Black church does, because while the evangelicals supposedly did it holding their noses to pack the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, analysis by both Ryan Burge and PRRI indicate that was really more of a smokescreen for Christian nationalism/anti-immigration sentiment/fear of loss of status or privilege. And TBF that was not just evangelicals, but all predominately white Christian denominations https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18i9KPjv5c/ (I think white (I believe Episcopalians may have voted for Trump as a majority in 2016 but only 36% for Trump in 2024). If you read Olga Bourlin's piece on The Most Patriotic Americans https://substack.com/@olgabourlin/note/p-189624811 you'll see that Black folks have consistently worked for change within the established system as much as possible. https://askanarmchairtheologian.substack.com/p/love-one-another-as-i-have-loved
NAACP and Legal Defense Fund and ACLU litigation was a crucial part of that culminating in The Voting Rights Act of 1965. But white Christians flocked wholesale to the Republican party after that, and now Trump and his GOP don't play by the rules at all, trampling and turning up there noses at all laws that they find inconvenient, and it's not about fairness, it's out of fear and lust for power. That is very different and evangelicals still supporting him should really be ashamed of themselves both as Christians and patriotic Americans, honestly.
Jesus could have taken over the Roman government, become Emperor and implemented the most perfect and Godly government possible if he wanted to. Instead he did as literally opposite from that as you can get, instructed us to do likewise, and pointed to self-sacrifice and love for our enemies as how to make "earth as it is in heaven."
The problem with "Progressive" Christianity isn't just the failure to let go and let God when times get rough. It's that they pursue and judge success by a measure--power over this world to enforce righteousness via law--that is literally the opposite of what Christ taught. It's not even the other side of the coin from Christian Nationalism. It's the same damned thing.
If someone in particular winning the Presidency makes you lose faith, then good, lose that faith, because it wasn't a faith worth having, and you were utterly missing the point of Christianity.
“Sure—tell me how responding to gerrymandering with more gerrymandering will solve our problems.
“But I digress.”
Know that I am trying to say this in the gentlest way I possibly can . . . I think you need to talk to some marginalized folks, people in the Black church tradition, people for whom elections have life-or-death consequences, like women who can be denied healthcare because of abortion bans, people who will lose their healthcare coverage, people who get racially profiled, people who say “I am a US citizen” and still get no due process, people who have literally lost 50-70 years of rights gained through much blood and tears. Our hope is not in a party or president, but we sure will do everything we can to limit harm, with or without the people whose lives will be relatively unchanged by the gerrymandering.
Thank you for the comment. I certainly don’t want to minimize the very real consequences elections can have for many people.
At the same time, I’ve spent a fair amount of time listening to voices from the Black church tradition and other marginalized communities, including people like Justin Giboney, whom I recently interviewed for the podcast. Part of what I’m wrestling with is how often the argument for a particular political strategy becomes, “We have no choice because the stakes are too high.” I’ve heard similar reasoning used by evangelicals in defense of Trump.
I’m not dismissing the concern about harm. I’m simply asking whether our political assumptions and strategies can still be questioned and examined.
I should say that the Black church is also not a monolith. I am not super familiar with Justin Giboney, but from a quick search he seems to be on the more conservative side of the Black church, maybe evangelical, since he was platformed by the Gospel coalition and published by IVP. That's not a dig, I was on staff with IV once upon a time and still have a great respect for IV and IVP, but my guess is that means that Giboney is not LGBTQIA affirming and/or pro-choice, which can factor into one's political strategy.
I would recommend looking to Black women and those who birthed the language of intersectionality and critical race theory. May I recommend Rev. Traci Blackmon, Rev. William Barber II, Senator Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, Dr. Jemar Tisby, Lisa Sharon Harper, Daniel Hunter, Rev. Brenda Salter McNeil, and many more.
It's never "we have no choice because the stakes are too high", but "we will use all the tools at our disposal." I think there is a big difference between what the evangelicals said/did in supporting Trump and what the Black church does, because while the evangelicals supposedly did it holding their noses to pack the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, analysis by both Ryan Burge and PRRI indicate that was really more of a smokescreen for Christian nationalism/anti-immigration sentiment/fear of loss of status or privilege. And TBF that was not just evangelicals, but all predominately white Christian denominations https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18i9KPjv5c/ (I think white (I believe Episcopalians may have voted for Trump as a majority in 2016 but only 36% for Trump in 2024). If you read Olga Bourlin's piece on The Most Patriotic Americans https://substack.com/@olgabourlin/note/p-189624811 you'll see that Black folks have consistently worked for change within the established system as much as possible. https://askanarmchairtheologian.substack.com/p/love-one-another-as-i-have-loved
https://askanarmchairtheologian.substack.com/p/lets-talk-about-sin
https://askanarmchairtheologian.substack.com/p/the-language-of-our-hearts
NAACP and Legal Defense Fund and ACLU litigation was a crucial part of that culminating in The Voting Rights Act of 1965. But white Christians flocked wholesale to the Republican party after that, and now Trump and his GOP don't play by the rules at all, trampling and turning up there noses at all laws that they find inconvenient, and it's not about fairness, it's out of fear and lust for power. That is very different and evangelicals still supporting him should really be ashamed of themselves both as Christians and patriotic Americans, honestly.
thank you so much for this.