Donald Trump is returning to office. The part of me that majored in Political Science wants to remind us of how political pendulums tend to swing back and forth over the years, and even so, general progress has been taking place for humanity. This part wants to join St. Julian of Norwich in saying that in the big picture, “all shall be well.”
In Hebrew scriptures and repeated in New Testament teachings, G-d assumes all authority in the practice of vengeance. If, after thousands of years, we truly trusted this to G-d, how might we face this moment we have co-constructed? The wars, the biodiversity loss, the assault weapons, the changed climate.
White, Christian, and nationalism are three words not to be taken lightly, three kairotic words that demand explanation and understanding. So here is our question: why does a movement describe itself as white, Christian, and nationalist?
In my years as a pastor, I frequently lamented the religious and denominational silos that inhibited collaboration among faith communities and leaders in a neighborhood, city, or region. It seemed that intra-religious and intra-denominational demands were so great that multi-religious and trans-denominational collaborations were relegated to the margins.
We all know the damage the Religious Right has done to the reputation of Christianity around the world, and now it is our time to reclaim the moral power of our Christian tradition, using our faith to inspire and motivate the millions of people of faith across the country who are longing for a message of hope, a vision for a better tomorrow, and a way to connect that vision to the faith that forms the foundations of their lives.
Some conservatives think they’ve got a winning strategy in disparaging Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris as a “DEI hire.” Because she’s a woman and racial minority, she can’t possibly be qualified — just like all those other non-white, non-straight, non-male people who’ve unfairly been “given” straight, white, male jobs.
After growing up in a Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian tradition, I have come to identify as a Progressive Christian. I’ve noticed that the term has a lot of different meanings to different people, which makes sense given that relatively few of us started as Progressive Christians. For many of us, Progressive Christianity is like the place we we came to as we escaped from somewhere else. The word “camp” is fitting:. I don’t think of Progressive Christianity as a destination, but rather an ongoing process.
Christianity doesn’t exist. Christianity has never existed. These might seem like radical statements, but they are objectively true. For the past 2,000 years, there has never been a singular, united, global religion called “Christianity,” but rather millions of variations of a spirituality rooted in the person of Jesus that most scholars now refer to as “Christianities.”
When pastors retire after a lifetime of service to the church, they often preach a last sermon unfettered by concerns for continued employment. It is the sermon “they always wanted to preach” but were afraid to, lest some big contributor take her money and leave the building. Clergy are, by and large, not a particularly courageous lot.
That great defender of the faith, Don Trump, responding in faux outrage to the fact that Trans Visibility Day happened to coincide with Easter this year, declared that Election Day 2024 should be “Christian Visibility Day.” As if Christians have a visibility problem in America today.
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