The crusade to Make America Great Again is now dominated by the spirit of revenge.
Longtime journalist Jonathan Karl has released his fourth book on Donald Trump: Retribution. Nobody needs to read the book to witness Trump’s public campaign of retaliation. Trump himself is the lead proponent of this crusade, pushing his minions to act faster, even with reckless disregard of the law. Denigrations, demotions, terminations, prosecutions, and detentions are a few of the ways this tidal wave of retribution is sweeping over our country.
All of this raises serious questions about the longer, deeper campaign by Trump’s supporters to reshape the United States into what they call a Christian Nation (or a White Christian Nation, as the rest of us call it). This campaign, sadly, is supported by the Supreme Court, the Republican Party (especially in Congress), and the White Evangelical community (which includes many Pentecostals).
What they mean by “Christian Nation” is, in part, this:
- privileged status for Christian (especially White Evangelical) groups;
- criminalization of abortion (and contraception, according to some);
- reduction in government services (including those that help the poor or support scientific research);
- replacement of public education with private, religious education;
- suppression of many free speech, free press traditions, especially those that criticize the government;
- elimination of refugee and immigration programs, especially those that are open to people of color;
- revocation of legal and marital rights for LGBTQ people; and
- demonization of Muslims and limitations on their rights and opportunities.
These items, and others, are added to their long-standing resistance to civil rights and human rights for people of color, as their campaigns against DEI and the voting rights bill illustrate.
Nothing signals “Christian” like topping off this self-serving, soul-starving list like a heaping helping of revenge.
Which brings into sharp relief the distinction raised this week by scholar, professor, and preacher Bill Leonard. His article for Baptist News Global is a response to the President’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias (appointed last February). Leonard makes the distinction between official government actions (and broader culture norms) that some might construe as anti-Christian verses those that are certainly and surely anti-gospel—that is, contrary to the teaching of Jesus.
It is the anti-gospel culture that disturbs Leonard and many millions of people.
Too many White Christian Nationalists are silent, in their publications and in their pulpits, when it comes to feeding the poor, welcoming the strangers, or caring for the prisoners. On their public platforms you can, as we say, hear a pin drop during this campaign of retaliation now engulfing the administration and its personal police force, the Department of Justice.
From the first to the last, Jesus took a strong stand against retaliation and revenge. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” And at the end, Jesus looked down from the cross and said, “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
This river of revenge running through the White House is but the latest in a long list of attitudes and actions that contradict the life and teaching of Jesus. It creates deep dissonance in the work and witness of all those Christians who have looked to Trump as the modern-day messiah of God.
But in a few years, when Trump and all of his associates are called to account for their behavior (as happened in both Christian Germany and Christian South Africa), we who are disgusted with his behavior now will likewise be expected to put revenge aside, settle for justice, and extend the mercy that Jesus both preached and practiced. If we can do that, we will help establish (at last) the world-wide witness of our precious country as a place where the name of Jesus is honored and his life imitated.
Sustained resistance to revenge is, indeed, the first and foremost quality of any country that longs to be known as Christian. May it happen here, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The crusade to Make America Great Again is now dominated by the spirit of revenge.
Longtime journalist Jonathan Karl has released his fourth book on Donald Trump: Retribution. Nobody needs to read the book to witness Trump’s public campaign of retaliation. Trump himself is the lead proponent of this crusade, pushing his minions to act faster, even with reckless disregard of the law. Denigrations, demotions, terminations, prosecutions, and detentions are a few of the ways this tidal wave of retribution is sweeping over our country.
All of this raises serious questions about the longer, deeper campaign by Trump’s supporters to reshape the United States into what they call a Christian Nation (or a White Christian Nation, as the rest of us call it). This campaign, sadly, is supported by the Supreme Court, the Republican Party (especially in Congress), and the White Evangelical community (which includes many Pentecostals).
What they mean by “Christian Nation” is, in part, this:
These items, and others, are added to their long-standing resistance to civil rights and human rights for people of color, as their campaigns against DEI and the voting rights bill illustrate.
Nothing signals “Christian” like topping off this self-serving, soul-starving list like a heaping helping of revenge.
Which brings into sharp relief the distinction raised this week by scholar, professor, and preacher Bill Leonard. His article for Baptist News Global is a response to the President’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias (appointed last February). Leonard makes the distinction between official government actions (and broader culture norms) that some might construe as anti-Christian verses those that are certainly and surely anti-gospel—that is, contrary to the teaching of Jesus.
It is the anti-gospel culture that disturbs Leonard and many millions of people.
Too many White Christian Nationalists are silent, in their publications and in their pulpits, when it comes to feeding the poor, welcoming the strangers, or caring for the prisoners. On their public platforms you can, as we say, hear a pin drop during this campaign of retaliation now engulfing the administration and its personal police force, the Department of Justice.
From the first to the last, Jesus took a strong stand against retaliation and revenge. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” And at the end, Jesus looked down from the cross and said, “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
This river of revenge running through the White House is but the latest in a long list of attitudes and actions that contradict the life and teaching of Jesus. It creates deep dissonance in the work and witness of all those Christians who have looked to Trump as the modern-day messiah of God.
But in a few years, when Trump and all of his associates are called to account for their behavior (as happened in both Christian Germany and Christian South Africa), we who are disgusted with his behavior now will likewise be expected to put revenge aside, settle for justice, and extend the mercy that Jesus both preached and practiced. If we can do that, we will help establish (at last) the world-wide witness of our precious country as a place where the name of Jesus is honored and his life imitated.
Sustained resistance to revenge is, indeed, the first and foremost quality of any country that longs to be known as Christian. May it happen here, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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