©Wendell
Griffen, 2018
Justice Is A Verb!
November 5, 2018
On November 8, 2016, 81 percent of white
evangelical voters in the United States supported Donald Trump despite evidence
of his personal and commercial racism, misogyny, fear and hatred of immigrants,
and deceitfulness. Their votes did not
show that they see God in our neighbors who are immigrants, sick, and otherwise
vulnerable.
Since then, white clergy who say they
are evangelical followers of Jesus have grinned, applauded, and lavished praise
on President Donald Trump despite daily proof of his dishonest, boorish,
racist, sexist, and xenophobic character and conduct. White clergy who claim to being followers of
the Palestinian Jewish fellow named Jesus – whose parents were forced to seek
asylum with him in Egypt during his early childhood – have been silent as Mr.
Trump has ordered military forces to prevent unarmed immigrants from Central
America from seeking asylum in the United States. White clergy were silent after President
Trump referred to immigrants from Haiti and nations on the continent of Africa
as being from “shithole” countries.
Most white clergy were silent when
President Trump urged Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act that
guarantees access to affordable healthcare.
If many white pastors reminded their congregants that Jesus spent most
of his ministry healing people who were sick and poor and did so without
charging anything – let alone requiring a co-pay – I suspect that would have
been newsworthy. I don’t recall seeing
news reports that white clergy in Arkansas, or elsewhere for that matter,
suggested that efforts to dismantle a system of affordable health care don’t
square with the gospel accounts of the healing ministry of Jesus.
After white supremacists, white
nationalists, and neo-Nazi sympathizers attacked peaceful protestors in
Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, President Trump said that there were “fine
people on both sides.” What do you
recall white evangelical clergy saying in response? If you attend a predominantly white
evangelical church, what did you do about that response, or failure to
respond?
Evidence has been mounting over the past
two years about efforts to intimidate, suppress, discourage, and disenfranchise
people of color from voting. Native
American, Latino, and black voters have been deliberately targeted for
gerrymandering, closure of polling places, and misinformation about voting
requirements. How have white clergy and
congregations responded?
I join those who are encouraging young
voters, people from lower income households, women, and people of color to vote. I hope young voters, people from lower income
households, women, people of color, persons who are LGBTQ, senior citizens, and
other people who are marginalized turn out and vote in record numbers.
At the same time, I’m watching to see if
white people who attend evangelical churches across the nation will vote the way
they did in 2016. I’m watching for signs
that white people who call themselves evangelical followers of Jesus will turn
away from the hateful, fear-mongering, bellicose, power-driven dishonesty of
President Trump and his political cronies. I’m
watching for signs of repentance from white evangelical voters.
The proof of white evangelical repentance
will not consist of people of color being invited to kum-ba-yah gatherings with
white evangelicals to hold hands, sing “We Shall Overcome,” and exchange
pleasantries during religious dinner parties.
The proof of white evangelical repentance will not consist of black and
Latino preachers and congregations being invited to sing, pray, and preach with
white evangelicals.
I join others who question whether white
evangelicals are followers of Jesus at all.
They often seem to confuse the gospel of Jesus with white supremacy and
notions of U.S. empire. White religious
nationalism is heresy to the gospel of Jesus, not faithfulness to it.
So tomorrow night, I’ll watch election
returns to see whether white people who call themselves evangelical followers
of Jesus will, again, prove that they prize white supremacy above the inclusive
and liberating gospel of divine grace, truth, justice, and peace. I’ll look for evidence that white people who
claim to be followers of the Palestinian Jewish itinerant prophet and healer named
Jesus are turning away from white religious nationalism. I’ll be watching and hoping for signs of white
evangelical repentance. I don’t expect that
election results tomorrow will support my hope.
Yet, I hope for justice no matter how
white evangelicals vote tomorrow. White
evangelicals have a long history of misrepresenting God and supporting
injustice. God has a longer history of proving them
wrong.
I hope for justice because I
trust God, not white evangelicals.
