Protestants & Politics 12/15/20
Critical Race Theory. Black churches attacked at Trump rally. Liberty U and Falwell. Trumpism idolatry. Christians and conspiracies. Christian Nationalism and science. Evangelicalism & Republicanism.
Podcast
Critical Race Theory and SBC - Lisa Sharon Harper
Critical Race Theory — how did these three words become so politically divisive? My guest is author, speaker and activist Lisa Sharon Harper, president and founder of Freedom Road.
Related: Pastor Dwight McKissic responds to SBC seminary presidents statement on CRT
It really feels icky belonging to a convention that debates the reality of systemic injustice and whether or not, as a means of general revelation or common grace, a secular ideology may express something beneficial.
News
Historic D.C. Black churches attacked during pro-Trump rallies Saturday
In one of the incidents, videos posted on Twitter show a group of people identified as Proud Boys marching with a Black Lives Matter banner held above their heads, then cheering as it is set on fire while chanting “f--- antifa.”
The banner was taken from Asbury United Methodist Church, one of the oldest Black churches in the city. Asbury United has stood at the corner of 11th and K streets NW since 1836.
“Last night demonstrators who were part of the MAGA gatherings tore down our Black Lives Matter sign and literally burned it in the street,” the Rev. Ianther M. Mills, the church’s senior pastor, said in a statement. “It pained me especially to see our name, Asbury, in flames. For me it was reminiscent of cross burnings.”
In final years at Liberty, Falwell spent millions on pro-Trump causes
After shocking many in the evangelical movement by endorsing Donald Trump over other Republicans for the 2016 presidential nomination, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. pumped millions of the nonprofit religious institution’s funds into Republican causes and efforts to promote the Trump administration, blurring the lines between education and politics.
The culmination of his efforts was the creation of a university-funded campus “think tank” — which has produced no peer-reviewed academic work and bears little relation to study centers at other universities — that ran pro-Trump ads, hired Trump allies including former adviser Sebastian Gorka and current Trump attorney Jenna Ellis to serve as fellows and, in recent weeks, has aggressively promoted Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.
The think tank — called the Falkirk Center, a portmanteau of Falwell’s name and that of GOP activist Charlie Kirk, who co-founded it — purchased campaign-season ads on Facebook, at least $50,000's worth of which were designated by the network as political ads, that promoted Trump and other Republican candidates by name.
Opinion
The Dangerous Idolatry of Christian Trumpism
I’m going to be as blunt as possible: Language like Metaxas’s, like the Texas GOP’s, and like some of the statements you’ll read below embody a form of fanaticism that can lead to deadly violence. There isn’t a theological defense for it. Indeed, its fury and slander directly contradict biblical commands. When core biblical values are contingent, but support for Donald Trump is not, then idolatry is the result.
We’re way, way past concerns for the church’s “public witness.” We’re way past concerns over whether the “reputation” of the church will survive this wave of insanity. There is no other way to say this. A significant movement of American Christians—encouraged by the president himself—is now directly threatening the rule of law, the Constitution, and the peace and unity of the American republic.
Political Idolatries?
Accusations of idolatry in politics if sometimes accurate are not very helpful. The accusation contributes towards absolutizing politics and assumes that political categories are as spiritually doctrinaire as theological truths. Such assumptions unhelpfully and dangerously turn political debates toward religious wars.
Christians, politics, and the temptation of conspiracy theories
Most importantly, though, distancing ourselves from conspiracy theories is an important part of our public witness. If Christians are known for grasping onto crazy conspiracy theories without any foundation in reality, how can we possibly expect the world to believe in some of the things we actually know to be true? That a Jewish preacher in the first century was actually God, and literally walked across the sea and healed people from disease by his touch, and rose from the dead after being executed by Roman authorities, and that through his death and resurrection we are now saved from our sins?
Research
Crusading for Moral Authority: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Science in the United States
Overall, our research shows that Americans like John MacArthur and his congregants who adhere to a Christian nationalist ideology envision a world in which their own tribal authorities maintain pre-eminence over public knowledge; and even more, the public understanding of good and evil. To the extent that science and scientists are perceived as threatening control over moral order, they are at best distrusted as superlatively blinded and biased, and at worst viewed as malevolently hostile to faith itself. Taken in light of Christian nationalism’s connection to engaging in risky COVID-19 behaviors, the collateral damage of this war for moral authority―not unlike that of actual military conflicts―will ultimately be measured in body count.
So, Why is Evangelicalism Not Declining? Because Non-Attenders Are Taking On the Label
So, yes, evangelical identification is as robust now as it was ten years ago. But it’s a lot less devout. The fusion of evangelicalism and Republicanism has buoyed the religious tradition, while also making it less religious at the same time.
Events
"Jesus for President" Advent Series
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Love Incarnate, authors Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw will be hosting a live, weekly, online Advent study of "Jesus for President." In hopes of reinvigorating our political imaginations, they will revisit the book's themes and discuss how they might update its message, now 12 years later. Each week's Zoom-based book study will begin with Shane and Chris elaborating upon that week's chapter, followed by Q & A.