Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Caryn Riswold

Home
Progressive Christian
From Election to Marching: Calling a Thing What It Is, or We Are Not the Crazy Ones

From Election to Marching: Calling a Thing What It Is, or We Are Not the Crazy Ones

Last updated on: January 26, 2017 at 11:11 am by Caryn Riswold

From Election to Marching: Calling a Thing What It Is, or We Are Not the Crazy Ones 2017-01-26T11:11:41-07:00 Caryn Riswold

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.” ~ Martin Luther, 1518

Saturday marked the first day since November 9 that I didn’t feel crazy, or completely out of sync with reality, or that everything I thought was true was false. I had been doing that thing that I know I wasn’t supposed to do: retreat and disconnect. I also knew that I was able to do that because I’m an educated, white, employed, insured woman.

But up was down and inside was outside and the wrong candidate was declared leader of the free world and I didn’t see it coming. No one I took seriously did … that’s been one of the things the news programs I had previously devoured but have been studiously avoiding for the past two months have tried to dissect. I nurtured an irrational anger at all of the polls and pundits and experts and news commentators for getting it wrong and feeding me hope alongside ample doses of righteous anger. We knew we were right. He’s a danger to democracy and surely goodness prevails, even Republicans could see it, the arc of the moral universe … all of that stuff, right?

Wrong.

But this past Saturday, the sun shone brightly and I stood with friends and spouse and colleagues and neighbors and a thousand other people in the shadow of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, and rallied for justice. For preserving affordable healthcare, for protecting access to Planned Parenthood, for the environment, for black lives, for retired persons, for a living wage, and yes, against the positions and promises of the newly inaugurated president.

I later saw the pink-hatted millions around the world on television, and the veil of crazy started to lift. THIS was reality. I wasn’t so wrong after all. I could exhale.

There WERE more people in the streets protesting the current administration than were there to celebrate its inauguration.

Alternative facts ARE lies.

Torture does NOT work.

Science IS real.

He IS a danger to democracy.

And though I had walked alongside students on my campus while they chanted “Love Trumps Hate” three days after the election, I’m still skeptical about that right one now. There’s an awful lot of hate doing too much winning right now.

Mistrust of the foreigner, racial profiling, disregard for the environment, dismissal of science, and gender discrimination are just a few themes of the actions taken and statements made in the first DAYS of this administration.

But the pink-hatted millions know otherwise. We aren’t crazy. We see reality and call things what they are.

In the early days of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther saw corruption in his church. He saw an ideology misleading the faithful and he worried for his own soul and the souls of his people. He wrote sermons and manifestos and theological treatises explaining the truth of grace as he understood it. He raged against the machine of institutional-church and transformed the world in the process.

In 1518, he wrote in “The Heidelberg Disputation” that unlike a theologian of glory, someone who wants salvation to be transactional and triumphal and obvious, “a theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.” For Luther, the truth of God is found in unexpected places and grace comes in surprising ways, hidden such that some will fail to see. It’s not in the obvious place, not in the equation of merit where if you work hard and do good you earn salvation. It’s in the young unmarried woman, it’s on the instrument of torture and death, it’s in unmerited grace.

The spray-tanned man in his gilded-gold tower wants people to think he holds all the power, that he alone can fix it, that he is always right. He does have a terrifying amount of power, but he isn’t always right, he can’t fix it alone, and he doesn’t have all the power. The pink-hatted millions (and the scientists and park rangers and faith leaders and …) have spoken and will continue to do so.

We need to call things what they are now more than ever.

This is NOT normal.

For two months I’ve been asking myself “would a President McCain or Romney do this?” and the answer has repeatedly been NO. That’s what “not normal” means. And it’s not good.

There are more people who voted against this president than voted for him.

He can’t face reality, but that doesn’t make it untrue.

Thank goodness now we can see each other and know that WE aren’t the ones who are crazy.

Images mine and via wikimedia commons.

Previous Post

August 1, 2016

All About Hijab: Gender, Race, Religion & Ghazala Khan

Next Post

January 31, 2017 Hearing God on Hacksaw Ridge & in Airport Detention

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion At the Intersections Atheism Christianity Contraception Education Feminism Gender Getting Theological Honorable Mention Islam LGBT News Our Voices Race Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Hosanna" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hurry Rejoice Save us Praise