The Trump Problem And Christians Partisans (by Ben Davis)

Last updated on: June 26, 2018 at 6:44 am by Scot McKnight

The Trump Problem And Christians Partisans (by Ben Davis) 2018-06-26T06:44:09-05:00 Scot McKnight

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.

Ben Davis is a student in our MA in New Testament Context program at Northern Seminary; he lives in Wichita with Lauren and their son Henry.

Christians in America have a Trump problem. One considerably large group of Christians, mostly evangelicals and some conservative Catholics, are the unmovable cornerstone of Trump’s political base. To them, Donald Trump is one of God’s chosen characters in the master plan of salvation-history – a modern King Cyrus, as one commentator put it – who wills to transform the American Republic into the instantiation of the Kingdom of God. Another group, mostly comprised of Mainliners, Catholics, and progressive evangelicals, believe Donald Trump is the archetype of the antichrist. In their eyes Trump is the bane of all that is good in the world. Every injustice, every evil, every political setback and misdeed can – and should! – be placed at Trump’s feet, they believe. Like armies clashing in the night, these two groups of Christians are waging a war for the soul of America, and, depending on where they stand in the fight, Trump is either perceived as a liberating, heroic warrior or an enslaving, despotic overlord.

Since the late 1970s, with the rise of the Religious Right, Christians have had a fraught relationship with politics. The rhetoric of the Moral Majority made it clear that Christians had a biblical obligation to engage in the political process, and, moreover, that their convictions compelled them to vote for the political Party that most advanced their agenda, namely, the Republican Party. Over time, though, the moral zeal evinced by Christians began to fray, and their involvement became less about the heavy demands of conscience and more about the preservation of political ideology and tactical partisan power-plays. Many Christians, disillusioned by the whole affair, either removed themselves from the political sphere altogether or moved decisively to the Left, where the landscape was not so overgrown. As it stands now, in the age of Trump, Christians are no less political – or partisan – than they were before, but the colors of their ideologies bleed more evenly across political lines.

I say all of this because I think it bears heavy on our current political situation. Let me explain. Over the past month the world has watched with horror and dismay as pictures of immigrant children, frightened and confused, separated from their families, flooded through our international media outlets. In a strident effort to curb illegal border crossings, the Trump administration instituted an unprecedented “zero tolerance” policy that warranted the detention and criminal prosecution of every person caught crossing the southern border illegally (a first-time offense is a misdemeanor; the second offense, a felony). Since minors are exempt from being charged, they were taken from their families and held in prison-like camps while the adults who brought them to this point were prosecuted. In many instances children were being held for weeks with little assurance that they would be reunited with their family anytime soon if ever again.

Rightfully, moral outrage and anger ensued; a chorus of national and international voices joined together, calling on the administration to cease and desist these egregious, unjust practices. Thankfully, it worked (sort of). President Trump signed an Executive Order that hereafter ended family separations for crossing the border illegally – although the fate of those families torn apart before the Order went into effect still hangs in the balance.

Before we move on, let’s be unequivocally clear on this point: the practice of family separation is grossly unjust and without any moral rationalization. Every person – Christian or not – should be deeply morally offended by this horrendous policy, desiring it to end post haste. Additionally, we should demand and work for the restoration of the families, especially the children, who’ve been hurt and traumatized by this experience. Justice calls us not only to stop the practice but to make whole again what we have torn apart. Thankfully, many Americans and people from around the world have parlayed their anger into action in an attempt to do just that.

While I applaud the change of course taken by the administration, and I’m grateful for the sincere response of many Americans to act justly on behalf of immigrant families, for me, a larger issue still remains, that is, moral consistency on the part of Christians. From the welter of stories released about this crisis, punctuated reports have also surfaced tracing its origins. As it turns out, the legal precedent for separating families at the border was set by the Obama administration – not, as many assumed, by Trump. Now, Trump certainly accelerated and broadened the policy beyond the scope of the previous administration, instituting a “zero tolerance” policy that saw the prosecution of every person crossing the border illegally without exception, among other things. But, as is now clear, the difference between the Trump and Obama administrations on this score is one of degree, not of kind. Injustice is injustice, plain and simple.

In light of this, I ask: Why now? Why bring our moral outrage to a fevered pitch with Trump, but not with Obama? Or, by contrast, why praise Trump’s immigration policy but deny Obama the same measure of support? One answer, I think, is this: Christians are so beholden to partisan interests that, for them, the terms of justice are strictly defined and redefined along ideological lines instead of the cross of Christ. Perhaps worse, many Christians are seemingly more concerned about the aesthetics of moral preening than the fluid administration of their outrage.

To be sure, it is not unreasonable for Christians to have certain ideological inclinations that move either Right or Left. That is not what is at issue. Rather, the point I’m trying to raise is that Christians have moved beyond mere inclination to blatant, uncompromising partisanship. In turn our vision of (in)justice – and much else besides – owes less to Scripture and the Church’s established theological Tradition, and more to whoever occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Thus, instead of evaluating each policy and president equitably, by the sharp standards of the Kingdom, we weigh them on the feeble scales of our own political preferences, minimizing if not destroying altogether our ability to speak truth to power no matter who’s in office.

Alternatively, Christian orthodoxy is broad enough to transcend the paucity of our modern political arrangements. It situates us at a particular angle of vision to see Trump and Obama – Republican and Democrat, Liberal and Conservative – as two sides of the same political coin who are fundamentally frail and predisposed to work against the grain of God’s Kingdom. Orthodoxy, moreover, trains us to feel the sting of moral offense without supposing that the offender is any less human than you and me. The wisdom of Christian orthodoxy nurtures our judgments, tutoring us in the ways of Christ-like virtue, so we may call what is evil, evil, regardless of who’s in power. In short, orthodoxy trains us to be citizens of the Kingdom of God who unapologetically proclaim that Jesus alone is King and Caesar is not!

Partisanship, however, is the direct antithesis of all of this, as we routinely see on today’s political scene. Partisanship is a form of Nietzschean will-to-power, which posits that knowing right from wrong is a privilege for those who hold the power and no one else. Thus, it is a type of nihilism.

Like it or not, Trump is here to stay, at least for the next two years if not more. My challenge to Christians is to eschew the temptation to make him the sole object of their attention, whether for good or for ill. Rather, keep your sights on Christ and the manifest signs of his Kingdom in our midst. Should you lament the grave injustices perpetrated against immigrants? Absolutely! Should you continue to call out this administration for is disgusting overreaches and malfeasances? Yes, of course! Should you continue to work tirelessly for the poor, powerless, and persecuted affected by bad policy? Unquestionably! Just realize, however, that when Trump leaves the work does not end, but rather continues apace, no matter who precedes him.

Lastly, I hope that Christians will use this unsettling time to recognize all they share together in Christ. It is troubling enough that the Church is so deeply divided along ecclesial lines. Being divided along superficial political lines is even worse, and forces the wounds of history even deeper. We must strive to order our affections rightly and in turn ask ourselves this question: What is more important, power or witness?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 25, 2018

If The Church Disarmed: What Did Jesus Say?

Next Post

June 26, 2018 Setting the Stage (RJS)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 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 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Proverbs say about hard work?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sleep always It is pointless Diligence brings profit Lazy people win