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

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Home
About
My Book
Archives
More
- Theology
- Culture
- Politics
- Sermons
- Bible
- Devotions
- Daily Office
- Podcast

Home
Progressive Christian
When God’s A Cop, Every Cop Is God

When God’s A Cop, Every Cop Is God

Last updated on: September 23, 2020 at 8:07 pm by Morgan Guyton

When God’s A Cop, Every Cop Is God 2020-09-23T20:07:56-05:00 Morgan Guyton

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.

Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, one of the officers who killed Breonna Taylor in Louisville, KY, sent out a mass email to his colleagues on Tuesday in which he wrote, “It’s sad how the good guys are demonized, and criminals are canonized.” Though I have no idea what Mattingly’s theological background is, his outcry echoes the perspectives I have heard from many white evangelicals online regarding the recent protests of police brutality. Police are the good guys because they punish criminals just like God does. In white evangelical theology, God is a cop, which means that every cop is God.

The white evangelical perspective on police violence was recently summarized by Joel Berry, creator of white evangelical satire site Babylon Bee, who tweeted, “Police violence is good. Police are trained to be ruthlessly, effectively violent when they need to be and that’s a very, very good thing.” Notice that there isn’t even a possibility for Berry that police violence could be unjustified. It is simply a very, very good thing regardless of the context in which it occurs, like a no-knock warrant being served at the wrong house. Authoritarian violence is always right because authority is always right.

This sounds very much like the way white evangelical pastors talk about God’s violence in the Old Testament of the Bible. Is it possible that some of the Amalekites God slaughtered were innocent people? No, because whatever violence God inflicts is always righteous since God is always right. Do you see how this logic is transferible and becomes the basis for a fascist view of authority? Even though evangelicals say that all humans are totally depraved sinners, this designation doesn’t apply to cops because cops are given the authority to punish sin just like God. Who’s a criminal? Whoever the cop decides to shoot.

And of course all of this can be justified using Romans 13:1-3 (white evangelicals’ favorite three verses in the Bible, except when there’s a Democrat in the White House): “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.”

Romans 13:1-3 reads like white evangelical Facebook comments whenever a black person is killed by a cop. And to a white evangelical reading this, now the burden is on me to come up with some other reading of this passage or else I lose the argument. But I reject that playing field. What I’m concerned about is whether a way of thinking, even if it’s entirely biblical, is resulting in a mentality of entitlement and divine authority that makes it normal for police officers to kill black people without accountability and causes a tribe of people, who are supposedly followers of a divine man who was killed by police violence, to reflexively take up for the cop, no matter what the circumstances.

One day when I meet the apostle Paul in heaven, I will ask him what he was thinking and whether he has any regrets about putting those three verses in his letter. But I’m pretty sure that he’s among the divine instigators behind our current apocalypse that is exposing the blasphemy of a civilization built upon using God’s word to justify its own authoritarian empire. The authoritarianism that is so grotesque and obvious to us right now is not a new thing; it just wasn’t ever portrayed quite as clumsily in the past centuries than it has been by Donald Trump. But Donald Trump is simply a caricature of every white male authority figure we have had throughout our history.

One has to wonder to what degree has the theology been shaped to justify the behavior and to what degree was the behavior a reflection of the theology. How hard did white slavemasters beat their sinful slaves after coming home from a Jonathan Edwards revival? Did any of the Great Awakenings awaken anything about the abomination of slavery and racism or did they reinforce the smug self-assurance of white slavemasters who knew they were God in the equation and their slaves were sinful humanity?

I hope that the exposure we are experiencing now finally dismantles the power of the authoritarians once and for all. But I recognize this is simply the latest chapter of a neverending cycle. Jesus’ cross supposedly made a “public spectacle” of the “powers and authorities” (Colossians 2:15). But all the powers and authorities had to do was find an alternative explanation for the cross: God is not showing us that he is every black kid the cops crucify; God was just punishing his son for our sin. They will keep finding alternative explanations everytime God exposes them. I just want God to come down and wag his finger in their face when they do that.

Previous Post

August 10, 2020

The Clown (A Poem About God)

Next Post

September 30, 2020 Donald Trump And The Exorcism Of White America

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 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 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 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which country has the most Protestant Christians by number?

Select your answer to see how you score.

United Kingdom Brazil Germany United States