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

Empathy Mining

Home
Progressive Christian
Why I Do What I Do Even When I Don’t Want to Do It–Confessions of a Reluctant Political Blogger

Why I Do What I Do Even When I Don’t Want to Do It–Confessions of a Reluctant Political Blogger

Last updated on: August 17, 2017 at 9:24 am by Shane Phipps

Why I Do What I Do Even When I Don’t Want to Do It–Confessions of a Reluctant Political Blogger 2017-08-17T09:24:08-04:00 Shane Phipps

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.

speaking-out-picture-1hnweze

If you’d have told me two years ago that I’d have signed a contract to write for Patheos’ Politics Blue channel, I’d have laughed out loud. I never thought I’d be here–for so many reasons.

There was always a writer in me, scratching to get out. When I was in my teens, that’s what I thought I might do. I wanted to be the next Dave Barry, Garrison Keillor, or Calvin Trillin. But I didn’t have the gumption or the confidence to go for it. I’d write to amuse my friends but somewhere, deep down, I couldn’t pull the trigger on doing what it takes to write for a living.

Eventually, I found my way into a career as an educator, but the writer inside me was still knocking on the door to get out. Eventually, that writer forced his way out in the form of a historical novel, published in 2015. Once the writer finally broke through, there was no pushing him back in. So, in December, 2015 I began a blog.

The first few months of my blogging career I wrote on a mishmash of topics that I found interesting–history, family, music–anything but politics. I have always hated politics, yet here I am writing mostly about political things for a very large platform–how did this happen?

Well, Donald Trump and Mike Pence happened. That’s the short answer.

The fact that I am writing on a left of center platform is a fact that I would have laughed at a decade ago. I used to be right of center–never close to far-right, but right of center, for sure. I felt compelled to be so, based on my Christian faith. I fell for the propaganda from the far right evangelical leadership. I wrote in much more depth about my path leading me farther left in my article found here. For now, suffice to say that I broke free of the right’s stranglehold on the Christian/political narrative and have since found that there is a large and growing community of others out there like me. We’ve come to realize that we can still be Christians and allow others to have rights that are not tied to faith-based morality. We’ve come to realize that the messages sent from some of the more political types in the right wing of Christianity are often in conflict with our understandings of Christ’s message of love for our neighbors.

Once, I broke out of the grasp of the fundamentalist Christian political viewpoint, I began to open my eyes to things I’d overlooked.

But I still avoided writing overtly political articles. I had, and still have, many dear Christian friends who remain where I used to be politically–they either don’t see things the way I have come to see them, or they are still too reluctant to “come out.” I still respect them and value their friendship. I know many of them read what I write, so I tip-toed around sensitive issues–but I felt guilty about that because I know that isn’t what good writers do.

Then Donald Trump and Mike Pence happened.

The week Trump announced Mike Pence as his running mate, I sat down and wrote a piece that exposed all my grievances about what Pence helped do to education as governor of my state, Indiana. I went for it, finally. When I posted that article–which you can read here–I couldn’t have ever predicted the ways it would change my life.

That article was the first thing I’d ever written that “went viral.” From the moment I hit the post button, things began to get crazy. Within a few hours, my Pence piece had been read more than all my previous articles combined. Over the next days and weeks, the article was shared thousands of times and read by people in over 80 different nations. I was getting comments in support and hateful comments calling me every name in the book. I was getting social media friend requests from all over the world. It was a crazy experience.

That article broke the ice and it reduced my inhibitions about writing with an opinionated political slant. It opened the floodgates for me to pour out things from my soul that I’d kept bottled up from everyone but some of my closest confidants. It also opened the door that brought me to Patheos.

And now I write articles about our political climate multiple times per week. It’s been a long, strange journey.

But why do I do it?

I do it because I never want to see Donald Trump and Mike Pence happen again. This is the first time I’ve ever become so militantly opposed to any administration.

I first started following politics fairly closely during the Clinton years. I had issues with Clinton–mostly moral ones–but I saw redeeming value in his message and I didn’t question his heart for our country. During the Clinton years, I was a registered Republican.

I had issues with Bush as well. I really thought he screwed the pooch on the Iraq situation, but I never questioned his heart for our country–a fact that really bothered some of my friends on the left, I’m sure.

I had issues with Obama–when he ran in ’08, I was still drinking the kool aid served up by the right wing. But by the time he ran the second time, my eyes were beginning to open. Obama got my vote in 2012–by that time, Mike Pence was emerging in Indiana. My radar was on full-time. I was seeing through the games played by the right. I had moved farther away from them and now was looking across at them from left of center.

During Obama’s last term, my new position was solidified. I saw how awfully he was treated by the far right and, yes, even some of my dear Christian friends.

When the ’16 election cycle started to heat up and Trump began to emerge, it became harder and harder to remain silent.

So I began to speak out in the only way I knew how–I wrote.

I don’t write to change minds, but to open them, just a little.

I write to offer another perspective for my friends on the right. I write to let them know that they have fallen into a trap that led to us electing an unhinged, unstable man who is totally unfit to lead us–a man who is trying to pull us down a path to destruction. I never questioned any president’s heart for his country until now. Now I have grave doubts.

I’m not trying to pull everyone I know over to the left with me.

I’m trying to get them to set politics aside for a moment and look at what we’ve done to ourselves.

I’m trying to keep Donald Trump and Mike Pence from ever happening to us again–ever.

Previous Post

August 16, 2017

Taking on the Sticky Topic of Removing Confederate Monuments.

Next Post

August 17, 2017 Trump's Confederate Monument Tweets are Just Alt Right Dog Whistles

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth

Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 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 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many chapters are in the book of Hebrews?

Select your answer to see how you score.

10 13 15 16

Support this
Column