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
Christian, If You Want to Make America Great, Take a Stand Against the Hate

Christian, If You Want to Make America Great, Take a Stand Against the Hate

Last updated on: June 14, 2018 at 5:17 am by Shane Phipps

Christian, If You Want to Make America Great, Take a Stand Against the Hate 2018-06-14T05:17:18-04:00 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.

The imagery washed over me in waves of disgust, awakening me in the wee small hours–again. There was the ugliness of the mother with young children in a parking lot screaming racial epithets and cussing out a black man for having the nerve to start his car engine and startling her kids–there was the woman stopped at a traffic light, pulled up along side an Asian lady, window down, fingers mockingly pulling her eyelids back into slits, vitriolic, racist hatred spewing from her mouth as she complains about the way the “foreigner” is driving–there was the woman in the nail salon condescendingly lecturing the Korean-American staff she claims should learn to speak better English before they try to come to America–there was the hate-filled woman in line behind a Latino family, verbally deriding them for daring to try to live in her country and shop in her grocery store–there was the “Christian” man in the red MAGA hat who went out of his way to scream at and curse out a bookstore owner for operating an LGBQT friendly establishment–there was the KKK member explaining to a reporter as they stood before cross burning demonstration that the flames represent the light of Christ coming down from the cross to illuminate their way and empower them–all of these images and more–many, many more–shook me out of my bed at 3 a.m. and sent me here to my computer once again to try to sort out my emotions.

I’ve watched each of the scenarios I mentioned above shared on social media in just the last few days. I guess I’d be doing myself a favor by not watching these viral videos that are popping up with alarming regularity, but I can’t look away–I can’t just turn my back and look away–I can’t sit quietly and not respond to it–and, God help me, I can’t not call attention to the fact that our current president has created the volatile atmospheric conditions that have spawned these videos. I also have to point out, once again, that Christianity is being bastardized in this process. If you are a Christian who still supports the MAGA movement and you aren’t greatly troubled by the growing emboldenment of bigotry currently on parade in this country then I fear you are completely blinded. Look around at the kinds of people who are out and about supporting your cause. Are they really the kinds of people you want as teammates?

Yes, I know there is plenty of hatred coming from the left. I saw the clip of Robert De Niro saying “F*** Trump”. I saw the clip of Samantha Bee verbally attacking Ivanka Trump and calling her a “feckless c***”. I’ve seen many similar examples of that kind of vitriol coming from the left. While I certainly don’t condone that kind of behavior, I do see a huge difference. These types of comments are in reaction to injustice. While uncouth and sometimes over-the-line, their root messages are not unwarranted. They attack people in response to specific actions, not because of what color their skin is, what language they speak, what accent they have, or where they happened to have been born. While I wish they would measure their responses and cloak them in more civilized tones, I am not ashamed to have these folks as my teammates. While their comments may be vile, their anger is righteous. They are, in their crude way, attempting to stand up for the very people the MAGA movement is trying to ostracize and marginalize.

Conservative Christians, I know that you aren’t all hate-filled bigots–those of you I know best aren’t, I know that for sure. I know that many of the things you see resulting from the Trump presidency make you cringe, privately. I also know that you initially latched hold of the MAGA movement because you somehow were convinced that it would move Christianity more to the forefront of the national conversation and that you could not bring yourself to vote for the likes of Hillary Clinton. You weren’t thrilled with the antics of Donald Trump, but you saw Mike Pence as a godly buffer. You hoped he would be a good influence on the President. That hasn’t seemed to work out very well, but you feel bound to your decision and locked into riding it out. I suggest to you that the brand of “Christianity” that has been pushed to the forefront of the national conversation isn’t being shown in a good light. It has turned the word “evangelical” into a curse. Evangelical should simply mean sharing the good news of Christ’s love. What it has come to mean under the MAGA movement is something far more sinister–so much so that there is a very quickly growing movement of disheartened Christ followers who communicate under the social media hashtag of “exvangelical”–does that not give you pause? Does it not concern you that the age of Trump has so profoundly failed the true mission of Christianity that it has actually divided huge numbers from the flock and driven them underground in despair?

It’s not too late. We can still make America great by taking a stand against the hate. It’s time to take the true message of Christ–the message of love–and let it shine down from the cross, replacing the flames of hatred that now threaten to consume us. Let’s put this abysmal national mistake behind us. Let’s move forward seeking to live up to the true tenets of our nation–that all are created equal. Christians, let’s move forward and live up to the true creed of our faith and love our neighbors as ourselves–yes, even the least of them.

We are at a crossroads. There are currently more than a few “out of the closet” white supremacists running for office on ballots across the nation–there are, without a doubt, many more who have been clever enough not to “out” themselves yet–but they surely will if given a chance and a platform.

We have a huge opportunity to stand together and send a message in November. If we truly want to make America great, let’s vote out the hate.

Previous Post

June 6, 2018

Christian, Are You Pro-Life or Pro-Real Life?

Next Post

June 22, 2018 The Coming Civil War

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

True or False: Hebrews states that it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE

Support this
Column