There is a divide among Christians in the United States about how to respond to the urgency of our present crisis.
Leaving aside for a moment those who claim the name of Christ but gleefully support an immoral president doing immoral things that result in death and destruction, the remainder of U.S. Christianity generally falls into two camps: Those loudly screaming that the house is on fire and those trying to keep the peace and pray for this cup to pass from us.
Mark Wingfield
It will surprise no one that I fall in the former category and believe this moment is so unlike any other we’ve faced in history that the normal rules cannot apply. The crisis facing both democracy and Christianity is like a parent seeing a child trapped under a car. The situation is so dire that we cannot wait for the normal rescue procedures to run their course. Instead, like a parent who finds supernatural strength to lift a 2-ton vehicle, we must take extreme action to stop the death of democracy and the damnation of the faith.
To some, that makes me an alarmist. To others, it makes me a realist. There’s the rub.
In normal times we’ve known, the political differences between Democrats and Republicans have been notable and consequential but not always life-threatening. That’s because our differences largely have been based on truth. Each side has presented good-faith ideas on how to advance the common good based in rational thought.
That’s not where things stand today. One political party and one party alone has abandoned truth and embraced lie after lie after lie. Neither a political movement nor a faith can sustain itself on a mountain of lies.
And that is the primary thing that makes our present moment unlike any other in our lifetimes.
“If Donald Trump were a Democrat, Republicans would have removed him from office and locked him up in prison.”
If Donald Trump were a Democrat, Republicans would have removed him from office and locked him up in prison. But so long as he is their guy, giving them access to the power they want, they appear willing to overlook even the gravest of sins. He was indeed correct when he declared in 2016, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”
Here are the indisputable facts:
- Donald Trump is a narcissistic bully who is severely mentally ill.
- Donald Trump is the most prolific liar any of us ever have known in public life.
- Donald Trump is in failing health and is not fit for office on that count alone, despite all the other baggage he carries.
- Donald Trump has surrounded himself with the most cruel and incompetent administration in American history.
- Donald Trump is using the power of the presidency to persecute his enemies and silence dissent.
- Donald Trump and his family are grifters of the worst sort, pillaging the nation for their own enrichment like third-world dictators.
- Donald Trump bears all the marks of an antichrist because of his corruption of the Christian faith while not being a Christian.
Knowing these things, the question is this: What must we as Americans, as American Christians, do in response?
Again, there are three options:
- Ignore the corruption and celebrate what’s going on as the way things ought to be
- Dislike the corruption and even complain about it privately but not do anything else publicly because doing so might offend friends, family or congregants
- Work diligently for immediate change, including impeaching the president or removing him through the 25th Amendment and hold responsible legally all who have enabled his corruption
The latter point is why I believe voters should hold accountable every elected official and every presidential appointee who has empowered our mad president. Whether Republican, Democrat or independent, anyone who has failed to use their power to stop MAGA corruption should be sent packing, and some should be sent to prison.
That’s how serious this moment is, and I’m not an alarmist for saying so. The weight of a driver drunk with power is pressing down on our republic, and we must summon all the strength imaginable to rescue those in danger.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global and is author of Honestly: Telling the Truth about the Bible and Ourselves.