Asleep at the Switch

Donald Trump is a fascist. He will abuse and misuse his authority to get what he wants. He will incite violence to advance his nationalistic goals. If we don’t get that by now, we never will. We should have seen it coming, but we (and a lot of other people) were asleep at the switch. The result is a train wreck of stunning proportion.

Every time the occupant engaged in some outrageous behavior we commented, “This must be the worst he can do.” Then he would go on and do something more outrageous and we would be surprised yet again. And while we were surprised, we (and a lot of other people) were largely silent, with the exception of our griping to sympathetic friends and family.

It amounts to appeasing the fascists. And appeasing fascists never works. Lack of accountability and the absence of social push back are green lights for fascist behavior. We saw the result of all our green lights on Wednesday. Green light number one: failing to impeach. The cowardly actions of the occupant’s republican cronies missed a critical opportunity to put a stake in the heart of his fascist behavior. Green light number two: armed protesters in Michigan who threatened to kidnap the governor, all because of COVID 19 restrictions. Green light number three: the occupant’s failure to accept the results of the election.

His increasingly violent rhetoric about baseless claims of election fraud incited his supporters who are largely white supremacists and politically motivated evangelicals. His inflammatory rhetoric at Wednesday’s rally was gasoline on the flames of white supremacy already burning strong and hot.

Make no mistake; the main participants in this growing fascist movement are white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and far-right political groups. The Proud Boys’ major tenet is chauvinism. Organizers of the Jericho marches encouraged church members to organize, protest and pray for the defeated president. Oath Keepers is one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the US today, according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre. The Three Percenters is a paramilitary militia style group with anti-Muslim, anti-government views. Many members of these far right groups are also church members.

What all these groups have in common is that they have co-opted Christian symbols into their platforms, logos and propaganda. This poses an urgent question for people of faith. Will we continue to be asleep at the switch, or will we finally address the hideous intertwining of Christianity and white supremacy? It is the biggest cultural accommodation of Christianity. Racism is a pillar in the very structure that supports American Christianity and our country.

Robert P. Jones in his book, White too Long, writes “Most white Christian churches have protected white supremacy by dressing it in theological garb, giving it a home in a respected institution and calibrating it to local sensibilities.”

He goes on to note that two theological constructs contribute. First, sin as an individual matter completely ignores larger issues of institutional racism and second, an emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus contributes to protecting the status quo.

How did the radical movement of justice started by Jesus morph into an institution that maintains the status quo?

Many will protest, “Our church isn’t racist.” That is a lie. Black and Brown people are the exception and not the rule in most white churches. People fall all over themselves to welcome people of color when they visit, but continue to ignore the systemic and personal expressions of racism that permeate the church.

Jim Wallis of the Sojourners community notes that “nothing less than the very centrality of biblical truth is at stake here.” Racism is a biblical abomination. White nationalism is a co-opting of the faith that distorts the heart of the gospel.

The deafening silence of people of faith in the face of white nationalism and fascism is one assurance it will continue to grow. Nothing is more important than hearing from pulpits everywhere that this is wrong and we need to deal with it. If we fail in this task the church loses all moral, theological and social authority to speak about anything.

It does not all rest with church leadership and preachers, though they are instrumental in moving the conversation forward. Each of us must do our own personal work with racism. It lives in us, we need to discover where and how. Layla F. Saad’s book, Me and White Supremacy (which I reviewed here) is a good place to start.

An attempted coup by white supremacists must be our wake up call. Unsuccessful coups are often the prelude to successful ones. It is high time the church and its people found the moral courage to do the work the gospel commands, to preach and teach and live lives of justice and love for all people. We can no longer pay lip service to these tenets; we must dig deep and find the pockets of fear and racism that live within us all.

We can no longer afford to be asleep at the switch.