Don’t canonize Romney yet

After yesterday’s Senate vote to acquit President Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and now senator from Utah, received considerable praise for being the only Republican to find Trump guilty. Folks believe he was considerate of the evidence and put that over politics.

That is, at best, an exaggeration.

Remember that Romney is (or was — I don’t know if this is current) a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, of course better known as the Mormon Church, to which two-thirds of Utahans belong.

I bring up that fact because, though Mormons tend to be as politically conservative as white evangelical Protestant Christians, 81 percent of which voted for Trump in 2016 — and he did win Utah that year — they vote their values. That is to say, Mormons were as a rule quite disgusted with Trump’s conduct in office as incongruent with their religion, even though they voted for him. On the other hand, such white evangelicals tend to vote their fears, which is why many remain in denial of Trump’s corruption and still support him regardless.

Let’s also remember that impeachment is less a moral mechanism than a political one, and Romney likely heard from his constituents that what Trump did was morally wrong. Romney probably did feel the same way and likely voted his conscience, but his Senate seat would have been in no danger regardless of how he voted.

You can’t say the same for his Republican colleagues, many of which, according to reports, would have pronounced him guilty had there been a secret ballot. But had they done so they would have faced the wrath of Trump supporters and perhaps even Trump himself, whether being “primaried” or verbally abused on social media and/or talk radio.

Basically, Romney’s “guilty” vote may have been every bit as political as his Republican colleagues’, but he was facing a different set of circumstances, so in this context he appears heroic. But it’s still politics, which means that every gesture has a hidden meaning.

No, there isn’t

The right-wing propaganda website breitbart.com published a piece insisting that African-Americans, based on the endorsement of a few celebrities, are leaving the “Democrat” party and throwing their support toward President Donald Trump.

If you believe that one, I have a bridge in Brooklyn or oceanfront property in Kansas to sell you. Trust me when I tell you that there is no such groundswell of support; if there were it would have happened decades ago — as conservatives were insisting even then. Indeed, on one internet forum in the early 2000s one person I was conversing with said that the first person of color to achieve the presidency would be a conservative Republican. I laughed.

With good reason, it turned out — because Barack Obama proved him wrong.

The reality is that Ronald Reagan, whom conservatives still revere but who was always contemptuous of black activists, drove most of the African-Americans out of the Republican Party; have you noticed that no Republican presidential candidate has received double-digit support since 1980? That reality likely chafes the psyche of the conservatives who have a hard time accepting that folks actually challenge them, which most African-Americans, who don’t fear them, do — which is why that piece ended up being published in the first place.

The bigger issue, however, is that in such propaganda the authors, as well as their supporters, don’t even talk to people they don’t agree with, so when things don’t come to pass, well, they just double down and shout louder.

But Trump’s overt racism and the conservatives’ unwillingness to address, let alone confront, it will keep the African-American community on what they call the “Democratic plantation” (though in reality they’re the ones playing “plantation politics”). They’ve said nothing about, among other things, housing and employment discrimination lawsuits against him going back decades, his broadsides against Mexicans and Muslims and remark about “sh__hole countries,” his vile attacks on former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other black NFL players protesting police brutality and his failure to deliver an address during Martin Luther King Jr. Day last year. (And during his lifetime, Dr. King displayed his own antipathy toward the political right.)

Why would any black person in his right mind support someone who does these things?

Donald Trump — no friend of the Gospel

One thing that should be clear by now: President Donald Trump is no friend to Christians or the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You’ve likely heard about the scathing article by Mark Galli, who is stepping down at the beginning of next year as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today magazine, calling in an editorial for Trump to be removed from office due to his corrupt behavior — and Trump reacted by calling CT, which has always referred to itself as somewhat centrist, “far left-[wing]” and also receiving criticism from Trump-supporting Christians.

They miss Galli’s ultimate point, however: Supporting Trump, for numerous reasons rehearsed elsewhere on this blog, is a drag on the witness of the Gospel. I don’t think there’s any question about that.

Which gets me to thinking: What are Trump’s supporters’ goals? Cultural hegemony and power for themselves? Do they believe that one follows Christ through osmosis? Or do they fear being challenged on what they believe and why they believe it?

More importantly and frighteningly, however, is that they seem to want to avoid persecution for practicing their faith, never considering that resistance would make it stronger — as it is in the rest of the world. I would even venture to say that such folks don't even know just what the “Gospel” — think “good news” — entails.

At least for me, however, it’s about reconciliation with God through the cross of Christ and then with others. How do you, or why would you want to, reconcile with someone you regard as an implacable enemy? And I see, and indeed have always seen, absolutely no desire for reconciliation on the part of the “religious right” in general and Trump supporters in particular. It seems that many of of us settle for mere indoctrination in Biblical truth rather than consulting the Holy Spirit. (That may be why so many folks lack “the joy of the LORD.”)

Many of Trump's supporters are convinced that he will usher in spiritual renewal in this country, but that simply can't happen as long as they refuse to humble themselves and consider that criticism of them, especially their selling out their stated convictions for the sake of power, is actually deserved. That’s the true lesson of the Galli jeremiad — at times we need to accept that we miss the boat.

The imminent revival, part 14 — leaving the cult of Donald Trump

I recognize that the very title of this entry will by definition upset a number of people because I’m suggesting that many folks who are followers of Donald Trump belong to a de facto cult. But, myself having been tangentially involved in one about two decades ago — just one conversation back then kept me from crossing over — I do believe that, following several recently-published articles and recent comments by such disparate entities as Dan Rather and George Conway, that’s the case.

In my case, a then-future, now-former girlfriend living in Chicago had gotten caught up in a local branch of the International Church of Christ. Normally I can spot spiritual frauds from a mile away, but racial diversity, which this church did have, in a church was and since has become important to me so I was initially intrigued. The church wasn’t yet in Pittsburgh, so a male friend of this friend wanted to recruit me long-distance, and I became suspicious when I challenged him and he retorted, “We're the only ones who teach [baptismal salvation],” which I knew to be false and I told him so. It's my conviction that any one group that claims to have ultimate truth to the exclusion of all others is by definition false.

This is part of what we’ve always seen with Trump. And he has never made any bones about that, saying during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, “I alone can fix it” — which, frankly, horrified me and should have been a warning to every Christian out there. In essence, with that line Trump tried to set himself up as God, which is essentially what cult leaders do. Too many believers, having gotten caught up in the culture war — which, ironically, was introduced into the church by non-believers — took the side of anyone, regardless of faith or moral stance or even the lack thereof, who would support “family values,” most notably an anti-abortion position as supported by God Himself.

The trouble is, of course, that God never actually says these things; in fact, He’s not remotely interested in having temporal political power so that Christians can operate unmolested (indeed, the Word of God indicates just the opposite, that true believers will eventually undergo persecution). If anything, the small but growing number of believers who are recognizing this danger to the faith are themselves being ostracized.

One thing about cults, however, is their leaders, often held above suspicion or even the law, eventually are taken down from their pedestals. Remember that God refuses to be mocked or take even second place in people’s hearts and thus such leaders, including the guy at the top of the ICC, always subject themselves to some type of scandal or utter collapse — which is what the current impeachment hearings are about. (No, Trump isn’t at all being “persecuted”; if anything, he’s finally being held accountable for the things he’s done and said over the time of his administration.)

So what does this have to do with “revival?” Well, one thing that it entails is the renunciation of other, false gods — and let’s be honest in saying that Trump has become one. Once he has been purged from our collective psyches we can get to the business of seeking the True and Living God.

My friend’s story does have a happy ending. I knew from the start not to inundate her with all the information I had, so I waited for her to discover the truth on her own about what she had allowed to take over her life, and she ended up leaving the ICC after three years. People later told me that I had done the perfect “exit counseling,” but it was small consolation to me that I was proven right because I knew that she would continue to suffer for a while longer.

We will need that kind of compassion toward Trump supporters who are now being led around by the nose but, once he goes down, will feel lost. This is where spiritual growth can start, with a renewed commitment to the will, plan and purpose of God.

Not being ‘bought off’

Recently the reelection campaign of Donald Trump, in his outreach to African-Americans, produced a meme touting the lowering unemployment rate and reduction of prison sentencing as a reason to vote for him next year.

He can quit right now, because the vast majority of us aren’t being bought off so easily. We have more character than that.

The reason is that much of our dilemma has always resulted from political, not economic, forces beyond our control. This goes back to the days of the civil-rights movement, when many of the day’s foot-soldiers belonged to the professional, academic and mercantile class — you know, the people who were already “making it.” (Most Southern cities had their share of black millionaires.) Yet they couldn’t vote and, in many places, found themselves harassed, perhaps even killed, by police or mobs were they to venture into the “wrong neighborhood.”

We see that today, and yet society refuses to address that issue. States controlled by Republican legislatures often gerrymander districts to dilute black voting power or create other barriers, most notably voter-ID laws, to suppress that vote. And let’s not forget that three years ago that now-former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality — and the haters, most notably President Trump, went ballistic. Some said, “Couldn’t he have found another way to make his point?”

The short answer is “no”; the longer answer is that they don’t have the authority to determine how someone else protests when they’re not affected. See, it doesn’t matter how much money you make if a policeman stops you for no real reason, and that needs to be addressed culturally and politically.

That’s why, to us, unemployment numbers don’t mean a hill of beans. We want the ability to live in peace without being regarded suspiciously, and that will take a lot more than a few more bucks in our pockets.

A trick of the devil

Some years ago I heard one pastor describe Islam as “Satan’s masterpiece.” That may sound good on the surface, especially if you’re anti-Muslim, but I would disagree with that wholeheartedly.

The real problem here is not Islam but the so-called religious right.

I say this because of one truth that often escapes us: The Enemy knows the Scripture better than any of us and would thus twist it ever so subtly to try to sabotage the Kingdom of God. After all, that’s what he did while tempting Jesus in the wilderness, recorded in Matthew 4:6. (Of course, He wasn’t having it.)

The thinking has long gone that giving more cultural and political power to Christians, most notably at the expense of their perceived enemies — primarily but not exclusively on the American political left — would result in a more prosperous society. Many have convinced themselves that with the right people in high political office spiritual revival would break out, so they contributed large sums of money to lobby groups and media “ministries” to bring that to fruition.

But over the last several decades — I first became aware of the “religious right” in 1980 — there has been zero movement in that direction; indeed, the TV evangelist scandals of 1978-88 put a serious crimp in that quest for hegemony. I can’t help but think that God Himself engineered that unmasking of corruption among His people due to the belief among some Christian “leaders” that they were the forerunners of renewal without understanding what that really took — humility in allowing God simply to use them in the way that He saw fit. That’s one thing the devil knows that he can’t duplicate because he hates the very attributes of God.

Sadly, many still haven’t learned that lesson, so they’ve gone back to the old playbook that never really worked in the first place, giving credence to the old definition of insanity as doing the same things and expecting different results. And if anything, they’ve redoubled their efforts to take power, which is why many support for president a scofflaw, failed businessman and serial adulterer who thumbs his nose at the commands of God. It’s no wonder why many of the millennial generation are leaving evangelical churches — their elders’ being distracted and seduced.

That’s just what the devil does — divide and conquer — and weakening the enterprise in the process.

At some point we’ll have to recognize that we’ve been hoodwinked with politics, encouraged to put our trust in it rather than God. I don’t pretend to know just what that will entail, only that our present path has already led to dead ends. And that doesn’t glorify God.