The Kavanaugh nomination: A country as divided as ever

Yesterday’s U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with Christine Blasey Ford, the psychologist who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s and Kavanaugh’s response — the latter, probably even more so — should be instructive. President Donald Trump’s response to Kavanaugh’s outburst, which primarily accused the Democrats of trying to railroad him, was, “[That’s] exactly why I nominated him.”

That is to say, Trump got elected in the first place largely by badmouthing everyone who dared to stand up to or, at the very least, disagree with him. It’s very likely that Kavanaugh’s response was thus a calculated political ploy to remind the base of its collective resentment of some “other” that’s trying to take away its power.

Over the past few months prominent Republicans have often found themselves accosted by critics, generally at restaurants, where they’ve been as a result told to leave. Trump’s supporters have tried to paint those incidents as the work of unhinged liberals trying to disrupt civil discourse — they’re deadly wrong, however, because Trump has never, ever been civil in the first place. In other words, it’s a matter of fighting fire with fire.

Moreover, this is nothing new; it’s been happening for decades (I first noticed this in 1980). If you subscribe to Christian media, which I rarely do these days, notice how often they refer to “liberals,” “gays,” Muslims or, the latest pejorative, “social justice warriors.” That kind of language is only inflammatory and does nothing to bring the country together over common goals. And when folks refuse to be confronted over their divisive speech, you have what you saw yesterday.

We’re ultimately looking at a collective failure to take responsibility for one’s attitudes and actions as well as a failure to see others as human beings rather than categories, and that’s not good for either the country in general or the Church in particular. I’m reminded of the old song, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me” — that is, everyone doing his part to build a just and peaceful society.

But — what about “them”? Never mind that — “let it begin with me.”

A 'good man'?

A fair number of conservatives have taken to social media to defend Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh amidst charges that he sexually abused women in his teens and 20s, claiming that he’s the victim of what they consider persecution because he’s a conservative and, thus, a “good man.” Sorry, but, especially given his denials of such, I’m not convinced.

Now, I would be if he said something like, “Yes, I did do some of these things, but I was young and stupid then and I now know them to be wrong.” But when it comes to the political right, humility has always been in short supply.

Lately, former President Bill Clinton has been in the news as these same conservatives have been dredging up the old — and false — allegations of rape against him. But even though he’s apologized for his actions with Monica Lewinsky, which did happen but were blown out of proportion, he’s still being hammered.

It seems that such “redemption” is available only to conservative Republicans even without any shred of remorse.

And let’s be honest: The real reason Trump wants Kavanaugh on that court is because he’s said, on the record, that he believes that sitting presidents shouldn’t be prosecuted or even indicted for crimes he or she may have committed.

In other words, the president should be above the law. Let that sink in for a moment.

These are the words of a hardened political operative, not a “good man” who seeks “liberty and justice for all,” after the Pledge of Allegiance. Good people do what’s right regardless of consequences or who benefits.

This is yet another reason why many Americans, most notably those 30 and younger, are turning away from the Christian faith; they see the hypocrisy that we refuse to, such is our addiction to political power. More to the point, by focusing on political battles we’re sure to lose the spiritual war.

Bitterness: The religious right's bugaboo

I’ve long been a critic of the “religious right” and believed that through its attitude especially toward those who disagree with it has damaged its own cause.
 

This weekend, however, the former worship pastor of my church spoke at its men’s retreat, which I attended, with the general theme being “identity.” At one point he referred to nine specific characteristics of bitter people, and after he recited them it hit me why the revival the religious right says it wants can and will never come to pass.
 

I don’t remember all of what the pastor said, so I decided to look them up online. According to a George Simon, the signs of bitterness, most of which the pastor mentioned, are listed below; for my purposes, they typify the religious right in general and many supporters of Donald Trump in particular:

● Verbal and Emotional Cruelty
● Hatred
● Implacability
● Self-Pity
● Antagonism
● Vindictiveness
● Pathological Pride
● Animosity and Resentment
● Infantile Narcissism
 

Clearly, these go against the teachings of Christ and the outworking of the Holy Spirit; I’ve mentioned on other blog entries the specifics, so I won’t do so here. If you’re wondering why so many white evangelical Christians support Trump, this is the reason: They share the same bitterness.
 

Now, before anyone tries to accuse me of same, as in some cases has already happened, I myself must plead guilty in my own right to most of these, especially in the 1980s. And precisely because I’ve dealt with my own issues, I see them clearly in others today.
 

On top of that, I stand ready to reconcile with people who may have hurt me or whom I may have hurt. Nothing means more to me personally than mending fences with those from whom I’ve been separated, which I’ve been privileged to have experienced — after all, that’s the very heart of the Gospel.
 

Sadly, however, the religious right has never truly internalized that belief in reconciliation, which is why it’s often angry, vindictive, complaining about persecution and picking fights. Its focus on the “culture war” (which is, in essence, nothing but a turf war) demonstrates a lack of trust in God to effect change, and its demand that everyone else change to suit itself causes people, even fellow Christians who agree with them on moral issues, to pass.
 

Recently I saw a Facebook post that mentioned that President Trump was trying to reestablish “righteousness,” and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; his attitude of “Screw you” not only doesn’t do it but even sabotages such efforts. Because — and I know this from experience — no one wants to deal with bitter people.

Donald Trump: Hitting close to home

Many of you who read my blog know that I have never held any love for President Donald Trump.

A few weeks ago, while talking with my mother, who similarly loathes him, I realized why: He reminded us too much of my father, a narcissistic bully whom she divorced in 1985; after 25 years of his tyranny, she finally moved out in August 1983 and I followed a few weeks later. The list of similarities between them is too long to mention here, so I’ll mention just a few instances.

Mom found Dad overly possessive, accusing her of sleeping with other men, among other things. He recognized himself as the only authority in his life, as well as ours. Even in private conversations his sentences were often peppered with "I" and "me."

Here’s the thing: He also disparaged my religious faith, threatening on three occasions to kick me out of the house for expressing it.

But because I realized that I had become in my own right as toxic as Dad was, in 1984 I asked God, in effect, “Please change me no matter what you have to do.” He did, although the process was painful, as I suspected it would be. That "cleaning up my life" drove us even farther apart, leading to my breaking with him, permanently as it turned out, in 1988. (He died five years later.)

I bring that up because Christians are making excuses for Trump's behavior, calling him “a baby Christian,” which, absent any changed behavior, I won’t believe for a second due to his constant prevarication, abuse of women and overt racism, among other things. I'm seeing absolutely no humility on his part, that he ever does anything wrong that needs to change, and blaming his troubles on the media, the "deep state" and even people in his own administration.

That leads to what I call spiritual sludge. A lot of Christians, under the delusion that Trump has a “Cyrus anointing,” believe without reason that he will kick off some big revival that they believe will simply sweep people into the church. (In fact, revival can start only with confession of one's own sin and a desire to have it removed by any means God deems necessary, something his apologists don't consider.)

Anyway, you simply can't lead a family with an iron fist the way my dad tried to do, nor can you run a country the same way. What these Christians apparently want is to push people around; all they're doing, however, is alienating people from not only them but, even worse, God. And He isn't glorified in the process.

When Jesus said in Matthew 10:37 that “Anyone who loves [his or her] father or mother more than me is not worthy of me," I had to take that literally. At some point Christian Trump supporters will have to make a similar choice:

Either Jesus or Trump.

Political power, not "godly values"

I‘ve said from the moment that Donald Trump was elected president of the United States that the over 80 percent of evangelical Christians who supported him sold out God for the promise of political power. The recent trial of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on 18 charges of financial fraud (yesterday, he was found guilty on eight) and a guilty plea from his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who bribed two women with whom the president had affairs to maintain their silence, should leave no doubt about Trump’s character — or lack thereof.

And I’ll bet you any money that it won’t matter in the least to his Christian apologists, who would complain about the “fake news media” and the “deep state,” among others, out to get him rather than admit to what he’s done. The reality remains, however, that had any Democrat done even a 10^th of what Trump has been involved with they would have tried to run him or her out on a rail. (They’re probably still calling for the head of Hillary Clinton, saying, “Lock her up!” On what charge?)

At this point, we’re talking about denial based on delusion, and that does the witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ absolutely no good. We come across as hypocrites to a younger generation and an embarrassment to much of the rest of the world because of the lack of trust in God to keep his people.

Time to pay the piper …

No joy in Trumpville

In light of the recent rally by President Trump held in Tampa, Fla. earlier this week and the abuse that CNN reporter Jim Acosta endured just for being there, blogger John Pavlovitz made the observation that many of his supporters were “miserable.”

That struck me as, frankly, disappointing but also enlightening because I’ve never seen from his evangelical supporters — and for that matter, those of the “religious right” generally over the years — the “joy of the LORD.” I’m witnessing not a lot of trust in Him and love for others, especially not like themselves; rather, I detect a lot of anger, bitterness and resentment toward specific targets — Muslims, gays, racial minorities, foreigners, “liberals” et al.

Indeed, if you replace “love” in I Corinthians 13 with “evangelical Trump supporters,” they honestly don’t often fit. Nor do I see them exhibiting the “fruit of the [Holy] Spirit,” mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23: “[L]ove, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

I thus find it ironic that many evangelicals believe with all fervency that Trump would start a major revival by re-instituting “Christian values.” (Of course, by that they mean such things as outlawing legal abortion and driving gays back into the closet.) Some will insist that evangelical Christians are being pushed around by secular forces — not only is that factually wrong but, even if that were true, it might be, and I suspect would be, a direct result of their contempt for those who don’t agree with them.

See, revival can happen only when we realize in humility that we’ve strayed from the path, and you best believe that much of the rest of the world sees just that.  And we won’t need political power to cause cultural change — just a basic trust in God and a willingness to open our hearts.

In the movie “Cry Freedom” South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko, played by Denzel Washington, made this remark in reference to overthrowing the system: “Conflict if [the white man] likes — but with an open hand, too.” That is to say, he was encouraging people under the sound of his voice to reconcile with their oppressors if and when that time would come.

I’m not hearing that from either Trump or the majority of his Christian supporters — and that’s a problem because the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is reconciliation. We’re dealing with extremely hard hearts through which He simply cannot work.

That’s why there’s no joy in Trumpville.

No, we don't 'hate Trump'

I couldn’t care less about a leader’s temperament or his tone of his vocabulary. Frankly, I want the meanest, toughest son of a gun I can find. And I think that’s the feeling of a lot of evangelicals. They don’t want Caspar Milquetoast as the leader of the free world. 

— The Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas and supporter of President Donald Trump, as quoted in The Atlantic magazine 

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. 

— Jesus, recorded in Matthew 20:25-27

Some weeks ago a blogger named Mario Murillo complained about "Christians Who Hate Trump," as if opposing him was tantamount to opposing God. The screed, as many do, highlighted Trump's focus on "religious liberty" (read: maintenance of Christian privilege) and naming of a Supreme Court justice to overturn Roe v. Wade. Reading the piece, I could see his exasperation: In essence, "Don't you realize just how important these issues are?"

If these are the rewards for selling out Jesus Christ and His Gospel, no, nothing is that important, nor could it be. In fact, I would say that the 81 percent of white evangelical Christians who supported Trump for "religious" reasons have done more to damage Christian witness than anything their hated secularists could ever do.

And many of us who actually know the Bible in context understand this, which is why we highlight his adultery, lying and insulting of others who don't support his agenda as directly counter to Christian practice. We're supposed to "accept" these things from someone we support when, were they applied to someone we oppose, we would use the vilest epithets against them? Oh, heck, no.

I know what you might be saying: "Would you rather have Hillary Clinton as president?" Me personally, yes, as I did vote for her because I wanted someone who could actually do the job.

We don't hate Trump — really, we don’t. What we hate is having Jesus' Name dragged through the mud because of Christians' association with him, and it's driving away a large number of "millennial" folks out of the church who find the hypocrisy distasteful. And that more than anything else hurts the cause of Christ down the road.

That's why I posted the two quotes above, one from a political power-broker more concerned with saving his own authority and one from our LORD Himself, Who wasn't concerned with public morality as we understand it. Besides, such "revival," if that's what the religious right wants, comes from not top-down political campaigns but service to a dead and dying world.

Basically, Murillo and Jeffress miss the point of the Good News of Jesus Christ; in supporting such a divisive person, they stand guilty of a lack of trust in the God they say they worship. 

And I make no apologies for saying that. Nor should anyone else.