This Christian Pastor Denies The Extistence of "Anti Christian Bias"
And Calls Christians To Be Known "By Their Love"
Quick shot assertions related to Donald Trump’s goal of “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.”
Christians in America are not being persecuted for practicing their faith in any real way.
Christians are not, or should not be, a “protected class,” such as Women, People of Color, or the LGBTQ community; because Christianity is a system of beliefs and practices.
Christianity is only ONE of the many religions in America. The goal of the Constitutional protection is to protect “Religious Practice,” not just “Christian practice.”
Christian Nationalists Are Violating the Religious Liberty of Others, Including Other Christians.
And a final word to ALL Christians: Even IF you believe culture is hostile to Christians, our calling is to LOVE not “offense.”
It’s a lot…let’s dig in…
Christians in America Are Not Being Persecuted.
In 2015, I wrote an essay called “Dear American Christians.” It’s still the most viral writing I ever produced, having now been read an astounding 400,000-plus times. The issue at the time was a baker who sued because he didn’t want to bake a cake for a gay wedding. But that issue is directly related to today’s witch hunt for anti-Christian bias.
Here are my opening paragraphs, still remarkably fresh, from 2015:
“Dear American Christians, You need to get a grip, and I am tired of speaking to you politely. You are not being persecuted by being required to serve all customers in your store. If you serve all people in your store, you are simply being American. As a fellow Christian, I can assure you, your faith will not be compromised, and God will not be displeased with you, if you make a cake or a pizza for gay people.
We Christians are absolutely as free to exercise our faith as we ever have been. We can go to church without fear of being hunted down for doing that. We can pray with our families. Our churches can create clinics, and schools, and non-profits that serve God and the world. And nobody is going to impinge that right in any real way.
So, stop with the being offended. You have no right to be offended if an LGBT person walks into your place of business. Even if you haven’t come to terms with the fact that people can be gay and also be Christian, you’ve at least got to remember that Jesus said that little thing about the “wheat” and the “tares.”
I can’t speak for Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, or any other kind of shop-keeper. But I do know, as Christians it’s not our job to separate out from society. Jesus said that.”
Nothing of course is fundamentally different today. Except that, right now, that individual “offense” of Conservative Christians has been weaponized by the Trump Administration, in an effort to find and root out the alleged sources of anti-Christian bias in the Federal Government.
This effort is remarkably similar in design to the McCarthyism of the 1950s.
The stated goal, then, was rooting out “Anti-American Communists.”
The stated goal now, is rooting out “Anti-Christian bias.”
But I’d urge you to reflect on just how neatly (and horrifically) all of this rhymes. And how the targets in both cases are largely the same:
The targets are, truthfully, not actual “Communists,” or actual “Anti-Christians,” but anybody with any thought (especially Progressive) outside a narrow band of Conservative uniformity.
The goal is uniformity under Christian Nationalist thought, not the protection of all Christians themselves.
The tactics are: The stir up the grievance of “Christians,” their sense of being harmed or their sense of their entitlement to some kind of legal protected class status.
That said, it must be said clearly and loudly: Christians are not being persecuted. Not in the United States of America. The Federal government does have a duty to protect those who are vulnerable.
Perhaps Evangelical Christians feel their influence waning in the culture. Perhaps Christian Nationalist Christians desire a nation led by Christian-only values. But neither of those “feelings” are the same as “persecution.”
Christians are not now, and should they be, a “Protected Class”
Being a Christian is not the same as being Queer.
It’s not the same as a being a Woman.
It’s not the same as being a Person of Color.
Christianity is a set of beliefs and practices, and this entire exercise of pretending Christians are a special “class” in America is a part of the intellectual problem we are now having….and have had now, for perhaps several decades.
White Christian Nationalists, especially are being encouraged to openly analogize themselves as similar to “being Queer” or “being Black;” as if these are wholly similar identities to being Christian.
And they are encouraged to weaponize their sense of outrage and “offense.” The pot has been, and is being, stirred.
Christianity is a kind of religious identity, but not a specifically protected one above all other religious ones. Christianity is simply one of many religious belief system that, yes, leads one to act a certain way in the world. And, yes, those beliefs have public-facing ramifications for society.
But, so does the Constitution. And those values, religious vs legal, can be in conflict.
Christian Nationalists ARE Violating the Religious Liberty of Others.
Trump’s original order specifically complains about restrictions against the “free speech” of so-called “Pro Life” activists at clinics.
I know a bit about this from years ago, so a quick aside. (Which is not really an aside…)
In the 1990s, the church I served was picketed by “Operation Rescue,” because one of our members, Dr. Norman Thompkins, refused to sign their “no abortion pledge.” He was a gynecologist at Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas.
This group, and conservative Catholics with them, mercilessly picketed his home, his church, his office and his wife’s business. They left vile and threatening messages on his answering machine. Here’s an actual flyer that was left on cars while folks were in worship:
Dr. Thompkins eventually sued them and won in court. That suit, in part, destroyed that original version of Operation Rescue. But it also took a heavy toll on he and his wife, and they left the Dallas area.
It is one thing to demand accountability from the government. But it is quite another to harass private individuals. Or clinics. Or practitioners. Or women.
Christian Nationalists routinely conflate these two things. (1)
So, Trump’s order itself is, paradoxically, calling to reopen already settled law about the limits of a Christian’s right to harass others in the name of their beliefs.
Further, as this story illustrates, the history of Christian Pro Life demonstators, specifically (who Trump suggests are somehow being harmed, currently) suggests that the current restrictions are well founded, and not excessive! They have time again harrassed doctors, such as Norman Thompkins. They have, time and again, harrassed WOMEN.
It is precisely their Conservative Evangelical view of abortion that apparently prevents them from being able to simply state their moral case, exercise their current first amendmeent rights, and not drift into harrassment, abuse, and in extreme cases…murder.
In other words: The very rules Trump and Pro Life Christians find onerous…those rules are there for a reason.
A primary problem with Trump’s executive order, launching this current “witch hunt” against anti-Christian bias, is that he and his administration conflate things from the very first sentence.
“It is the policy of the United States, and the purpose of this order, to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government.”
See the conflict?
Protect Religious Freedom.
End so-called anti-christian bias.
These are two different things. I could pick up the phone, right now, and find Muslim and Jewish friends who would LOVE to tell their stories of anti-Jewish or anti-muslim bias.
In point of fact, here in Texas, our own Conservative state leaders are, right now, pushing back on a planned Muslim community here in North Texas.
Where is their religious protection?
Christianity is only ONE of the many religions in America, and the goal of the Constitution is the protection of “Religious Practice,” not just “Christian practice. I am a Christian; a United Methodist pastor that tracks more “progressive” in my theology. (2)
As such, I favor of the Federal Government doing what it can to protect the LGBTQ community, or the voting rights of People of Color, or the right to Women to serve in the Armed Forces, and totally in favor of just leaving Trans people the hell alone.
These values COME FROM MY FAITH, not from my politics. I did not “bless” some super secret liberal agenda sent to me by George Soros.
Instead, I read the teachings of Jesus, listened to God’s Holy Spirit, and those used the very Methodist design of honoring “scripture, tradition, reason and experience.”
Further, my faith teaches me that this attempt to root out alleged anti-Christian bias is, it self, paradoxically anti-Christian.
No, this whole witch hunt doesn’t protect ME.
No, it doesn’t protect those Muslims I just mentioned, here in North Texas.
And no, it wouldn’t have protected the good Methodist, Dr. Thompkins, in the 1990s.
In point of fact, I can cite laws even more recently passed that restrict the free expression of my personal faith, and of many other Christians.
For example, Texas state law now mandates that a church put up a sign of a very specific size if it wishes to be a “gun free zone.”
This is a very CLEAR violation of religious liberty. If churches wishes to ban guns, they will de facto be doing so out of their religious convictions, and cannot be forced to put a sign in order to follow that Christian value!!
Individual Christians and Individual Churches have THOUSANDS of religious values and convictions. We are not required to list ANY of them on a sign, outside the door, except the prohibition of guns!
Can you imagine how long a sign that listed all our values and beliefs would be?!!!
And yet, the state of Texas demands churches do this related to the lone Christian value of being pro-peace and pro non-violence, should a church wish to ban guns from a sanctuary.
Requiring a church to post a sign about our beliefs is inherently an infringement of our right to practice our faith, inside of our walls, under the First Amendment.
Also happening right now…
In El Paso, our state attorney general has argued, in legal briefs, that a known Catholic relief charity actually is NOT “Catholic.”
Good Protestant that he is, I guess he thinks he knows what makes somebody Catholic? I guess he think he has right the write law to define what being Catholic means?
More recently, the religious congregations have brought suit to fight the Trump Administration’s claim that it can enter religious houses of worship and violate the “sanctuary” status of these spaces, related to faith-based ministry with immigrants.
These are just three example of a kind of a theocratic interpretation of law that is incredibly dangerous…but coming from the political/religious RIGHT.
“Dear American Christians” (again)
And now, as I wrote in 2015, a final word to “American Christians.”
Even if you are a Christian, or legal scholar, who wants to argue with my reasoning thus far, I speak to you now, “Christian to Christian.”
I continue to be astounded by your “offense” at apparently any part of culture that is different from yours, and ask you: How do you square that with Jesus, who taught us to NOT separated the “wheat” from the “tares?”
Jesus DENIED this very kind of separation from the culture. In fact, Jesus called Christians to be light in the world. And if you feel the world is dark, then use your witness to spread your light, not work to snuff out the light of others.
Some of you are still convinced that Women, People of Color, the Queer community, etc…are engaged in some kind of “political stunt.” That has been very clear to me, ever since same sex marriage became legal. (I wrote about this here…)
At that time, and still today, you seem to believe that people are just trying to persecute you.
Are people ANGRY with Christians?
Yes…yes they are. And yes, they lash out in anger at church sexual abuse scandals, or pastors who live in million dollar mansions, or who claim a special place for “Christians” above all others.
A decade ago, I was deeply moved by an essay on all of this called “Bake For Them Two.” The presenting issue of the day was the aforementioned “baking cakes for a gay wedding.”
Jessica Kantrowitz unpacks a crucial Gospel lesson of Jesus, where Jesus sets out how Christians should behave, with respect to “Empire.” The scripture is Jesus’ line where he addresses a Roman law requiring Jews to follow any order of a Roman soldier:
“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”
She then says this:
If you believe gay marriage is immoral (I don’t, myself) and a gay couple comes into your shop and asks you to bake a cake for their wedding, what should you do? If God causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the wedding days of straight and gay couples, then what is our responsibility? If it is against the law to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, but you believe strongly that their lifestyle is immoral, what should you do?
Christians, our Jesus said, “Go with them two.”
If you are wondering if it is worth being sued and losing your business to stand up for what you believe is right, if you miss the look of hurt in the couple’s eyes when you refuse them and only see an angry, media-driven, ACLU-led mob attacking the small business owner who is only standing up for what you believe in, what should you do?
Christians, our Jesus said, “Go with them two.”
Jesus said, not only should you follow the law of the land — the law which in America for the most part prohibits discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation — not only should you do the minimum you have to do, you should go the extra mile. (Yes, that’s where that expression comes from!) Do *twice* what the law requires.
If someone forces you to bake a cake for a gay wedding, bake for them two.
She then writes this brilliant paragraph:
“Christians, our Jesus said to not only follow the law, but to rise to a higher standard of love. Christians should be the FIRST people baking cakes — for everyone who asks us. We should be known for our cake baking. People should be saying, “There go those crazy Christians again, baking cakes for everyone. They just won’t quit!” Then, when we share the reason for our wild, all-inclusive love, people will want to hear it. “Let your light shine before others,” said Jesus, “that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
This is spot on, Dear American Christians.
Worship God as you wish, within the walls of your church. (BTW: I’d hope you agree we more Progressive Christians has a right to this as well…).
But in your public-facing actions, live out Jesus’ LOVE toward this world, not your personal “offense.”
Pope Francis, whose Christian faith was no doubt quite different from Jessica’s, was once asked why he washed the feet of Muslims and other non-Catholics. He responded:
“I didn’t wash their feet because they were Catholic…I washed their feet because I am.”
The same can be said for all Christians, anywhere, and the love Jesus’ Gospel calls us to embody.
Rather than be made smaller and weaker by our offense and outrage, why are Christians not out there loving, serving, and welcoming everyone? “Baking two?”
As Jessica says, we Christians should be Christian-loving so much that the world says:
“They just won’t quit!”
The old song says, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love;” not by our lawsuits, offense, and indignity.
Does the whole world love Christianity?
No, it does not.
And there are good reasons for the world’s wariness of Christianity.
Today…a decade after Kantrowitz wrote these words…some of you Christians are hell bent (I mean that literally) in destroying the last remaining vestige of respect our culture has for Jesus’ Gospel Message.
Stop being so offending.
No, you’re not being persecuted.
And, yes, God calls you to LOVE.
Jesus doesn’t want your offense, any more than Jesus wanted wrath from the offended Disciples who were indignant that a foreign village wouldn’t welcome them.(3)
Jesus wants YOUR LOVE AND YOUR SERVICE, FOR ALL GOD’S CHILDREN.
And until you get that fundamental truth—until you realize your “offense” is being weaponized at the expense of Christian love— we’ll continue to be in a hell of a mess.
I will willingly admit that the left sometimes conflates these things too. Over the years, there have been pickets, from the left, of government officials, the houses of judges, energy company execs, etc… I do not support this, ever….out of my own sense of a right to privacy and the Golden Rule.
I do support directly calling for accountability for the Federal Government. But I do not support picketing at other places of worship or private homes.
A recent innocuous video inviting our neighbors to worship got 35 vile comments, accusing us of not being “Christian.”
“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’* 55But he turned and rebuked them. 56Then* they went on to another village.”
Luke 9: 51-56