Christmas of 2018 arrives with the Trump presidency as the backdrop. My generation might assume these things have a satisfying ending. We got out of Vietnam quite belatedly but it happened, thanks largely to the vigilant press which Trump has described as "enemy of the people." Most of us get a furrowed brow observing stuff like this. But then oddly, we continue going about our day to day business as if the oddities in D.C. are some sort of curiosity, an irrelevance.
My generation saw the U.S. withdraw from Vietnam, albeit painfully, and we saw Richard Nixon flash those 'V' signs (for victory?) as he boarded the helicopter to belatedly leave the White House. Not only did we extricate ourselves from some unsavory things, a new age dawned with quite fine prosperity. My warning is this: We cannot assume a satisfying outcome to these things.
If we cannot all agree that climate change is a threat to humanity, then what has become of us?
Christmas is near and Christians should be gravitating to their faith. But what has become of our faith? The evangelicals or fundamentalists have flexed their muscles to become an extension of the U.S. Republican Party. Trump now defines that party.
It is bizarre how people like me, progressives, are so eager to think in fond terms of the Bush family, Mitt Romney and other level-headed Republicans, even though we disagree on purely political terms. That disagreement would be sharp. Remember the tone of the old Keith Olbermann TV show as it assessed the likes of George W. Bush, son of the recently-deceased icon? Remember how Bush and Cheney led us into the Iraq war? Now we gravitate toward the non-Trump Republicans as if they are sort of a civilized home base. We pine for that.
Shall I even bother writing again that Trump has the talent of a demagogue? He tells his VIP corporate friends that they can essentially write policies that benefit them, and he whispers into their ear that he'll simply "get the votes."
"Getting the votes" means weaving populist rhetoric that seems persuasive in the ears of the common folk. Religion figures into that in a big way. Persuade people that their religious impulses are in line with what he stands for, and it's game over.
The media talk about "evangelicals" as this influential bloc of people, yet I'm not really sure how to draw the line between them and non-evangelicals. I'm quite sure that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is not under that umbrella. We had to say goodbye to many from our flock over the hyped gay rights issue. How foolish. The whole issue seems passe now, yesterday's news. The wild-eyed wing of Christianity went into hand-wringing. The issue was never to create preferred status for gays, it was just to ensure basic rights. We should turn to our young people for wisdom on this.
People who make their living in religion know the nature of the political problem. We see the series of articles in the Minneapolis paper about how we're becoming "un-churched." I'm quite sure part of the problem is the perception of politics: the marriage of the so-called evangelicals with Republicans and conservatives. It's not even good enough to describe yourself as Republican anymore, you must be committed to Trump and what he represents. But does Trump really represent conservatism? Doesn't it seem obvious he represents something sinister? He's a chronic liar. He's amoral. He nakedly does favors for the richest among us.
He postures with his language - a talent possessed by demagogues - to get the fundamentalist Christian crowd behind him. Pity those people, unable to think for themselves and feeling they have to do what spiritual leaders tell them. I think of the more conservative churches in the Morris area. What percentage of those people consider voting Democrat? Oh, I'd love to be pleasantly surprised about this. But I doubt I would be.
My Lutheran magazine seeks to be optimistic. I read "there is an engagement for peace that drives the church far beyond its own realm and calls for its robust presence in the public space. Without becoming entangled in partisan politics, it will get deeply involved in all initiatives that envision overcoming war, conflict and violence."
That's my ELCA and I'm proud of such sentiment. So why were so many people eager to leave the synod over the much-hyped gay rights issue (gay ordination)?
Recently my church of First Lutheran in Morris sent its monthly publication that had a piece that lays out the stark facts about climate change, the need for Christians to be committed in the face of it. But the Trump crowd would condemn the essay and the whole publication, as being "liberal." Why do so many of us continue to buy that? What will it take to overcome it?
We in Minnesota showed wisdom by rejecting a gubernatorial candidate, Jeff Johnson, who was an unabashed Trump-ite. We did this in spite of Forum Communications, owner of the Morris newspaper, pushing for Johnson, instructing all its properties to make such a recommendation. We showed wisdom to reject the Forum and its political ilk.
Voters may be waking up as shown by the mid-terms, but it's still totally uphill, as Mitch McConnell still reigns in the U.S. Senate, judge appointments are all going toward the ultra-conservative end, and the menacing specter of Trump remains in the White House. Amazing. BTW wouldn't it have been a blessing for McConnell to lose to Alison Lundergan Grimes?
Can we assume "the good guys" will win in the end? As I have repeatedly said, we can make no such assumption. So, I'm not sure to what extent I even ought to celebrate Christmas 2018, even though my late mother would want me to. She was an ELCA Lutheran, proud of it, and didn't attach politics to her affiliation at all. To hell with Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress. Will God punish all those people?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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