I don’t usually post
political commentary, and I have always committed to maintaining a positive
presence online. I have been sitting on this post for a week asking myself why
I would share my thoughts or what I would want to see come from posting them. I
do not want my silence to contribute to propping up oppressive systems or
inadvertently supporting ideals that prop up oppressive systems. This post
discusses misogyny and the church’s silence in the wake of this oppressive
behavior. I would ask that if you choose to read this post and it makes you
defensive that you share the post with someone who might see things differently
from you, then have a respectful conversation about it.
I’m in training for another marathon and am constantly
amazed at what a perfect analogy distance running is for life. Last week during
my long run, I took a break from music to listen to a couple of news podcasts.
What a week for women:
Rob Porter, White House Staff Secretary, is accused of physically
abusing two women. The FBI knew about it. Apparently, a bunch of other people
knew about it too. No big deal though. He was up for a promotion.
John Kelly, White House Chief of staff, defended Porter. In
the past, White also defended a Marine Colonel in a court martialing for sexual
abuse allegations. The Colonel went on to be convicted of sexually molesting
three children.
President Trump also defended Porter, thanked him for his
service, and wished him a long and prosperous career.
Michel Cohen, President Trump’s longtime lawyer, admits to
paying off a porn star so she would not come forward regarding an affair she
had with Donald Trump. Affair. Because his wife was at home with their newborn
baby.
Recently I read a novel about World War II (one must ask
oneself why this time period has become so popular in the last two years) and
had to stop at a certain scene. Jewish women and children, young mothers and
their babies, were being marched out to the woods and shot in the heads by the
men of their village. These were older, middle age men, too old to serve in the
Nazi army anymore, but capable of taking out their communal daughters and
grandchildren, their neighbor’s daughters and grandchildren, and killing them
in cold blood for an ideal centered on nationalism. It was chilling, and I found myself asking,
“how did it get to that?” Fascist dictatorships begin with those in power
bending the rules to suit their own purposes. Is that not what we are seeing
from the highest positions of power in our nation right this moment?
It made me think of the older men in my life who have voted
a man into power who devalues women so much that he would openly disparage
them, protect those who harm them, and hide an affair with a woman in a sex
trade industry. The sad, disappointing,
heart wrenching part of all this is that these men, my men, don’t acknowledge
the wrong done. They do not speak out against it or discredit those who
perpetrate crimes against women.
As far as I can tell, neither does the church.
I am no longer surprised by this. The common thread in all
of these news headlines, in literature, and in personal experience is that in
this administration, in this country, in our churches, there is no more shame.
Misogyny is not questioned. Racism is not questioned. Oppression is not
questioned. There is no more shock.
This run is long, and it is
wearing me out.
I am not alone. People on the margins - women, non-white
Americans, the poor, the disabled - are dealing with so much pain and oppression
right now. This is not new. What is new is how open and out there and in your
face the perpetrators are. The current administration’s MO is to continually denigrate
those populations with downgraded, dismissive and openly hostile language. Or,
in the case of the Staff Secretary, they simply ignore the sin. Which leads me
to ask the same question over and over; where is the church in all this? Where
is the righteous indignation of the evangelicals who helped vote this person
into office? *
You know who is marching? Women, people of color, the
disabled.
You know who is not marching? The white evangelical church.
And why not? Is this an admission of guilt? At the very
least it would seem an admission that the white evangelical church has, unwittingly
or not, propped up a system that derives power from holding others down under
their collective boot. The “others” being those who live on the margins and in
the fringes, those who are vulnerable physically, emotionally, or because there
are unjust laws in place that keep them vulnerable.
For years, conservatives and evangelicals have been yelling
about morality. Leading up to the election I can’t
tell you how many times I heard the pseudo aphorism that Trump was going to
restore America. He would be God’s deliverance for this country. Yet now, after so much evidence to the contrary, there is silence.
Is having an extra marital affair with a person indentured to
the sex industry moral?
Is defending a man who beat not one, but two or his wives’
moral?
Is building a wall to keep out others from “sh**hole”
countries moral?
Is using language like “sh**hole” (or pus*y) moral?
Are these Christ like morals?
Jesus taught us to honor our spouses. He instituted a system
of mutual submission and partnership. He elevated the status of the poor and of
foreigners. He defended the oppressed, and he challenged the systems of
oppression. He taught the church to share their wealth and live within their
means. He espoused telling the truth.
These are not fringy, left leaning morality issues. These
are basics of faith. These are the basics of many faith backgrounds, and evangelical
Christians are not differentiated for espousing them.
In the book of Esther, the Jewish people are about to be
annihilated by a political machination. Queen Esther’s uncle calls on her to
flex her position of influence on behalf of her people. Esther balks. What if
she fails? What if she loses and it costs her something? Her uncle’s response
is to tell her if she does not rise up, she will not escape the fate of her
people. But another will rise up to deliver the Jewish people. Who knows but
that she has been brought to this position for such a time as this.
Dear white evangelical church folks, living in the Trump era
is a painful endurance sport. For the last eight years you have wanted a voice
and to be seen. Now there is a voice, and what we see is terrifying. Are you
willing to give what you have asked for to the rest of the country? Are you
willing to see things from the lens of the other? Are you willing to rise up on behalf of the
oppressed and the marginalized?
If the church cannot do this, we are lost indeed.
*Noteworthy sources on the white evangelical vote:
“Among
white evangelicals, regular churchgoers are the most supportive of Trump”,
Gregory A Smith, Pew Research Center, 4.26.2017
“Why
Christian Conservatives Supported Trump – and why they might regret it”,
Sean Illing, Vox, 2.2.2018
“Myths
Debunked: Why did white evangelical Christians vote for Trump?” Myriam
Renaud, The University of Chicago Divinity School, 1.19.2017
