Quite a few of my clients serve heartland churches where
there is a good mix of Trump supporters and those who loathe the man. There are very few who feel ambivalence about
the President. The pastors of these
churches try very hard to avoid alienating their Trump people - especially
those people who follow his Twitter feed much more carefully than they follow
the news. With one issue after another,
these pastors have found themselves biting their tongues.
Ninety percent of US churches are aging and in decline. A great many of those churches are also
politically divided. This creates a financial threat in the local church
similar to the financial threat that US senators feel who depend upon donations
from highly ideological (and not always reasonable) donors. Speaking a word of sanity and morality that
crosses Trump's official talking points will be met with hostility at best and
people pulling their money out of our churches in some cases. It is the most awkward moment for
conscientious clergy since the Vietnam era.
This week, as the border crisis heated up, and images of children separated from their parents began to fill the airwaves, the nation became restless. Even the evangelicals, who have given the administration a pass on almost everything, spoke in opposition to the hard-line policy of removing children from their mothers' arms and placing the kids in Hispanic detention (concentration?) camps. I am left wondering what the United States would have done this past month with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus fleeing from Herod. Thankfully the administration policy was amended on Wednesday. But this is not over, and there still is no plan for reuniting 2300 kids with their parents.
A few years back I read a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which recounted the ways that the German pastors kept biting their tongues in the 1930s, and looking away from the mounting human rights violations. They did this in part due to fear of violence against themselves. But at first, their silence was simply an effort to avoid political controversy and keep the peace in their churches. The German churches where the pastors spoke out early against the Nazis sometimes lost most of their people. Or they fired the minister.
This week, as the border crisis heated up, and images of children separated from their parents began to fill the airwaves, the nation became restless. Even the evangelicals, who have given the administration a pass on almost everything, spoke in opposition to the hard-line policy of removing children from their mothers' arms and placing the kids in Hispanic detention (concentration?) camps. I am left wondering what the United States would have done this past month with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus fleeing from Herod. Thankfully the administration policy was amended on Wednesday. But this is not over, and there still is no plan for reuniting 2300 kids with their parents.
A few years back I read a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which recounted the ways that the German pastors kept biting their tongues in the 1930s, and looking away from the mounting human rights violations. They did this in part due to fear of violence against themselves. But at first, their silence was simply an effort to avoid political controversy and keep the peace in their churches. The German churches where the pastors spoke out early against the Nazis sometimes lost most of their people. Or they fired the minister.
Where is the tipping point in a politically divided church
for saying something?
* When even Franklin Graham begins to speak up?
* When prominent people of diverse political associations
begin to speak up, including every living first lady?
* When not saying something promises to damage us even more
than speaking up?
Many pastors decided last week that we have passed the tipping point. But many are afraid of political bullies in their churches. The fact that some in the media framed the story of the kids first as a political opportunity for Democrats - is tragic. But even such jaded reporting does not change the facts. And as pastors, we may have to also address the fact that some things are just wrong - and not simply ammo for political posturing. As if this all were just some political video game.
The credibility of the church among our un-churched population has been battered in the last two years. A lot of folks out there, a lot of young folks, got the memo that church-goers put this man in office. It will take years to discover how bad the long-term damage is - but the early evidence is sobering. Our churches have been divided - and in many cases, silenced, due to the division. And our mission field further hardened in their opposition to organized religion. The European church never recovered never recovered from the events of the 1930s and 40s.
Where is the threshold in which we find our tongues to say something about the madness that is unfolding - on the southern border, but on other fronts as well? And how must we speak to the wider theme of human cruelty that has become a recurring theme of this administration, even when there are not quite such disturbing optics for the TV cameras?
These questions will not be answered well without earnest prayer.
Many pastors decided last week that we have passed the tipping point. But many are afraid of political bullies in their churches. The fact that some in the media framed the story of the kids first as a political opportunity for Democrats - is tragic. But even such jaded reporting does not change the facts. And as pastors, we may have to also address the fact that some things are just wrong - and not simply ammo for political posturing. As if this all were just some political video game.
The credibility of the church among our un-churched population has been battered in the last two years. A lot of folks out there, a lot of young folks, got the memo that church-goers put this man in office. It will take years to discover how bad the long-term damage is - but the early evidence is sobering. Our churches have been divided - and in many cases, silenced, due to the division. And our mission field further hardened in their opposition to organized religion. The European church never recovered never recovered from the events of the 1930s and 40s.
Where is the threshold in which we find our tongues to say something about the madness that is unfolding - on the southern border, but on other fronts as well? And how must we speak to the wider theme of human cruelty that has become a recurring theme of this administration, even when there are not quite such disturbing optics for the TV cameras?
These questions will not be answered well without earnest prayer.
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