Month: October 2020

Some Pre-Election Words of Wisdom

This week I got to have a great conversation about politics with a young man who just graduated from college this past May. He was concerned about casting his vote, not feeling enthusiastic about either major party candidate, but also knowing that the stakes for this election were high. I got to talk through a few things with him, and he felt greatly encouraged and ready to vote. Here are a few pieces of wisdom that I shared yesterday, and I hope they may be of some use to others.

  1. While this election is important, it will not solve America’s problems (however you define those). If Joe Biden is elected president, there will still be COVID-19, racism, police brutality, corporate greed, etc. And if Donald Trump is re-elected, there will still be abortion, “cancel culture”, “fake news”, affordable housing projects in the suburbs, etc. This is not to say a president has no power, of course they do (particularly in terms of things like executive orders, foreign policy, and in deciding how many refugees to accept each year). But a lot of these other issues are incredibly wide-spread, systemic, and deeply engrained at the local level, many of them going back hundreds of years. To think that a single vote in a single national election would somehow solve all these issues betrays a severe lack of knowledge about how America works. Which brings me to #2.
  2. If the only political action you take is to vote every 4 years, you’re doing it wrong. Some people hate “politics” and treat it as a dirty word, but in reality its definition is simply this: “Politics (Greek: politiká, ‘affairs of the cities’) is the activities associated with making decisions in groups, such as the distribution of resources or status.” Politics is thus the outworking on a bigger scale the same type of decisions that we make every day on an individual level: questions about right and wrong, spending money, deciding what behaviors to tolerate or not, etc. If you are a Christian, you are required to “love your neighbor as ourself” and to “seek the shalom/peace/welfare of the city” in which we find ourselves (Jeremiah 29). That means political engagement is not supposed to be optional or occasional–it goes far beyond just casting a ballot! Each of us who claims to follow Jesus is commanded to care about issues that affect our communities and neighbors (rather than solely focusing on our own self-interest). As an example, for a person who is passionate about poverty, or abortion, or immigration, that person should not only be addressing those issues in a national election–there are tons of steps that person can take in their daily, local life to be a part of alleviating them. Demonstrations, protests, advocacy, showing up for school board meetings–the list goes on and on. All of these are political actions where you can arguably have a bigger impact than in a national election.
  3. If you choose to be a single-issue voter, you’ve chosen to cede your ability to effectively pressure/encourage candidates on other issues. Once you indicate that you’re a single-issue voter on a certain issue, it means that the politician you’re voting for no longer has to do anything to win your support on any other issue! For example, if your only issue is “abortion“, it means that you don’t care if your politician lies, cheats, steals, kills, or passes awful laws on any other issue, so long as that person claims to share your views on abortion. This eliminates your ability to have bargaining power to move a politician on other issues–the politician knows at the end of the day you’re in his control because you’re a single-issue voter. To avoid that, you’ll want to practice tip #4.
  4. Even if your candidate wins, you need to still hold them accountable. Many progressives fear that if Joe Biden is elected and Donald Trump leaves the White House, a lot of momentum for antiracist and antipoverty initiatives will disappear. I could imagine the same would be true for conservatives if Trump wins–after all, as a second-term lame duck President who can’t be re-elected, what incentive would Trump have to work hard on conservative issues in a second term? Thus it is important that no matter who wins this November, you keep the pressure high to move forward on the issues you care about.
  5. I really hope that this election is a massive landslide. It is scary to think that in a close election, one of the candidates (especially Trump, though I could imagine other scenarios too) could declare a pre-mature victory, and then mobilize his supporters to intimidate vote counters, mail workers, or others who are still working to count the remaining votes. [Just earlier this week, Donald Trump said that he hopes the Supreme Court will ban any votes from being counted after November 3rd–which is insane, because where I live in Pennsylvania, Cumberland County, announced they won’t even start counting mail-in ballots until November 4th! Does that mean that all those votes–from soldiers overseas and elderly people stuck at home–will be thrown out? Maybe! It is entirely possible that with a conservative Supreme Court and all the forces of the presidency at his command, Donald Trump can seriously mess with the margins of the votes. Voter suppression is an American tradition, and it’s only increased in recent years.] Perhaps even worse yet, is the threat of violence after the election. Far-right militia groups have been agitating for a civil war for decades now, and many of them operate throughout Pennsylvania and many others states. What happens if they think that the election was stolen from them? (One might argue that far-left groups might react similarly to a Trump win, but in my experience leftists don’t own AR-15s). My only hope is that despite the voter suppression, there’s a clear and massive winner on November 3rd that forces the other side to concede defeat and decide not to initiate violence.
  6. If Trump does lose in a landslide, his presidency will have proven to be a misguided Faustian bargain for Republicans. Donald Trump has had a number of moderate policy wins for Republicans over the past four years, but I think any Republican could have achieved them–without inciting the left’s fury as much as Trump has. I think that the few major policy victories that Trump has won are not worth the cost that Republicans will pay going forward. If the polls are correct, even states like Texas and Georgia are threatening to turn blue–indicating that Trump has tarnished the Republican brand, perhaps for a generation. [Moreover 2020 is the worst possible year for Republicans to lose in a landslide, because there will be redistricting happening in the wake of the Census. If Dems sweep nationally, they will be able to remake congressional districts to undo Republican gerrymandering and perhaps even incorporate some gerrymandering of their own – which is what Republicans did in 2010 after they swept the midterms during the last Census.] In contrast, imagine a different world for Republicans right now if Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, or even Jeb Bush had become the Republican nominee in 2016. Best case scenario–they beat Hillary, pass the same corporate tax cuts and get the same Supreme Court justices, but without triggering the left so much as to create a massive pro-Democrat backlash. Worst case scenario, Hillary would have won in 2016, but now would be in the same rough position that Trump is in now–facing a potentially historic loss as an incumbent in a redistricting year. All that said, I think that embracing Trump was a strategic mistake for Republicans, as he has been a relatively ineffective politician compared to what could have been achieved, especially when you consider he controlled all 3 branches of government for the first half of his term.
  7. Do you want your vote to matter? Move to a swing state–it’s so fun being the center of attention! Right now according to election website fivethirtyeight.com, Pennsylvania is the state most likely to decide the election due to the vagaries of the Electoral College. As such there are so many texts, calls, campaign rallies, and promises being made to Pennsylvanians right now. It’s overwhelming but I like it! In contrast, imagine if you are a conservative living on the East Coast or West Coast, or a liberal living in the Deep South–not only does your vote not matter, but no one cares about your issues because you don’t live in a swing state! Of course, if we somehow were to eliminate the Electoral College and elect people based on the popular vote, then presidential candidates would start to care about conservatives in upstate New York, or about liberals in southern Alabama. But until then, if you want your vote to matter, you should consider relocating to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Arizona or one of the other swing states. And that brings me to my final point.
  8. Vote for who you want. There’s a lot of pressure from both sides of the political spectrum to vote for either Trump or Biden, so as not to “waste one’s vote.” And there is a certain level of truth to that, especially in a swing state. The reality is is that until America moves away from a first-past the post, winner-takes-all electoral system to something like other countries have (such as a parliamentary system), we will always be stuck with two parties. It’s like a game of chess –in chess the rules are designed for only two players, there’s no way for a third player to play/win unless you change the rules. This article has some great suggestions for how to alter American elections to enable more parties to bloom, but it’s hard to imagine either major party agreeing to any of these changes…. Now, all that said though, if you refuse to vote for Biden or Trump I believe you have a few options. You can leave the choice of President blank and just vote for the local/state races. You can vote third-party, or write someone in. Recall from my Point #2 that there are so many other ways to make change in this world besides just one vote. If your conscience does not allow you to choose one of the two major candidates, then don’t feel like you absolutely have to. Although that reminds me of a line in the TV show 30 Rock:

Anyway, happy Election Day–see you on the other side!

Bonhoeffer’s Antifascist Theology – Part III. Unexpected Alliances

Today we will continue looking at what I am calling “antifascist theology,” as expressed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. [In Part I, I introduced the core concepts of fascism and introduced Bonhoeffer. In Part II, we explored the three general categories of Christians who fall under fascism’s sway.]

In recent years, I’ve noticed unexpected connections and alliances between certain Christian and non-Christian groups that are both working for truth, justice, and human dignity. Take for instance, anti-violence and anti-poverty Christian activist Shane Claiborne, who literally beats guns into gardening tools and once illegally occupied an abandoned church in Philadelphia to set up a shelter for homeless people. As a Christian activist, Claiborne regularly finds himself working alongside lots of people who he disagrees with theologically– but he finds common ground when it comes to issues like these. Or for another example, check out these Christians in Oregon working alongside firmly non-Christian antifascist groups to provide mutual aid in the wake of the Oregon protests and wildfires.

Members of the secular Portland mutual aid group “EWOKS” in front of a church sign. Photo courtesy of Clackamas UCC

Now, I had previously thought that unexpected alliances like these were a somewhat recent, novel phenomenon. It is now only in reading Bonhoeffer’s Ethics that I saw the same dynamics took place in the context of German fascism! Bonhoeffer points out that when values of truth and tolerance are threatened by authoritarian power, there often forms a kind of a temporary alliance between the beleaguered defenders of those values and the remaining, antifascist Christians. Check out his words below—doesn’t most of this sound scarily relevant? It’s a long quote, but powerful-so please read carefully:

“Whenever, in the face of the deification of the irrational powers of blood, of instinct, of the predator within human beings, there was an appeal to reason; whenever, in the face of arbitrariness there was an appeal to the written law; whenever, in the face of barbarism, there was an appeal to culture and humanity; whenever, in the face of their violation there was an appeal to freedom, tolerance, and human rights; whenever, in the face of the politicization of science, art, and so on, attention was drawn to the autonomy of the various areas of life…then this was sufficient to evoke immediately awareness of some kind of alliance between the defenders of these threatened values and Christians. Reason, culture, humanity, tolerance, autonomy– all these concepts, which until recently had served as battle cries against the church, against Christianity, even against Jesus Christ, now surprisingly found themselves in very close proximity to the Christian domain…as a goal-driven alliance…Christ is the center and power of the Bible, of the church, of theology, but also of humanity, reason, justice, and culture.” [Ethics, 340-2]

To summarize, in this passage Bonhoeffer writes that the same secular liberals who had previously been attacking religion before the rise of fascism, now quickly found common cause with antifascist Christians such as himself. Of course, there were different theological values, but here was an alliance of convenience in order to defend their shared values: reason, law, culture, humanity, freedom, tolerance, human rights, science, and art. To bring it to our present day, I would argue that whenever contemporary Christians forge tactical alliances with secular antifascist movements (such as groups in opposition to nuclear weapons and war-mongering, corporate greed, environmental pillaging, dehumanization at the border, human trafficking, voter suppression, or other issues), these Christians are embodying this same kind of antifascist perspective that Bonhoeffer is espousing. Which brings me to a related topic.

Black Lives Matter

The Amish Community Protests For George Floyd & System Oppression In Minneapolis... - YouTube
Thanks to a fact check website, I learned that these demonstrators were not technically Amish, but rather part of a different conservative sect called the Church of God.

I believe that Black Lives Matter is another potential example of a “goal-driven alliance” between antifascist Christians and secular-leaning liberals. After George Floyd was murdered by police in broad daylight, millions of white Americans (including many Christians) joined in and protested as a way to decry racist police violence and to declare the fact that Black Lives Matter. Even a contingent of a conservative, pseudo-Amish Christian sect–apolitical and disinclined to join in most political actions–joined in these BLM protests! In so doing, this group was not endorsing every element of the Black Lives Matter organization, nor were they declaring that they were necessarily tossing their hats into the political ring. Instead, these antifascist Christians were simply responding to a very visible act of injustice (which in itself was simply the most blatant example of a centuries-old system of injustice). They chose to leave the confines of their Christian community and align themselves with a just cause-that of demanding justice for George Floyd and other Black lives facing widespread police brutality.

Bonhoeffer writes, quoting Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

“’Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matt. 5:10). This verse does not speak about the righteousness of God, that is, about persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ; rather, it calls those blessed who are persecuted for a just cause…With this beatitude Jesus thoroughly rejects the false timidity of those Christians who evade any kind of suffering for a just, good, and true cause because they supposedly could have a clear conscience only if they were to suffer for the explicit confession of faith in Christ; he rejects in other words, the kind of narrow-mindedness that casts a cloud of suspicion on any suffering for the sake of a just cause and distances itself from it. Jesus cares for those who suffer for a just cause even if it is not exactly for the confession of his name; he brings them under his protection, takes responsibility for them, and addresses them with his claim.” [Ethics 346]

What Bonhoeffer is saying is that suffering for any just cause is valid and blessed by God, even if those who are suffering are not explicitly Christian, nor if the cause is solely about Jesus! While I would hope this is a pretty obvious reading of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I know that many Christians do not actually live this out! After all, how many Christians in 1930s Germany decided not to stand in solidarity with persecuted Jews, Gypsies, communists, gays, the people with disabilities, and other “undesirables”, because to do so wasn’t a matter of defending “Christianity?” The answer is—most of them! Only a very few, the antifascist Christians in the mold of Bonhoeffer, chose to stand alongside these groups.

Similarly, in our day, I think Bonhoeffer would offer a biting rebuke of the conservative Christians who have been reluctant to stand alongside in support of the Black Lives Matter protests. To be sure, Bonhoeffer was neither a communist nor a socialist, and he levels some firm critiques of these social movements elsewhere in Ethics. However, I do not think he would not have accepted the standard right-wing argument that to state “Black Lives Matter” means one is somehow aligning oneself with Marxism, atheism, or any of the other values ascribed to certain BLM leaders. Such thinking Bonhoeffer calls “narrow-minded” and “timid”, a reflection of an impoverished, potentially fascistic worldview (recall from my first blog that being angrily opposed to any hint of Marxism or communism is one of the hallmarks of a fascist mindset). Indeed, I think he would say that true followers of Jesus belong right in the middle of this cause, rather than fleeing from it!

Am I being presumptuous in claiming that Bonhoeffer would support Black Lives Matter? I don’t think so. In 1930, Bonhoeffer spent a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He became deeply connected to the African-American Church as he attended the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. There his eyes were opened to the injustices suffered by Black Americans on a daily basis. Angered by the lynching of the “Scottsboro Boys”, a group of nine African-Americans who were lynched in Alabama after a false rape accusation, Bonhoeffer unsuccessfully tried to mobilize church leaders back in Europe to organize against the injustice. Bonhoeffer was so deeply moved by the Black Christians he encountered in the United States that he translated a number of traditional African-American Spirituals into German and brought the tunes back to the churches he led in Germany! (The mental picture of a bunch of conservative white Germans in the 1930s trying to sing some lively Black worship songs is a bit funny to be honest–but hey props to them for trying!).

All that to say–Bonhoeffer’s understanding of the systemic oppression that Black people faced in 1930s America was absolutely part of the backdrop that helped him choose to stand in the gap for Jews, communists, and other victims of fascism in Germany. If Bonhoeffer were to return to the United States today, he was undoubtedly be angered by the extent to which the Black community still faces prejudice, discrimination, and systemic racism. And based on his quote above he would have some pretty harsh remarks for the “narrow-minded” and “timid” Christians who choose to distance themselves from secular justice movements–because in so doing they are not just distancing themselves from the oppressed…they are distancing themselves from Jesus.

To summarize, if one is bearing witness to Jesus in a society that increasingly bears the marks of fascism, one should expect to find oneself in some unexpected alliances. This is not a bad thing, nor does it mean that one’s Christian witness has somehow been diluted. In fact, it means the exact opposite! Now, this doesn’t mean there isn’t nuance, or gray areas. But by and large the automatic Christian response to injustice should be to stand alongside those who are experiencing it, and to advocate for justice. That’s what Bonhoeffer did, and it’s what we should do today.

Our friend Hanna, my wife Liz (8 months pregnant), and myself at a Black Lives Matter rally in Carlisle, PA on 9/26/20. We were cursed at, called terrorists, and one man pointed his fingers at us like a gun and pretended to shoot each of us. But all that is nothing compared to what our Black brothers and sisters face on a daily basis, and it was an honor to proclaim that Black lives are made in the image of God. I pray that other Christians would have the courage to stand against injustice even when it’s not an explicitly Christian cause!

Random Hot Takes

My brain and body are absolutely exhausted with our wonderful newborn baby (born last week! Praise God! What a whirlwind haha). But it doesn’t mean I haven’t had random thoughts and ideas. However rather than post them on Facebook (which could lead to blowback, anger, and people getting offended, which I don’t have energy to deal with right now), I’m just going to post them here. They are pretty stream of consciousness and not necessarily related to one another, so take it all with a grain of salt 🙂

  1. PARENTAL LEAVE. With one week of paid parental leave under my belt (I get a full month, Liz gets three–thank you InterVarsity!), I just want to say how incredibly ridiculous it is that the United States does not have any federally guaranteed paid parental leave for mothers (not to mention both parents). There are only 2 other countries on the entire planet besides the US that don’t offer any leave for mothers (Suriname and Papau New Guinea). Even comparatively poorer nations like Libya, Iran, Colombia, Ghana, and North Korea offer multiple weeks of leave! If we don’t want mothers to choose abortion, why isn’t our government doing something about this? It should have bipartisan support! And even Ivanka Trump supposedly was going to push for a plan for this. But of course Congressional Republicans seem to hate whenever government money goes to anyone that’s not a rich man or a corporation. And if Joe Biden becomes president, you can bet that they’ll automatically oppose any and every pro-family spending bill he puts forward for the sake of the “national debt”.
  2. DIAPERS. I was honestly worried about changing diapers of a newborn, as it’s not something I ever witnessed or did growing up. But while it’s a little stinky, it’s honestly not that bad at all. Which reminds me of a fact I read about Donald Trump: on multiple occasions he has bragged that he never once changed a diaper, despite having 5 children–I guess his wives or servants always changed them??… To me I think that says a lot about who he is and his character. Unwilling to be a servant, not a team player with his wives, and a hefty dose of pride. He also thus embodies toxic masculinity instead of healthy masculinity (I could go on and on about that topic, but that’s for another day).
  3. FREEDOM. In America, every citizen has the freedom/right to lie, commit adultery, be mean, curse people out, manipulate, be selfish, be greedy, hate others, take advantage of others, and generally do whatever we want. In certain cases (though not all) it is even legal to commit violence, kill, slander, and incite insurrection. Yet while an American has the right and freedom to do all of those things, in the Kingdom of God, Christians don’t have the right to do ANY them! Instead we are servants of Jesus, and only have the right to do the things he calls us to–which don’t include anything in that list. Thus it makes me sad when I see people who claim to be Christians get all up in arms about their “right” to do things like spread lies, share slander, or endorse violence. In an American sense, yes they have that right, but if they claim to be Christian then they ought not do any of those things, nor expect others to do so on their behalf.
  4. KILL vs. DIE. A big difference between true Christians and most other people is this: most people are willing and eager to kill for the sake of their core values (protecting their personal property, expanding their empire, etc), but usually not to die for them. For a true Christian, it is (supposed to be) precisely the opposite. We are called to be willing to die for Jesus daily, but to never kill for him. Whenever you see Christians more passionate about killing and dominating others than they are about suffering and serving, be sure that you are probably not in the presence of the Kingdom of God.
  5. ABORTION. This is a controversial topic, but I’m going to humbly put it forward. It’s a freaking baby. At the 12-week ultrasound our “Baby Yoda” was already kicking his feet, dancing around, and looking like a baby. It didn’t look like a fish or chicken or anything like that. Thus I’ve mentioned this in a previous blog, but I personally think certain progressive circles need to put a damper on the “abortion is wonderful!”-type rhetoric, which is admittedly rare but I have seen it. Anyone who’s had a birth, or God forbid a miscarriage, knows that there is something special about pregnancy and birth, and we should not be so flippant about that. Babies are not parasites invading a woman’s body; in fact there is something amazing and empowering about a woman who is able to carry a fetus to term and be a functioning, working adult at the same time (men can’t do that). NOW–that said, I think that abortion being legal, safe, and rare is the way to go, and that Democratic policies are actually the ones PROVEN to lead to a decrease in the abortion rate, while Republican policies are PROVEN to increase them (again, see blog). And of course there’s tons of gray areas like rape, incest, health of mother, etc. Thus my point is not about the actual policies, but about the rhetoric that is used. However since I’m not the person who actually has given birth or had an abortion, that’s all I’ll say on that topic for now.
  6. QANON & POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE. Despite recent social media crackdowns, Qanon is once again gaining in support and traction in American society. There will be Qanon believing members of Congress elected this November (it’s inevitable), who will then be in a position to begin The Storm–the part of Qanon where Donald Trump declares martial law, executes all his political enemies, and begins a new rule where all Jews, elites, and liberals are crushed. If Qanon is false, it is spreading a horrific worldview to millions of Americans, most of whom own guns and are ready to kill anyone who stands in their way. And if Qanon is true, we are just weeks away from Donald Trump declaring himself Supreme Leader and ending American democracy. Either way, it’s something to be aware of. As a Christian who takes Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount both seriously and literally, I know I cannot intentionally take another life. But with Qanon out there (and related militia movements like the Oathkeepers, 3 Percenters, KKK, Proud Boys, and myriad others), it is a bit scary to contemplate what might go down after November 3rd. Last month at a Black Lives Matter demonstration a middle-aged white man slowly drove by my wife and me and pointed his fingers like a gun at each of us, and mimed pulling the trigger. Typical toxic masculinity posturing? Probably. But knowing that he definitely owns a gun at home is a bit scary. We saw a different guy drive by, a neighbor with a loud pickup truck who proudly owns guns and supports Donald Trump, angrily filming the demonstrators. Did he see that we were there? Is our house on the kill list for after the election? LOL we’ll find out!

Anyway, those are just a few random hot takes after not a whole lot of sleep! Please take it with a grain of salt; reach out if you have any questions.