Trump's Lie Is Another Test for Christian America

Sunday, September 15, 2024

The accusation that Haitian immigrants in a small Ohio city are abducting and eating their neighbors' cats and dogs relies not on one falsehood but on a web of them. When we are willing to see children terrorized rather than stop telling lies about their families, we should step back, forget about our dogs and cats for a moment, and ask who abducted our consciences. That's especially true for those of us who, like me, claim to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who told us that on the Day of Judgment, "people will give account for every careless word they speak" (Mt 12:36).

Posted by tonyroma at 12:30 PM | 31 COMMENTS | permalink

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To sing praise songs in a church service while trafficking in the bearing of false witness against people who fled for their life, who seek to rebuild a life for their children after crushing poverty and persecution, is more than just cognitive dissonance. It's modeling the devil himself, whom Jesus called "the father of lies" (Jn 8:44). That's especially true when the lies harm another person. "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer," the apostle John wrote, "and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 Jn 3:15).

The cruelty to Haitian immigrants - and with it, the implicit incitement of potential violence - is not [a] debatable issue. And Christians do not need to struggle to figure out what Jesus would have us do here. If we see children sheltering at home because they fear violence, we know that's wrong. And when we see that this fear comes from the incitement of hatred against those children because of where their parents came from, surely we can smell the brimstone.

It became Sunday while I was writing this. I truly wonder how many Christian ministers, priests, and preachers will one way or another mention Springfield tomorrow in their sermons and homilies.

I wonder how many prayers will be offered up for the suffering citizens of Springfield having to deal with the invasion of an immigrant hoard. Prayers asking for the Lord to remove the feral interlopers so that the city's 'real' citizens can get back to their lives before they came.

And I equally wonder how many prayers across America will be offered up for the well-being of the immigrant community being falsely accused and targeted for violence? Will they offer up prayers for the immigrant children - now being evacuated from their schools due to repeated bomb threats, and missing school days because of them? Will they pray for protection of the entire city - now under siege by the lies told and repeated by self-proclaimed Christian men, both running to serve in this nation's highest office?

It truly would be interesting to know how this dichotomy of viewpoints actually breaks down. Unfortunately, I have a very strong suspicion we already know which direction the outcome will tip. And it isn't likely to be on the side both Jesus and his teachings are.

#1 | Posted by tonyroma at 2024-09-15 12:16 AM

Barry Goldwater, floor of the US Senate, 1981, on religion in politics (wiredpen.com), well worth reading in full.

The religious factors that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their positions 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on any particular moral issue, they cajole, they complain, they threaten you with loss of money or votes or both.

In the past couple years. I have seen many news items that referred to the moral majority, pro-life and other religious groups as "the new right," and the "new conservatism." Well. I have spent quite a number of years carrying the flag of the "old conservatism." And I can say with conviction that the religious issues of these groups have little or nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics.

The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system, if they gain sufficient strength.