Here is some widely known but often suppressed unvarnished and verifiable truth:
White Americanized evangelicals, more than any other subgroup, empower and accommodate an overtly corrupt, vulgar and vicious national leadership in exchange for religious and racial privilege.
However, much effort goes into seeking to silence those who speak on behalf of the vulnerable and abused people for whom the biblical prophets and Jesus himself stood up and spoke up.
In today’s evangelical world, however, the “bad guys” are not the ones who cause or support such abuse, but those who point it out.
That stifling or pushback largely comes from two sources:
One, is highly defensive professing Christians who don’t want the contrast between Jesus’ life and teachings and their well-fused political identity exposed.
The other comes from those who protect such privileged persons from any sense of discomfort.
Oddly, those who support the demonizing and abuse of others get a pass. Those who criticize such abuse or support of abuse are considered out of bounds.
I hear it often: “But why say so?” “Aren’t you causing division?”
In Matthew 10:32-39 (the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday) Jesus is quite clear that faithfulness to him is often divisive. It’s important to remember that his challenges to power didn’t win him “Citizen of the Year” but an execution.
But it is a fair question, “Why say so?” Here are my answers:
First, because it’s both true and faithful.
Second, because silence comes at the high expense of both the public Christian witness (which is now decimated in the US) and, more importantly, the lives of those targeted by evildoers who find pleasure in harming vulnerable people.
Yet, amid such overtly evil times, many who seek to hold together churches and other organizations — as well as their families — speak more on behalf of the easily-offended privileged persons than openly advocate for those who suffer from the resulting injustices.
When weighing that choice, however, I see no path of faithfulness as a follower of Jesus other than to speak up for those being deeply harmed rather than trying to appease those who claim the Christian mantle while giving voice and vote to the oppressors.
Dorothy Grover Bolton, among others, has been credited with the line: “Silence isn’t always golden; sometimes it’s just yellow.”
Moments to speak up and stand up don’t last — and come at a high expense.
Many years ago veteran civil rights leader the Rev. Joseph Lowery spoke to a small group of African-American engineering students. As a campus minister, I was invited to sit in.
Among the many memorable things he said was: “If everyone who has told me they marched with Dr. King had actually marched with Dr. King, those dogs in Alabama would have turned and ran the other way.”
When we get past this current moment in which our government is openly abusive and corrupt — and all the damage is fully exposed — there will be all kinds of revisions and rationalizations from those who stood on the side of evil or stayed silent at the moment.
Why say so? Faithfulness to Jesus requires it.
Why now? Because timing really matters.
John D. Pierce is director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative (jesusworldview.org), part of Belmont University’s Rev. Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership. Join us for the second annual Jesus Worldview Conference in Nashville October 12-13, 2026.