They are friends, neighbors and fellow church members. Classmates, colleagues and relatives.
But who are these people we have longed loved but struggle now to understand?
We have cared for one another and shared laughter and tears along life’s journey. We have prayed and worshipped together.
Yet their continuing embrace of what seems so out of character with who we believed them to be leaves us baffled, disappointed and unsure about how to relate.
It seems that there is no lie, no act of corruption, no degree of abuse and no level of cruelty they are unwilling to tolerate, even defend.
At other times these ever-growing atrocities and clear injustices would have received their swift opposition. But not now.
They have bought in fully to the odd masking of obvious crimes and cruelty as some how being true patriotism and even faithful Christianity— often conflating the two.
All of which works fine, I guess, if one fully ignores the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, basic human values and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Taking God’s name in vain is more about claiming ungodly actions as being divinely sanctioned than one’s daily use of language. And Jesus can be mocked in more ways than with words.
Why would those long immersed in Christian communities charged with making disciples of Jesus so ardently support such contrasting values?
It is a troubling question that doesn’t fade away. Ongoing contemplation doesn’t lead to complete understanding but perhaps the discovery of a few clues.
Honestly, I do not believe these professing Christians I’ve long known are motivated by hatred. That is too out character for them.
Rather they are motivated by fear that accommodates hatred if carried out by others on their behalf. And the tragic results are the same.
It is no more noble — or faithful — to empower harm than to do it firsthand. And with voice and vote they keep empowering government officials who now make kidnapping and other cruelties great again.
The seductive power of authoritarianism comes from creating alarm often based in repeated disinformation and demeaning stereotypes. Yet accurate information is not enough to squelch the pumped-up fears.
A real and present danger in attaching oneself to authoritarian narcissists so tightly is that such strong loyalty leads to places of conflicting values where one would have sworn never to go.
It is not done in leaps but in small steps that keep stretching ethical boundaries until one ends up well beyond the once-established of bounds of morality.
In political science, the Overton Window tracks the creeping normality of what once was widely unacceptable. In spiritual terms it’s a matter of placing a fear-based political ideology over a primary commitment to following Jesus.
Once there, it is hard to return to what was previously held as abiding truth. Blind allegiance and continuous rationalization that accompany this journey remain more compelling than repentance and redirection.
At some point, however, it becomes impossible to justify support for such long-defended but despicable behavior that gets worse with time and without needed opposition.
We have seen that historically with other faith-empowered injustices — in the U.S., Germany and elsewhere.
Sadly and rarely is there real-time acknowledgement. Rather than admitting being on the wrong track many professing Christians simply reframe the abhorrent behavior as less or other than its reality.
Media sources aplenty — including individual social media accounts — are filled with defensive deflections. They seek to downplay the most offensive and objectionable behaviors by reducing them to something merely annoying like “a mean tweet.”
The other defensive move is to seek refuge in false equivalences that suggest everyone’s lack of human perfection is equal to the vile and hate-driven atrocities at hand.
Others just refuse to think through their loyalties out of fear of what might be found.
The well-stirred racial fear at the core of white Americanized Christian support of abusive authoritarianism today is rarely acknowledged and often unrealized.
Such denial makes it more challenging to overcome than the overt racism witnessed among family and friends in the past decades.
That’s not to suggest that today’s racism is deeply buried. It is seen and heard each day by those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Followers of Jesus, however, have been given the antidote to fear: “There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives away fear.” (1 John 4:18)
So the greatest tragedy of white Americanized Christianity today is found in the poor and tragic choosing of fear over love. And that choice is rooted in where one places his or her ultimate trust.
Is it really too hard for someone who genuinely puts their trust in God to see an immigrant family being ripped apart and respond out of love rather than fear and legalism that leads to cruelty?
If that question causes even a pause in answering it indicates the likely embrace of something more appealing than the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ.
How difficult is it for a person who claims Jesus as Lord to respond with empathy and care toward those who are dehumanized and treated unjustly?
I really don’t know. Unless fear has cast out all love.
But I do know all the excuses, deflections, reframing and false equivalences. Yet none of them reflects the way Jesus lived and called his followers to do likewise.
Whether we choose to live by fear that fuels harm or faith that produces love just might answer the question of who we really are.
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 first Jesus Worldview Conference, October 13-15, in Nashville.