COULD CHRISTIANS HELP AMERICA AVOID DISASTER?
Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, pro-Trump or anti-Trump, we all agree on at least one thing. American democracy is threatened in a way that it has not been at least since 1860.
The facts are devastating. A significant percentage of Americans think violence (military means, violent revolution) is justified to protect their view of America. A December, 2021 national poll found that about 1/3 of all Americans think violence against the government can be justified. (Only 10% thought that in 2010.) Most Americans receive their news (information about the “facts”) from different sources that are often fundamentally contradictory. There is vast disagreement about what science shows and whether that should be important.
Basically, Americans live in two different political worlds. And there is little to no conversation and even less understanding across the huge divide. If we cannot learn how to talk and listen across this huge gulf, the future is terrifyingly bleak.
What can be done? I don’t know. I am asking for your ideas, your help, your stories of respectful bridging of this gap.
What most dismays me is that Christians are on both sides of this huge divide. I weep over the brokenness of the body of Christ.
I genuinely believe that many supporters of Donald Trump love Jesus as much as I do. They want Jesus, not politics, to be the decisive factor in what they believe and do.
All Christians believe (or should believe) that their oneness in the body of Christ is far more important than political disagreements. That should provide a foundation for new conversations. If any group of Americans can begin to truly listen to those who disagree with them politically, that ought to be Christians – – Christians who know and confess that there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism”(Ephesians 4:5).
Is it naïve or madness to think that American Christians of all political views could start a new movement to listen to each other across deeply held political differences? In realistic terms, that seems unlikely. Christians so often seem to be the problem, not the solution. But when one thinks theologically, it seems possible – – indeed necessary. Our oneness in the body of Christ compels us to make new efforts to new listening and dialogue.
I confess that I do not currently have an ongoing meaningful conversation with people whose political views are dramatically different from mine. But I would like to have that.
And I would like to hear stories of Christians who are doing that.
I need help! Write to me! Tell me if you think my starting point is correct – – that oneness in the body of Christ is more important than political differences. Tell me of examples of Christians genuinely listening and talking across the great political divide. Tell me about how we can make that happen in a much larger way.
Finally, it is not just the future of American democracy that is at stake. Much more important, the future of the church is at stake. If our political differences (however great) override our oneness in the body of Christ, then we have abandoned Christian faith itself. We worship an idol, not Jesus Christ the risen Lord.
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My husband and I have been stymied by the draw of Christians to a man who defies Christianity. Yes, you want to pray for him and not condemn him because we are not his judge. But you cannot accept such a flawed, amoral man as a leader.
Our country is now at a crossroads and opposing voices cannot speak. I have tried by a simple “can we talk” and because I am known as opposing a man who is twice impeached and a former President, I am person a non grata.
Ron, I greatly appreciate your concerns but I have no answers or even ideas. As with alcoholics, drug addicts and others with mind altering disease, this society may need to reach the absolute bottom before it can rise again. The difference is that in real pathology, a professional can intervene. In government, as happened after the civil war, healing is a crap shoot that is led by imperfect people and evil.
God only can help us. Pray fervently. Let God lead us in solution and healing.
I am a Canadian living in Ontario, and my wife is American originally from Michigan. We have a lot of family in Michigan, some of whom are Trump supporters. They are also very devout conservative Christians. I also have several friends who are Trump supporters. My wife and I are liberal when it comes to social policy issues, but theologically conservative.
We are not Trump supporters. Our friends and family who are supporting Trump, do so largely because of the abortion issue. They do not like Trump as a person, and are bothered by his personal morals and character, but in their minds the abortion issue is important enough that they will still back the Republican party. From their perspective, abortion is such a horrendous practice that they cannot support the Democratic party, no matter what.
I cannot blame them for that, because they are not entirely wrong when it comes to abortion.
It seems to me that the Democrats are making a very crucial error in not appreciating just how seriously the abortion issue is to those who are supporting Trump.