Whither Christianity?
Or should I say “withering Christianity”?
There was time before justice was “woke”, empathy was “a sin” and truth was not optional for public figures – especially politicians.
And when “faith” referred to one’s identity, destiny and purpose – in life, and, presumably beyond.
That time is obviously long gone.
As one prominent politician has put it, with deafening cheers, all those things are for suckers.
And maybe they always have been.
Maybe that was the point all along.
Some “Christians” I know are cheering on the emerging church/state power convergence in the United States.
They are “claiming” the “seven mountains” and intend, like the true imperialists they are, to take total control of the economy, the media, family, religion, education, arts and entertainment, business, and government and make the USA a glorious techno/monarchy/theocracy.
All hail to the glorious homeland and infallible leader. Or something like that.
Others, among us, with at least equal footing in our faith traditions, have our doubts.
American Christianity, I am convinced, has reached peak brash pointlessness.
As every student of history should know, once politicians use religion and its justifications to their full extent, the mask comes off and the brute force that was always present, claims control.
Religious people make the best pawns in any power play.
And a true authoritarian takeover could not happen without them.
But they are entirely disposable.
Perhaps this happens in every era, but 21st Century American Christianity is soulless, heartless and helpless.
I’d add useless, but first, that is too obvious, and second, it is still quasi-useful for justifying some of the more egregious acts that, some of us have not gotten used to. Yet.
As I write this, just after Easter, when Christians around the world commemorate the unjust and illegal seizure, quasi-official “arrest, late-night backroom judgement, kangaroo trial complete with bogus, invented and contradictory evidence, execution, and intentional “disposal and disappearance” of nobody from a hick town, I don’t have to tell you what has been in the headlines and talk shows the previous couple weeks.
Yes, the same silencing of the same kinds of prophetic, marginalized voices by the same vested power brokers whose goal is to consolidate their power, terrify and paralyze any critics and silence, by any means necessary, those who get in the way.
It’s the oldest story of all, this story of the strong, for its own purposes and amusement, crushing the poor.
But to see Christianity, up close and personal for many of us, cheering on its vision of essentially clear-cutting any forms of life and creativity – in the guise of “pro-life” of course, is all the more terrifying.
These are the kinds of “efficiency” experts that CS Lewis warned us of when he wrote of those do-gooders and experts who know, or say they know, better than we know, what we need. And they are convinced that we (not they) should withstand any pain or suffering for our own betterment.
We have seen these “helpers” in various guises. This is how Lewis sums up, not only what this person does, but their most enduring and dominant impact; “She's the sort of woman who lives for others - you can tell the others by their hunted expression.”
These church/state devotees would hunt us all down; those who are “impure” in their eyes, and a month or so later, those of us who are not pure enough for their dominion empire.
And as any student of empires knows, ultimately few, if any, are truly “pure” enough. And, if history and human nature is any indicator, none of us is “pure” enough.
Loyalty pledges are not bulletproof, and even more threatening to the seemingly impervious walls of the empire, once in a while a whisp of doubt, or a nudge of courage, or even the open flame of conscience emerges.
Human beings are notoriously unreliable. And there is something about living under near perpetually duress, force and deception that just doesn’t digest well in the human soul.
“People go to be free” isn’t just a slogan – it’s in our DNA. We crave it, we long for it, we (some of us anyway) sacrifice the freedom of others to preserve our own, but freedom operates under its own rules, and its first principle is that freedom for some does not equal freedom for all.
Others in bondage, or exile, does not further or guarantee our own freedom, no matter how much the propaganda tells us it will.
Freedom cannot be bought or sold. Or inherited. Or given.
Addicts know what freedom is; precisely because they know that they don’t have it.
Those who are vengeful and destructive might think they know what freedom is, but they also know that they don’t have it. They are as bound by resentments and rages as any prisoner in chains.
The fruits of the spirit are rare indeed in the eyes, hands and impulses of these new imperialists.
If you needed a reminder or scriptural reference point, it would be in Galatians 5:22-23; the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.(NIV)
That final line, at least in our era, is certainly meant to be ironic. No act of faith should violate laws – unless those laws are inherently unjust themselves. Which, if you had stayed awake in history class, you would know is standard behavior in virtually every empire.
The apostle Paul (author of Galatians) knew empire well – from inside and out, from power-broker to hunted exile; he knew empire’s power and pulse and what made it tick.
This is how he describes the driving forces of earthy power and empire – also from Galatians 5: 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NIV)
As Paul put it, they will not inherit the kingdom of God, and they certainly should not inhabit the corridors of earthly power either.
As you look over that list, for the current political administration, in 2025, having a minimum of half of those on your resume is almost a guarantee of job security.
Rage, jealousy, suspicion and deception seem to be requirements for career advancement. Being able to justify, or at least cover it all with religious sounding jargon and accessories is even better.
Empire is no friend to religion. In fact, I would argue that they bring out the worst in each other.
But the dalliance, and the promise of the ultimate temptation, (Luke 4:6-7) is seemingly irresistible and, as Jacques Ellul put it, the bargain Jesus refused but the Church accepts gladly.
In other words, this, like every human story, is the story that never ends, that takes new shapes and new names and is the story of the truth that will not be stopped, the voice of prophets never silenced and we humans, in our near infinite bungling way, reach for freedom, fullness and redemption, and never give up.