NANCY HAUGHT
  • Sacred Strangers
  • My blog
  • About/Contact
  • My book
  • Archives

'They are not the only Christians at work in the world'

8/12/2017

0 Comments

 
There is a stubborn part of me that wishes I’d kept count. But this week, for the xxxxxxth time in my adult life, I am shaking my head in sorrow and anger at the Christians making the headlines: the Christian pastor who has advised Trump that God is OK with our taking out the leader of North Korea or the Christians who marched last night at the University of Virginia in defense of white nationalism.

“They are not the only Christians at work in the world,” I tell myself and anyone within hearing distance.

If you are someone who thinks this way or has heard other Christians say what I have said, here are the words of two Christian pastors who speak more eloquently than I ever have. I encourage you to read this piece by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. If you’re in a hurry, here are two highlights:

“America’s spiritual sickness goes much deeper than our clearly troubled president. For decades, the backlash against this nation’s civil rights movement has been de-racialized and woven into the fabric of some white (and some non-white) evangelicals’ value system. Trusting pastors who have been carefully cultivated by political operatives, millions of everyday Christians have “voted their values” on abortion, marriage, and prayer in schools, only to elect people who promote policies that serve the rich and harm those Jesus called ‘the least of these.’”

and

“Even if we cannot convince the Trumpvangelicals that they are wrong, we are determined to let the world know that there is a better gospel. It is a gospel of justice, of inclusion, of love, of breaking every chain that oppresses and subjugates God’s children. Even if it is silenced, it will rise again like its Founder in the power of love.”

It’s not enough for those of us who are Christians who distance ourselves from those with more politicized motives. We have to do more than shake our heads, mutter to ourselves and talk to our friends. We need to find ways to say it publicly, as these two pastors have. Or as the pastors who have vowed to confront the white nationalists in Charlottesville and followed through.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture


    ​My book

    Sometimes our fear of strangers keeps us from becoming the people we want to be. "Sacred Strangers" is a guide to six Bible stories about outsiders who are holy examples for the rest of us. Published in October 2017.

    Order "Sacred Strangers" on Amazon or at Liturgical Press.

    Archives

    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Sacred Strangers
  • My blog
  • About/Contact
  • My book
  • Archives