There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.
― Desmond Tutu
Earlier this week, in a Facebook post, Franklin Graham, a man who has traded on his father’s (famed evangelist, Billy Graham) good name for his entire life, wrote:
Shame, shame on the ten Republicans who joined with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in impeaching President Trump yesterday. After all that he has done for our country, you would turn your back and betray him so quickly…the House Democrats impeached him because they hate him and want to do as much damage as they can. And these ten, from his own party, joined in the feeding frenzy. It makes you wonder what the thirty pieces of silver were that Speaker Pelosi promised for this betrayal..
For the last 40 years or so of American History there has been a commodification of Jesus’s name. This is not to say that this is a new practice. There have always been those who used the name of Jesus to line their own pockets. That being said, in the past 40 years, with the ascension of those in the White Evangelical church to the place of powerful voting bloc, there have been those religious leaders who have used the name of Jesus to somehow sanctify their particulate political beliefs. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, and, yes, Franklin Graham all parlayed their clout within the conservative church world to strengthen their political voice and the messiah came along for the ride.
At the same time, other more mainline Christians, most of whom are averse to outward conflict, largely regressed from speaking out on worldly matters. They understood the work of the church to be attending to loftier, spiritual matters while leaving earthly concerns to individual preference. Of course, this served to sever traditional denominations from people’s lived experience. For most congregations, the walls of the sanctuary became impenetrable either from the inside out or vice versa. It also cleared off the national stage for folks like Jerry Falwell to tell folks what Jesus thought about particular candidates for the highest offices in the land. It allowed James Dobson to critique everyone’s familial structure and choices in the name of God, make a virtue out of hating queer folks, and tell everyone how Jesus would have them raise their children. It allowed Ralph Reed to tell folks that one political party represented Christianity and the other was godless. And, absent any kind of pushback, it allows Franklin Graham to positively compare the President to Jesus and those who don’t support the president to Judas, selling his soul and his betrayal for 30 pieces of silver. This is not ok with me and I don’t imagine it is ok with a lot of my friends. And it is time that that is said.
Moreover, it is time for the traditional reformed denominations to get out from behind the stained glass and the pulpit and follow the advice of Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town, who asked his followers to move beyond simply the needs of those who are struggling, and seek to address the root causes of suffering. Only once that has been determined can one truly begin the difficult work for systemic change, of being the hands and feet of Christ, and making it here, as we believe that it is in Heaven. Tutu is right. The mainline church, in its effort to be apolitical while focusing on “spiritual matters” has lost the ability to think in and challenge systems of oppression—to move beyond having a coat drive, food kitchen, homeless shelter, and ask why folks don’t have food, coats, or a place to sleep at night. And in a land of disparate groups to do so is political, as much as challenging those systems to change is. And we have to reclaim the language and actions of Jesus—of Christ challenging the larger culture (turning over tables, accusing the priestly class of being in the pocket of Rome, speaking truth to power)—not to elevate a politician or political party but to challenge all those with power to better embody justice and peace while offering dignity to all people regardless of partisanship, economic, status, race, gender, or sexuality.
If we remain silent, we can be guaranteed that the Franklin Grahams of the world will not and without any sort of pushback from those faithful who disagree with him, the assumption will be that he speaks for all of us. Further, he will proclaim with his words and we with our silence that Christianity is only interested in possessing earthly powers and engaging in the judgmentalism that has made up the vast majority of the faith for the past 50 years, while caring little for those who honestly struggle.
The Franklin Grahams of the world do not speak for me and most of the time the religion they practice is unrecognizable for a great many of the faithful. It is my hope that, in this time of chaos and upheaval brought on, largely, by politicians who have sought to gain power by convincing large number of folks of falsehoods and conspiratorial myths, others like me will find their voices and join together in decrying the false prophets of our day speaking only of Christ Jesus and him crucified.