Bad Faith Documentary / Good Faith Podcast

I recently attended a screening of a documentary called Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy. I'd been hearing more and more about Project 2025, and praying more and more about the disconnect between what I read in my Bible every morning and what I hear from some Christian friends, relatives, and leaders. The film seemed a chance to gain some perspective, gather some facts, maybe see a way forward.

Ten minutes in I pulled out my cellphone and started taking notes:

Weyrich
Rushdooney
oil barons
T Cullen Davis
Elimination of corporate taxes
Shadow Nation ...

Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove, Revolution of Values:
"The worst evils never present themselves as evil. They always present themselves as good."

By the end of the 88 minute documentary, I had scores of little notes typed into the notes app on my phone. My head was reeling. I felt a bit sick, a bit like crying. 

It was all so familiar, yet so very twisted. I've been in church, almost every Sunday, my entire life. My husband Whitney has worked in Christian ministry since he was 22. He retired last fall but even now he's consulting with an international ministry.

Those were people we know, quoting verses we've read, in support of destroying our nation. 

Sounds extreme? Here are my notes from a clip with Ken Peters, pastor of the Patriot Church in Knoxville, Tennessee:

The leftists are coming.
Good cannot unify with evil.
We're going into civil war.
Every home should have as many guns as possible.  

Steve Schmidt, a former Republican political strategist who worked with President George W Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arizona Senator John McCain, warned that an autocratic end of democracy as we've know it is closer than we realize: 

What always happens, when you look at autocratic movements, is one guy is not enough to give it lift.
Is there a charismatic leader with the capacity to build a cult of personality? 100%. Donald Trump did that.

But that's not enough for an autocratic movement. You need to have a propaganda arm, and they have it.

But that's not enough. You need to have the cynicism of the elites, the most highly educated people in the country . . . who look at all of this and say "I can ride that tiger. I can manipulate these rubes who actually like this guy, to my own advantage."
Because at the core of an autocratic movement is no morality. In fact, it's immorality. Or amorality. Because it's about power.

And in pursuit of that power, history teaches us, terrible terrible things happen. 

I was so troubled by what I saw that I asked Whitney to watch it with me at home. So on Sunday evening we watched it together, then spent our normal Sunday evening prayer time praying for our nation, our churches, our family members caught in the web of anger, lies and power. 

Old Testament lament involved wearing rags and ashes, wailing loudly, going hungry. That's a bit how I feel every time I think of the content of that film.
But then I remember a comment from Rev. William Barber, minister, activist, leader of the New Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. Barber was one of the strongest voices in the film speaking out against Christian nationalism, yet also the one with the strongest message of hope. I went back again to capture what he said: 

I believe we're in the moment right now that's prime for a movement that leads us into a resurrection of America. And I believe if we do it right with love and justice many of the people who have put on Christian nationalism will take it off, will get born again, will see the gospel and its truth, and that's what gives me hope, even in America. 

I'm not an optimist, no, no. I'm full of Christian hope, which looks at the despair, and at the destruction, and at the denial, and at the deception and says they are real, but they don't have to have the last say.

 Is that possible? What would love and justice and hope look like in such a dangerous, divided time?

I've just started reading a book from InterVarsity Press, Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, by Caleb E Campbell. Campbell was once a neo-Nazi white nationalist, now pastor of a large non-denominational church in Phoenix, Arizona. He describes Christian nationalism as "the Leviathan, the ancient mythical sea monster that lives in the disordered abyss . . . a vivid symbol for cosmic chaos and the evil power that oppose the loving, orderly ways of God." 

I'll be writing in future posts about Campbell's ideas for a faithful, loving, hopeful way forward. But this week, I'm sharing a podcast I stumbled on, a conversation between Campbell and Curtis Chang, host of the Good Faith podcast and founder of  Redeeming Babel, begun in 2019 "to address three underlying theological problems driving the chaos and confusion of our current world": 

a mistaken spirituality of anxiety (interior)
a missing theology of organizations (institutional)
a misshapen approach to politics (societal)

Campbell describes the growing challenge of Christian nationalism in his community, his church. He describes the seductive invitation to "fight fire with fire" by picking up the sword:

"turn the other cheek only works, only gets you so far. Now we've got to play by their rules. And so they put down the way of the Messiah and pick up Machiavelli and say "the ends justify the means."

I've heard that when people I love explain their vote for Donald Trump. "Sure he's a mocking narcissist, a liar, a serial adulterer. But God can use him to fight fire with fire. And if guns are needed, well . . . didn't God call his people to pick up their swords and fight?"

There is dangerous division in our churches, our families, our communities.  

In the months ahead, that division will likely grow. 
I know thoughtful, well-informed people working hard to prevent potential chaos in the days ahead. Many of them worry that the violence of January 6 might be just a hint of what could come next. 
What's my role in this strange season in the life of our nation, and our Christian churches?

What's your role?

In the closing pages of Disarming Leviathan, Campbell says his book is not an invitation to engage in the culture wars surrounding us. "It is refusing to fight the war altogether, to lay down the way of the sword and pick up the way of the cross."

What does the way of the cross look like?

Campbell suggests spiritual formation, love and belonging, prayer, humble subversion.

I look forward to learning and sharing more. And I join William Barber in his prayer of hope:

I'm not an optimist, no, no. I'm full of Christian hope, which looks at the despair, and at the destruction, and at the denial, and at the deception and says they are real, but they don't have to have the last say.

 

𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘𐩘

Byron Borger of Hearts and Minds bookstore in York PA, offered a long, thoughtful review of Disarming Leviathan in his July 30 Booknotes. He's also offering a 20% discount- so please consider supporting his work and his faithful witness in that very divided county. 
Yes- I've posted in the past about the work of hope. Maintaining hope is a Biblical mandate and a continuing challenge. 

Defiant, Persistent, Prophetic Hope, July 2018
What I'd Give: Resolute Hope, January 2016
Perplexed, but still hopeful, January 2012

I've also posted my views of Donald Trump, some shared before he was elected president, some after. I pray for his safety and repentance but will never, ever understand how a follower of Christ could claim that God instructs his people to vote for someone so quick to mock and so very slow to listen.

Memory, Lament, Prayer, May 2017
Women's Voices, January 2017 
Maintain Justice, October 2016
Defending the Indefensible, October 2016
Workers and their Wages, September 2016
Election Fraud and Rigged Elections, August 2016