Check Your Privilege

One of the latest orders coming down from the White House is a bill to "end anti-Christian bias". I found that surprising. It suggests we need this bill because anti-Christian bias exists, only, last I knew, Christianity was the most privileged religion in the country... where is this coming from?

It reminds me of the young pastor I heard at a church I visited once, only once, who said that Christianity was under attack in this country and someday we might be called to "fight back". I didn't stick around long enough to find out what he meant by that.

Is Christianity really under attack in our country? And do we really need to "fight back"?

Let’s take a gander at history. Let’s remember that all but two of the original twelve disciples were killed for proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Let’s remember that the early church for nearly three hundred years faced incredible opposition from nonbelieving Jews, as well as from the Roman government, which led to imprisonment, torture, and execution of Christian believers.

Let's take a look at the present. Some people think that the persecution of Christians is a thing of the past. We probably think that because we have had a state of privilege in this country for a very long time. However, that is just not true. One day you should check out the Voice of the Martyrs website. They track persecutions that are happening today around the world. Christians are still imprisoned, tortured, and executed for their faith on the regular. In Nigeria, for example, buses taking families to church on Sunday have been bombed, churches have been set on fire (sometimes with people in them), and pastors have been beheaded. Like, right now. Not hundreds of years ago. In China, where there is an official state church, a sort of Christian Chinese nationalist thing, most true believers meet in secret churches underground. Anyone who is caught can face imprisonment as these churches are seen as subversive to the government.

Here is the US, we aren't imprisoned or tortured or executed for our faith. We have - or at least, we have had - freedom of religion. We are a very gun-happy country, though, with very few controls on gun ownership, and therefore we have had a few mass shootings in Christian schools and Christian churches. But, of course, we have also had mass shootings in public schools and office buildings and Jewish synagogues and nightclubs, so this is not something targeting Christians in general. So then, what do American Christians mean when they say Christianity is under attack?

There's one more important piece of history we should bring up here. Back in the 1950's, there was a big fear of communism spreading to the US. Politicians decided encouraging Christianity would be the best way to counter communism. They began calling the US a "Christian nation" and politicians sold themselves as "good Christian men" and they talked a lot about morals and "family values". "In God we trust" was added to our money and "under God" added to the pledge of allegiance. This was the origin of the belief which is now prevalent today in churches across the country. We haven't been a Christian nation since the founders. Most the founders weren't even Christian! Rather, this was a political campaign - a highly successful one - which has shaped politics and society to this day.*

Christians have had a great deal of privilege in this country for a long time. That freedom of religion? Sure hasn't always applied to Muslims or Hindus or Atheists or Buddhists. It has however pretty much always applied to Christians, especially since the 50's. For example, recently the state of Louisiana passed a law to put up images of the 10 commandments in classrooms across the state, and Christians celebrated. However, if they had passed a law to put up images of Buddha or Mecca, Christians would have campaigned avidly against it. Truth be told, we don't really want freedom of religion - we want our religion to be imposed on everyone, and that's a very different thing.

What is privilege? Christian privilege doesn't mean things have always come easy to Christians, but rather that things haven't been difficult because of being Christian. On the contrary, most doors are open to Christians. In that way, we as Christians - in particular, Evangelical Christians - have had a special advantage over people of other faiths. White Christians have a double advantage - a privileged position of race as well as religion. White male Christians... well, you get my point. It is privilege which is being challenged in this country right now. Other groups which have been sidelined for generations have been rising up and saying, hey, this isn't fair. We want to have the same advantages, or at least, not have so many disadvantages against us.

Now, people seem to think that privilege is like a pie, and if you give a bigger piece to others, then your piece gets smaller. But that's not how it works. When we make situations more equitable, when everyone gets a fair share and what they need to be successful, we all benefit. Our society benefits.

I just saw a blog on a blogging site that I follow, where a gentleman, I’ll let you guess his race, suggested that basic human rights are not defended by the Bible. Respectfully, I disagree. Although the Bible was written in a time and a culture within which human rights were violated all over the place, I do believe that the words of God, the law that he gave Moses, and the teachings of Jesus, all enforced the idea of equity and inclusion. The Bible enforces the idea of caring for the poor and the oppressed and lifting up those of lower station. The Bible also takes about caring for strangers and foreigners! In a sense, sorry to tell you, but the Bible is incredibly DEI! From the law of Moses to the Sermon on the Mount, God cares about the least of these and demands that we care too.

This effort by the American government to destroy diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, to purge women and minorities from government and to take away their rights, to establish some twisted form of Christian nationalism, is incredibly unBiblical. Which is okay in the sense that our government doesn’t have to be Biblical. It's the government of the people, not the government of the Christians. Throughout history, when Christianity has been made the national religion, the witness of the Church has died. I see us heading in that direction and it worries me.

Let me be clear. Our democracy was set-up so that everyone gets to vote on the type of country we want. I think Christians should absolutely vote for measures and policies and politicians they believe best represent their Christian morals and values. AND we should vote and advocate in opposition of measures and policies and politicians which go against our Christian morals and values. No one person nor any one government will always get it right. Part of the reason why people are so upset right now - and rightly so - is because the current administration is taking on too much power without going through the proper channels and checks and balances. That is dangerous. If one man can destroy USAID, an important program for America and the world, who's to stop him for destroying Medicaid or Social Security or food stamps? It is incredibly dangerous. So, we protest and we advocate and we call our representatives, because that is the way of democracy.

What is NOT okay is when Christians are in support of these efforts which are hurting so many people. When Christians support unBiblical laws and policies and the suffering of others. It is that support which inspires this entire blog, and which motivates me to keep writing. Because that is not Christianity. That is not Christlike. And that is not who we are called to be.

Christians should not be cheering when migrants are deported in chains back to dangerous countries or the torture chambers of Guantanamo Bay. Christians should not be cheering when funding is cut for programs which feed starving children and care for widows and help resettle refugees who have survived war. Christians should not be cheering when money for kids' education is held up like a carrot, only handed over if people pledge their loyalty.

To support these things as a Christian implies God supports them, too. And that is what breaks my heart on the daily.

We are not under attack. We do not need a "savior" in the White House. We are citizens of a higher kingdom, and we are called to love others, to feed the hungry, to house the homeless, to visit those in prison, and to welcome the stranger, regardless of their race, their gender, their religion, or anything else that makes them different from us.

Check your privilege, Christians. Remember who you are.

* You can read more about this in Kristin Du Mez' excellent book, "Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation".

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