I'm Not Sorry

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

It happened again.

I’ve mentioned before (I even started my book with this story) how, during the first term of this president, I was condemned by my fellow Christians for criticizing his policies. I was told I had to “pray and repent” and basically fall in line behind him. Well, yesterday I heard the same idea spoken, ‘as a church we must repent for criticizing our president.’

Respectfully, I disagree. Strongly. Here’s my response:

Why should we not criticize the president if he’s committing injustice? Are we not, as a prophetic voice in the world, called to do exactly that?

Consider the prophets of the Old Testament. They repeatedly criticized the king for his acts of injustice. Think of Nathan confronting King David in 2 Samuel 12. In Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. All of his advisors interpret the dream favorably, in order to flatter him. Daniel, who was in Babylon with the rest of Israel after they were exiled, and who is merely a servant of the king, speaks the truth, even though it's a rebuke (or criticism) of King Nebuchadnezzar and could have meant the end of his life. He says (v 4:27), "Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”

At times, the prophets criticized the entire nation of Israel for failing to provide justice to their neighbors. Here's one of a multitude of examples from Isaiah 10:1-2: "Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, to make widows their spoil and to plunder orphans!"

Is that not criticizing the government??

Or consider Jesus. In Matthew 23, we find Him criticizing the leaders of His day for how they made it difficult for the people to find God.

Consider the apostles. When they stood before the Jewish authorities in Acts 5, they asked, is it right for us to follow you or to follow God? They were ordered to stop speaking the name of Jesus, and yet they did not obey the authorities because they were compelled to keep speaking the gospel. They had to follow God, not man.

Yes, Romans 13 does talk about following the authorities above us, but we have to consider the context that Paul was writing in. There were still those among Israel who believed that the fact the Messiah had come meant it was time to establish an early kingdom. Were they plotting to overtake Rome? Were they resisting Roman authority? Were they staging small rebellions? It sounds like they were. They were trying to push forward the timeline of God's kingdom by using earthly power and control.

Paul tells them, no, that is not what this kingdom is about. Their nationalism was getting the better of them, but Paul reminds them that the gospel is not about power and control - it's about submission and service. It’s about love and an eternal kingdom. It’s not about establishing a religious nation. That has never gone well for the Church.

Yet that same mistake is being made all over our country today.

So, no, I do not need to "repent" because I do not believe I am in sin. I do not believe staying silent is what God is calling us as the Church to do.

I am not sorry for criticizing the president and his administration.

I’m not sorry for criticizing how he cut off USAID to the most vulnerable people around the world, directly leading to 400,000 deaths already, with another 4 million likely to occur before the end of his term. I am not sorry for criticizing how he has greenlighted the racial profiling of people who "look Hispanic," so they can be terrorized and rounded up off the streets and put into detention camps or deported to a hostile third country. I am not sorry for criticizing how he sides with Russia over Ukraine, Israel over Gaza, and rich white people over pretty much anyone else. I am not sorry for criticizing how he is arbitrarily killing people in boats in the Caribbean. I am not sorry for criticizing how he has removed protections for women, minorities, and people with disabilities. I am not sorry for criticizing the taking away of food stamps and medical coverage for millions of the most vulnerable families around our country.

Do I need to continue??

If anything, I believe the Christian Church needs to repent for staying silent on these issues. God's heart for justice, as well as His condemnation for injustice, are splashed all over the pages of the Bible from cover to cover. He cannot possibly be pleased. Even though our religion is so thoroughly intermixed with our politics that we feel we cannot criticize what one or the other is doing, we better believe that the outside world is definitely criticizing the Church for what our government is doing - often in God's name.

It should be noted that the Christian Church actually has quite a long history of criticizing presidents. Just in the recent years: Didn’t the Christian Church criticize Bill Clinton when he had an illicit affair with his intern? Didn’t the Christian Church criticize Obama when he lit up the White House in rainbow colors to celebrate the passing of the legalization of gay marriage? (Not to mention the scandal of the tan suit.) Didn’t the Christian Church criticize Joe Biden when trans visibility day fell on the same day as Easter?

Apparently, criticizing the president was not a problem until this president. This president, the so-called "savior of Christianity."

This president is not above reproach. This president who has committed more crimes than any other president in our history. This president who villainizes his political opponents and turns armed, masked men on his own people. This president who divides rather than unites.

Who are we, as a church, if we don’t speak out?

Do you ever wonder if the church in Germany regrets not speaking out against Hitler? Do you ever wonder if they regret not speaking out when their neighbors were being hauled away and taken to death camps? Do you ever wonder about that?

I do. It breaks my heart to think we are committing the same error - the same sin - in America, by staying silent right now.

God alone will judge which of us stands in the right.

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