We Christians like to talk about Hell a lot, so let’s talk about Hell a little.
Hell began in the very first few daylight hours after Donald Trump’s election victory:
It began with hallway harassments and defaced Synagogues and taunted Hispanic children at bus stops and misogynistic slurs in coffee shops.
It continued with Muslim bans and ICE raids and bathroom bills and Supremacist Cabinet appointments.
And it has continued up until the horrors in Charlottesville; sneering mobs with torches, terrorizing citizens—and a President defending them.
This is the personal Hell we unleashed upon our people back in November.
And if you’re a white Christian and you voted for Donald Trump—you need to fix this. Now.
You comprise the lion’s share of Trump’s elevation to the highest office of our country.
You knew exactly who this man was while you held your noses and covered your eyes and you endorsed him anyway.
You are fully responsible for the flood of personal sewage now engulfing children and adults of color, those in the LGBTQ community, those in the Muslim community, members of the Jewish community.
And you, white Christian, better get you spiritual shit together and figure out how you’re going make this right.
Let’s be clear about something, brothers and sisters:
You chose the guy who’s entire resume is built on supremacy and privilege and bigotry, whose entire campaign was about manufacturing and leveraging fear of the other (the other in this case, other being anyone not white, straight, and Christian).
You chose the guy endorsed by the KKK. You did. You need to own that. You need to repent of that. You need to make it right.
And you need to understand this.
Oppressed people aren’t obliged to make nice with their oppressors.
The bullied don’t owe anything to the bullies.
Victims don’t have to make their assailants feel better.
Young children of color aren’t responsible to educate racist children—or their parents.
In the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his listeners, that those who followed after him, those who would bear his name are to love the least; not those who are less-than, but those who are treated as less-than. He then paints the picture of the eternal suffering Christians are always so willing to condemn others to, and he says that it will be their lack of love and compassion and mercy for these most vulnerable, most hurting people—that will condemn them.
White Christians and the white Church, especially if you voted for Donald Trump: this is all on you.
Your pastors need to speak clearly and explicitly into this, now.
Your church websites and social media pages need to address this harassment and bullying and terrorizing, now.
You need to talk to your white children and teach them how to not be horrible to other kids who aren’t white—and how to stand up to those who are being horrible, now.
You need to talk to your children’s coaches and to your midweek Bible Study and to your co-workers and your church staff and your gun club—and you need to call this poison out, now.
White churches, this Sunday, your only sermon should be the one that reminds your white members of what the parable of the Good Samaritan was compelling followers of Jesus to be: radically merciful to suffering strangers when everyone else looked the other way.
You need to reach out to your neighbors and coworkers and classmates and social media friends who are part of marginalized communities and reassure them, listen to them, care for them, be Jesus to them.
If not, no matter how you rationalize it or try to squeeze your way out of it, the personal Hell so many people are living in and will continue to live in over the next four years, will be one of your design or consent or permission.
It will be your shared sin.
The blood will be on your hands.
This is your place and time in history to show people what Jesus is supposed to look like.
This is your urgent moment to make a testimony that is Christlike or to willingly and openly deny Christ.
This is your crucial opportunity to be the peacemakers, white Christians; not by compelling the marginalized to be more understanding or to ask them to come to the table with those who are injuring them—but by speaking directly into the face of those inflicting the injury and demanding their repentance.
Now you can dismiss the stories of violence or diminish their collateral damage or accuse the victims of exaggeration. You can claim that things will die down once these people “get this out of their systems”.
You can turn away and logout and retreat into the cloistered security of your white Christian bubble of privilege.
Or, you can step out into the school hallways and bus stops and coffee shops and Twitter feeds, and bring the bold, loving, redemptive presence of Jesus you’re always claiming you want to be in the world. You can actually step into Hell and bring the freakin’ love of God.
At times like these, Christians like to smile sweetly and say, “God is in control.”
No. God is not in control like that.
God didn’t vote for Donald Trump, you did.
Stop passing the buck to God.
God isn’t taking away people’s healthcare.
God isn’t telling brown-skinned people to “go back where they came from.”
God is not sending refugees away.
God isn’t defacing prayer rooms.
God isn’t taunting gay teenagers.
God is not bullying kids on buses.
God is not carrying torches through cities.
God isn’t threatening Muslim families.
Lots of white people (many who claim to be Christians) are.
You are in control of this. You have pulpits and pews and a voice and influence and social media—so get to work.
You need to do some knee-to-the-dirt exploratory surgery with your Maker and figure out how you’re going to respond to this—and then respond.
For the love of God and for the love of the people you claim that God so loves—fix this.
Now.
