Dear White Christian, it’s time.
It’s time to admit that this was all a horrible mistake: that whether you were misled by a pastor, deceived by a politician, manipulated by partisan media, or whether you simply never dreamed it would get as bad as it’s gotten—you can’t let this go on any longer.
This has to be a turning point; a fork in the road where you get to twist the plot into something redemptive by taking accountability and altering your course.
Such change is a holy endeavor: to confront oneself and to choose the turbulence of renovation rather than the comfort of stasis.
Every act of repentance, every turn toward goodness, every world-altering act of faith begins with a scales-falling-from-your-eyes moment of clarity—and a courageous decision.
Maybe this is yours.
I know in the quiet of your heart and the solitude of your prayers you know the truth:
Donald Trump is not Christian and never has been.
He is cruel,
immoral,
vile,
racist,
misogynistic,
narcissistic.
vulgar,
criminal,
hateful.
I’m certain that had he not run for president with an “R” next to his name, you’d have immediately seen that he is precisely the kind of person Jesus spent his life and ministry condemning and warning his followers not to become. You’d have found rejecting him to be as easy as it was for us.
This moment of urgency transcends denomination, political party, and religious worldview. It is about steadying the shifting bedrock of human decency; one that demands a courageous choice by people of faith, morality, and conscience, even when it promises discomfort. This is about a truth that can set you and hundreds of millions free.
Back in 2015, I know we’d have found common spiritual ground on this.
I imagine it would have been easy for you to admit that one simply cannot perpetuate Jesus and Donald Trump simultaneously.
You’d have realized then, that it is morally impossible to pledge adoration for both an itinerant, compassionate street preacher and to a greedy, corrupt, wall-building billionaire.
The fence is not a place for faithful people in times of consequence.
This isn’t a both/and spiritual journey.
There is a choice to be made.
I don’t require it.
The media doesn’t require it.
Political parties don’t require it.
Jesus requires it.
You either declare your aspirations to one thing or the other.
In times of social change we have seen that courageous acts yield other courageous acts, that bravery is contagious; that one person or one organization’s boldness becomes the steady shoulders on which others stand to speak a truth they have denied or been afraid to confront or couldn’t see until a moment such as this.
And this is where you come in.
You get to be brave now, too.
You get to step into the light as a spouse or a mother or an ally or a friend or a human being—and to emancipate your spirituality from the Republican Party.
You get to remind the world that Donald Trump and men like him bear no resemblance to Jesus, and they are not to be worshipped or celebrated or given carte blanche by those who aspire to loving their neighbors as themselves.
You get to leverage your voice and your social media and your pulpit and your platform and your vote to bring your personal faith to bear on history; to declare the expansive, healing, gentle heart of Jesus is the one who choose to incarnate at the polls.
You get to make an eloquent declaration that affirms the spiritual convictions you profess to live and breathe and hold dear and to condemn and resist the things that run counter to the Jesus of the Gospels, even if it costs you friends and family members and church positions—and political power.
And the moment you do, you’ll likely find yourself facing the friendly fire from people who you once imagined would be your greatest allies in the tranches of this life; supposed people of faith who betray Jesus with a kiss, all for a bag of coins or a SCOTUS seat.
That relational friction is the cost of convictions and it’s worth paying.
And when you have expressed your repudiation of this ugliness, those of us who have been out here for the past eight years fighting for a more compassionate nation will greet you the way we greet anyone who has finally awakened from the slumber of compromise or inaction:
Welcome. We’ve been waiting for you.
You’re late, but you’re here now and that’s what matters.
White Christian friend, there is daylight upon us and breath in our lungs and the present moment we stand in to get this right, to affirm and embody the empathetic, loving, welcoming namesake of our faith.
We’ve got work to do.
Please, be brave and finally divorce Donald Trump once-and-for-all.
Reject his hatred and fully embrace the love that can alter the world.
