Donald Trump outside St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. on June 1, 2020 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead/Flickr)
A major Christian world leader is urging people of faith everywhere to engage in “strident Biblical resistance” against President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
"Trump’s worldview was expressed transparently by Stephen Miller, his trusted deputy chief of staff," wrote Sojourners contributing editor Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, former general secretary of the Reformed Church in America and former director of church and society at the World Council of Churches. "After Venezuela, Miller explained that 'strength,' 'force,' and 'power' are the 'iron laws' that govern the world. It’s all a matter of transactional relations, where deals enriching the U.S. are obtained by force."
Arguing that “might makes right” is inconsistent with Christianity, which focuses on helping the poor and powerless, Granberg-Michaelson described Trump’s approach as “narcissistic grandiosity.” He also predicted that, because Trump has already unilaterally invaded Venezuela, the rest of the world should expect similar operations in Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Nigeria, Iran, Syria and elsewhere. Trump will also undercut NATO and other world peacekeeping institutions.
"The ‘Donroe Doctrine,’ an egocentric name for reasserting U.S. primacy in Western Hemisphere, won’t geographically limit Trump’s military intervention to the continental neighborhood,” Granberg-Michaelson wrote. He then argued that people of faith should “bear witness” to Trump’s un-Christian behavior as “our nation is on an unpredictable glide path with no guardrails."
"We should remember the strident biblical resistance to unaccountable power, including the divine warnings about the desire for kings (1 Samuel 8) and placing trust in chariots and horses (Psalm 20:7),” Granberg-Michaelson wrote. “The prophets continually challenged the pretense, pride, and self-serving power of rulers that fomented injustice and violated God’s intentions for the world. Jesus proclaimed a promised reign of God breaking into the world, undermining the false claims of the reigning empire. The power of might was subverted by the power of love."
Pointing out that democracy bases its theological rationale on institutional and personal accountability, and that these things cannot be reconciled with autocratic power, he argued that “shared systems of mutual constraint are required to protect the common good. But all of that can crumble.”
"We are facing modern expressions of ancient idolatry,” Granberg-Michaelson concluded. “Always, in such times, people of God are called first to faithfulness. Proclaiming ‘Jesus is Lord’ had direct political, as well as personal, meaning for those first called Christians. It does as well for us in our day. For if everything is Caesar’s, nothing is God’s."
Other religious people are also speaking out against Trump. Never Trump conservative David French, writing for The New York Times, warned that Trump-supporting Christians are abandoning their faith’s core tenet by eschewing empathy.
"Now, let's talk about empathy," French wrote. "A year ago this month, I wrote a newsletter warning about a new trend on the MAGA Christian Right. Christian theologians and influencers had begun warning about the 'sin of empathy' or 'toxic empathy.' In books, essays, podcasts and speeches, prominent Christian influencers, ministers and theologians sounded the alarm that secular progressives were leading Christians astray by appealing to their emotions at the expense of their reason."
Yet the MAGA anti-empathy argument is not reasonable, as French pointed out, but rather an excuse to ignore how Trump’s actions cannot be made logically consistent with Christian teachings.
"Evangelicals are desperate to rationalize their support for a man who gratuitously and intentionally inflicts unnecessary suffering on his opponents," French wrote. "That's exactly how empathy becomes a sin….. Many in MAGA decided that cruelty was a virtue, decency a vice, and — worst of all — that empathy was a sin. Now, we live in the harsh new world they made."
Meanwhile Andrew Egger of The Bulwark, another conservative publication, bashed Trump for not believing he could do whatever he wanted morally because of his widespread support among the Christian right.
"He sees himself as Christianity’s Punisher, the guy who will blacken his own soul to do what must be done to protect the righteous," Egger wrote.