Christians on Trial

Christians are hereby charged with betraying Christ by supporting politicians who epitomize the opposite of Him.

To understand this charge, we have to decipher the overarching spirit of the Bible and Christian tradition. We must contemplate with discernment, looking deeper than literal interpretations of narrow topics.

Exegetes have concluded through this approach that the core of Christ-likeness is:

• Upholding of the least among us
• Loving those that society does not love
• Inclusivity

Christians should support politicians that uphold these ideals, as far as is reasonably practicable.

But instead, many conservative Christians support the antithesis.

They support politicians who:

• Sell exclusivist prosperity. Usually this rears its head as populist nationalism.
• Downplay the dignity, worth and human rights of sectors of society
• Want to deregulate capitalism with little or no safeguards for the poor
• Display bigotry in the name of challenging political correctness

These Christians are hereby charged with betrayal of Christ. They, and those who sometimes find themselves on the fence, may confess… and cast one good vote for their repentance.

It is easy to discern Christ-likeness pervading the Gospels. Jesus consistently contests privileged authorities and favours the marginalised – characters like the prostitute, the Samaritan and the prodigal son. His sermon on the mount makes explicit the spirit of his life.

Christ is all about solidarity with people across societal divides. He always defends outcasts and foreigners, so much so that the rich and powerful of his tribe are threatened and have him executed.

Christ’s radically inclusive and unconditional love is central to the mystical concept of the Trinity, three persons in one God, unity in diversity.

Christian mysticism, like all mysticism, reveals that we all share the universal pain of the human condition. We can see ourselves in the beggar and the murderer, in the refugee and the alcoholic. Once we’ve seen that reflection, we cannot but seek tolerance, mercy and understanding in our leaders.

Christ’s defence of the weak extends to our fragile planet. Christ-likeness laments the suffering and extinction of species, and the destruction of the environment.

Christ-likeness is also imbued with a sense of hope and enthusiasm that human compassion and ingenuity can heal us, our societies and our planet. This hope and enthusiasm makes for progressive thinking and progressive activism.

However, this progressiveness appreciates traditional wisdom in religions, and knowledge gained through scientific endeavours. Never will the Christ-mind discard wisdom or scientific consensus willy-nilly for reductionist dogma or pseudo-progressive woke-ism.

Solidarity with the other, or unity in diversity, ultimately means transcending self, nation, race or other identities that our egos cling to. It means dying to self… like Jesus died. In this ultimate poverty, the Christ-mind is free from the anxiety and paranoia of self-preservation, and can truly face the perceived risks of loving the other unconditionally.

We hear accused Christians say this is too high an ideal for modern society. Besides, we don’t have to aspire to it because we’re saved by faith alone. Being saved by faith alone – isn’t that the main Christian message?

Actually, no dear brethren, it’s not. In fact, the concept of salvation by faith alone only gained prominence about four hundred odd years ago when Martin Luther rightly rejected the church’s selling of indulgences. Since then it’s often been corrupted to excuse Christians from carrying the cross of Christ-likeness.

Christians in the dock, we put it to you that we who claim to follow Christ do have to aspire to be like him. We must embrace the disruptive inconvenience of loving unconditionally.

We must support leaders that manifest, as far as is reasonably practicable, unconditional love for all, especially those we would conveniently love less. Those our natures do not find agreeable.

We must vote for politicians who:

• Make the plights of immigrants, the poor and the oppressed top priority
• Are committed to creating fairness in society that induces law and order, instead of squaring off against breaches with violence  
• Deliver justice with mercy
• Address underlying racial ills rather than reacting heavy-handedly to symptoms
• Inspire charity over self-promotion
• Do not address tough challenges with reckless certainty, bravado and insolence
• Are pro all life, and don’t reduce being pro-life to being pro-unborn life.
• Take seriously and act to defend human rights of all sectors of society
• Take seriously and act to defend and protect the natural environmental
• Heed traditional wisdom to solve persistent challenges instead of buying into the latest fads and conspiracy theories
• Listen to scientific consensus on problems like global warming and pandemics, and promote technological and scientific solutions

Dear Christians, Jesus would weep if he saw the rising insensitivity to immigrants and refugees among conservatives worldwide. He’d weep at the misunderstanding of Black Lives Matter, and multi-generational impacts of colonial dispossession. And how he’d sob at the site of militant groups on stand-by on the streets, trigger fingers itching to blow the brains out of fellow human beings.

Poor Jesus. Even getting out of the city, walking on the mountain, or sailing on the lake would not dry his tears. Because he’d see coal mines and coal-fired power stations, steel mills and fossil fuel refineries, pumping pollution faster than ever to the greedy beat of outdated industrialist lobbyists and politicians who surely epitomize the opposite of Christ.

He’d see thousands of square kilometres of animals jam-packed into feedlots and single-crop fields destroying nature. All so prosperous western nations can feast. Free market gluttony disguised as benign capitalism, justified by the heretical theology of prosperity.

He’d realise there is no place for him in this world. And Jesus would dust the dirt from his feet and leave.