How some evangelical Christians are complicit in the cruelty of politics
Late in 1945, amid ruin-choked, refugee-filled cities, church leaders of Germany issued the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt. This short, yet controversial confession acknowledged the church's partial responsibility for National Socialism. By their acquiescence in the gradual degradation of civil society, the persecution of all who did not "fit," and their embrace of the national mission of domination, many Christians had failed to stand for the Gospel. Some had pulled the trigger while most had sat by consoling themselves with patriotism and personal morality.
As the "Declaration" put it, however, "Founded on Holy Scripture, with entire seriousness before the Church's only Lord, we are undertaking to purify ourselves from influences alien to the faith and bring ourselves into order." The church had to do better.
I think of that era because I wonder what faces the church in America after this one. Many evangelical Christians have embraced "influences alien to the faith:" nationalism without self-restraint, fear of immigrants, a readiness to make social warfare upon the young, stern opposition to science and knowledge in all its forms. The list goes on.
Certainly there are noble exceptions such as the objections from ethicists in the Southern Baptist Convention, and of course the call to moral clarity from Catholic bishops. But much of the church pretends to be focused on the gospel while supporting political leaders who promise to make us great again. No meek inheriting the earth for us.
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/evangelical-christians-complicit-trumps-cruelty
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