Church v. State

Usually, I love when church, politics, and popular culture collide. That is right in my sweet spot. But as a Black-American Christian, these last few weeks have been tough. I haven’t even fully processed all that has occurred. I can’t tell if we’re living in Revelations or an SNL skit. God help us all.

Let’s start with Easter, arguably the holiest of all Christian holidays. The basis for our faith is what happened on that cross and the days that followed. It is a time to celebrate a resurrection, and a fresh start. And on that morning, the president posted at least one expletive, threatened people with living in hell, (At this point, I’m not so sure we’re not already there.) and then said Praise to Allah. On Easter. I’m not sure who should have been more offended, us Christians, or our Muslim brothers and sisters. It was bad.

Then there was the AI generated picture of Trump as what most of us recognized as Jesus. Members of his administration tried to tell us it was a joke. But the president looked right into cameras and tried to tell the American people he thought he was posting himself, not as the Great Physician, but as a doctor. (Insert eye roll here). There were subsequent pictures, not of the President as Jesus, but the president with Jesus.

Then POTUS seemed to be in conflict with the Pope, which I don’t necessarily have a problem with. These two have entirely different jobs and operate in different realms. It seems natural that their goals would sometimes clash. Jesus was always fighting against the powers that be. Why wouldn’t his representative on earth be doing the same. What I am not okay with is supposedly devout members of the Catholic Church siding with the president over the Pope. I thought faith was supposed to inform your politics, not the other way around.

If that’s what we’re doing now, the universal church is in trouble. One of the most recognizable politicians in the world right now is a man who calls people names, publicly uses profanity, and threatens to annihilate whole people groups. He has said that he hates his opponents. And some of the most famous preachers in America are excusing away such behavior.

I am not looking forward to watching this play out. I don’t think it ends well for any of us. Somebody should separate these two entities. Oh wait. I think we tried that already.