There is a county in Michigan called Ottawa. A recent Washington Post article detailed a fight going on in Ottawa County within the local government, the Board of Commissioners. Eight new members of the Board took office in January and, ever since, they have been fighting in the name of Jesus. Their campaign promised to “thwart tyranny” and all eight of them swore their oath of office on their own family Bible. They are proudly American, proudly Republican, and proudly Christian. Once they were sworn in with a majority on the Board, they began to fire local officials. The county administrator, who managed a staff of 1800 people, was fired. They fired the head of the health department and installed in the role a local service manager of an HVAC company who had risen to public prominence as a critic of mask mandates.
The article reads like a description of a military campaign, detailing battle after battle.
The county motto had been “Ottawa County: Where You Belong.” The new council, driven by what they profess is their Christian faith, said that the slogan was Marxist and promoted divisive ideologies of race. They said that the motto “divided people by race, reduced personal agency and taught people to hate America.” The new motto is “Where Freedom Rings.”
Putting aside the dissonance of the connection to the famous words, “Let Freedom Ring” used by Martin Luther King Jr., who clearly fought for civil rights and supported the causes of labour unions, the whole fight fight fight ethos of the new council is demonstrative of a theological twist and distortion prevalent currently in many expressions of evangelicalism. This twist sees the primary nature of the relationship with the world and with others as a battle. The default stance is opposition. The default way of viewing people who disagree is as enemy.
The article goes to some lengths to give a description of the history of Christian faith and politics in the area. In doing so, it offers reflection on how things got from where they were to where they are now. The author writes of church services in which traditional hymns have been replaced by electric guitars, drums, coloured lights and smoke machines. In these churches, “God exists as a tangible force at work in the county’s everyday business, battling a devil whose presence is just as real and uncompromising.” In other words, the political opponents of the people on the Board have become identified as agents of the devil. At one church, the pastor preached about “many people in the country who are trying to destroy everything that is righteous and good and pure and holy.” A theological frame, of good vs. evil, God vs. the devil is preached and the preacher offers an obvious link that those who oppose what the church wants politically and culturally are working evil. In this, simply opposing and battling them becomes seen as good.
This is terrible theology, self-centred idolatry, and it is miles away from Jesus.
How did we get here?
There is a lot to unpack in answer to that question. For now, I will simply say that such fighting is done on behalf of idols, not on behalf of God. It is confusing because the defenders of the idols of a political viewpoint or a cultural norm or a racial framework often adopt and hijack the symbols of Christian faith in attempt to sanctify their cause and to silence critics. Throughout history many people who have claimed that they are fighting for Jesus have turned out to be fighting for something much less holy and pure.
One of the giveaways is the anger. Another is the fear. Another is the willingness to dehumanize opponents.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writing and theology is often twisted, as well, in order to bring it into the service of causes that he would clearly have opposed. Just as the slogan “Let Freedom Ring” was co-opted and altered in service of its opposite in Ottawa County, so ideas of costly discipleship and cheap grace have been used and twisted to defend views that Bonhoeffer would have argued against.
I came across a Bonhoeffer quote that informs my reflection upon the battles in Ottawa County and many other places;
“Christ does not want us to be people, representatives and advocates of a particular doctrine, but human beings, real human beings before God. God, like an ethicist did not love a theory about the good. He loved real people. God did not become a principle, an idea, a programme or a universally valid belief. God became human.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English vol 6, pp.98.99)
Losing sight of the humanity of others can enliven a fight, but it will always fail as Christian faith.
Thanks for continuing to be a voice of sanity during these trying times where some people are using Christianity as a weapon for their own purposes rather than as truths and inspirations to be lived for the higher good of everyone. The world needs your voice and others like yours to balance the insanity going on. Thanks!
Thanks Todd