Christians can’t confront violence by blaming “both sides” and their incivility
We don't have to choose a political party. We do have to name the problem for what it is.
By all rights, the arrest of a suspect in a week-long bomb campaign against leaders of the Democratic party, media figures, and the liberal philanthropic icon George Soros should have put to rest a news cycle of terror. It did not. On Friday night, the same day what appeared to be one of his supporters was arrested in connection with the bombing case, President Trump gave another fiery rally speech, including attacking "globalists"—a term freighted with an anti-Semitic history—and laughing as the crowd chanted for Soros to be "locked up." The next morning, a far-right gunman attacked a synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 and wounding six more, including four police officers.
Real talk about American social divisions is needed more than ever, particularly in the church. It has long been a staple of religious leaders—particularly since Trump first emerged as a candidate in 2015—to decry the partisanship, incivility, and divisiveness that now seem like permanent fixtures of the national political climate. Christians are urged to come together in a spirit of unity to repair the breach that afflicts the body politic. Their leaders call them, rightly, to participate in the great ministry of reconciliation established in the body and blood of Jesus himself. The question lingers in the air: if Christians won’t do the work to improve political discourse to bring opposing sides together, who will? We are, after all, supposed to be the people of speaking the truth in love.
As positive as these calls are, however, their effectiveness is blunted by a lack of clear thinking about the problems set before us.
