True Christianity in the midst of American shock

A quick glance at the timelines and social media feeds of my progressive and left leaning friends reveals an ongoing shock in response to the character and politics of mainstream Christianity in the United States, however, we should all remember that many followers of Jesus have known for a very long time that western Christianity was severely diseased. Some of the surprise and outrage was sparked by the release of data revealing that 81% of white evangelicals supported Donald Trump’s election, as well as that a majority of white mainline Protestants did as well.

For many with a semblance of historical memory, Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” told a patriotic narrative in which stealing land from Native Americans and forcing them to migrate into reservations, as well as centuries of genocide and war against their tribes, should have disqualified our country from being defined as great and exceptional. That problematic narrative coupled with the marginalizing of 250 years of stealing and enslaving millions and millions of African people, followed by new white supremacists systems like Black codes and Jim Crow apartheid, or convict leasing and sharecropping systems ought to negate any claims of American greatness. Of course, our ongoing white supremacist paternalism, terrorism, and oversight of both communities (as well as other minorities) suggest that we have a strange definition of greatness that does not match up with the greatness Jesus defined as humble service to others.