I've been writing mostly giddy blogposts about moving house these past days but I'm aware there's an element of denial in it - as if one could leave behind not just an old apartment but all the woes of the world. (There's also something about a mortgage that forces you to feel the future conformable to the past, predictable, accountable.) In fact, the dangerous demagogue leading my land - with help from demagogues in many lands - pushes the world closer to calamity of one kind of another with greater volatility every day. These demagogues are really nullities, with no vision or wisdom, let alone principle. What two years of the horror make clear is that they are enabled by supporters who, for various reasons, accept or even embrace their nihilism.
In my land, a significant contingent of enablers call themselves Christians. Apparently, many are enthusiastic, feeling God at work through this broken vessel. When not tweeting for attention, does he not give his vice president, secretary of state and other white Evangelicals free rein to remake the land in a theocratic way? (They thank him by letting him think he's the Chosen One.) In response, some other Christians have recalled the Barmen Declaration of 1934, which called out German Christians who accepted or even embraced National Socialism as idolaters, and penned an open letter "Against the new nationalism." Here's some of it. (Together with the original Barmen Declaration, it's on the syllabus for "Theorizing Religion" this year.)
1. We reject the pretensions of nationalism to usurp our highest loyalties. National identity has no bearing on the debts of love we owe other sons and daughters of God. Created in the image and likeness of God, all human beings are our neighbors regardless of citizenship status.
2. We reject nationalism’s tendency to homogenize and narrow the church to a single ethnos. The church cannot be itself unless filled with disciples “from all nations” (panta ta ethné, Matthew 28:19). Cities, states, and nations have borders; the church never does. If the church is not ethnically plural, it is not the church, which requires a diversity of tongues out of obedience to the Lord.
4. We reject nationalism’s claim that the stranger, refugee, and migrant are enemies of the people. Where nationalism fears the stranger as a threat to political community, the church welcomes the stranger as necessary for full communion with God. Jesus Christ identifies himself with the poor, imprisoned foreigner in need of hospitality. “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me” (Matthew 25:41-43).
5. We reject the nationalist’s inclination to despair when unable to monopolize power and dominate opponents. When Christians change from majority to minority status in a given country, they should not contort their witness in order to stay in power. The church remains the church even as a political minority, even when unable to influence the government or when facing persecution.
Amen!
