On the President’s Proclamation on 850th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket

 

I have noticed on Facebook some have praised President Trump and the White House for the “Proclamation on 850th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket.” I do find much to praise in this proclamation, the call for religious liberty in all countries is to be applauded and the emphasis on life, both born and unborn, is praiseworthy and yet I disagree with much of this. Let me begin by referring to an experience I often have on Easter when in boredom, at night, I watch bits of The Ten Commandments, which is too often shown on TV during the holiday. After watching all of the religious drama one comes to the end and hears Moses proclaim, “Go out into the world and proclaim liberty everywhere.” And of course that has nothing to do with God’s work among His people. I will return to this at the end.

First the President probably did not write most of this but still it is his proclamation and he signed it. The document states:

When the Archbishop refused to allow the King to interfere in the affairs of the Church, Thomas Becket stood at the intersection of church and state. That stand, after centuries of state-sponsored religious oppression and religious wars throughout Europe, eventually led to the establishment of religious liberty in the New World. It is because of great men like Thomas Becket that the first American President George Washington could proclaim more than 600 years later that, in the United States, “All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship” and that “it is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.”

While I agree that Thomas Becket was a faithful servant of the Church, dying to protect her rights from secular power, this wasn’t actually about what we think of today as religious liberty. For over a thousand years the Roman Catholic Church and various kings and emperors had fought over who had the right to rule. Should archbishops and/or popes have the right to crown Kings and Emperors? Should Kings and Emperors have the right to tell clergy what to do? A lot of this was tied up in the battles between Becket and Henry II. Henry thought that the lower clergy should answer to the state when they committed crimes—Becket thought they should not, they should answer to the Church.

Perhaps the greatest argument between them was when several Church officials officiated at the crowning of Henry’s son. By custom that was the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Becket promptly excommunicated the three officials. (And here I must say I don’t disagree with church discipline; I believe secular office holders, and all others who encourage and uphold abortion should be excommunicated—and that’s coming from an evangelical not a Catholic.) But the decision about who had the power, was just that. The King was seeking power and so was the Archbishop.

And while I believe Becket was a saint as the Catholic Church defines saints I don’t believe Becket was the beginning of what we now think of as religious freedom. Truthfully we have to think of the Baptist, the Anabaptist and the Quakers as those who truly planted freedom of religion in first our hearts and then our laws. For instance Rhode Island, acquired by a Baptist, and Pennsylvania, procured by a Quaker were the first truly religiously free states among the colonist. This does not deny the faithfulness of Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics and others; eventually all began to understand faith, in particular the Christian faith, would prosper further under the stewardship of religious freedom. But it is a lesson we have had to visit over and over.

But this is not my only problem with President Trump’s proclamation. While this statement is basically right,

As Americans, we were first united by our belief that “rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God” and that defending liberty is more important than life itself. If we are to continue to be the land of the free, no government official, no governor, no bureaucrat, no judge, and no legislator must be allowed to decree what is orthodox in matters of religion or to require religious believers to violate their consciences. No right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions.

This final part of the proclamation contradicts it,

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 29, 2020, as the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. I invite the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches and customary places of meeting with appropriate ceremonies in commemoration of the life and legacy of Thomas Becket.”

This is the state telling not only churches but also schools and other gatherings to commemorate a religious holiday. By decreeing Becket’s martyrdom a special anniversary, the state and in particular a president, is in a real sense “decree[ing] what is orthodox in matters of religion.” This has undoubtedly happened because the author of the proclamation has imagined religious liberty to be a doctrine of Christianity. It is not of course but is instead a protector of all religions. That is the same as equating the story of God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from their slavery in Egypt with a general call to proclaim liberty to the world. Freedom is a blessed gift of God, and God was freeing the slaves, but he was doing so much more. His purposes were far deeper and pointing to eternity. God was calling a people to himself, redeeming them from not only hard taskmasters but purifying them for Himself. Preparing them as a people who would fulfill His purpose.

A document such as this one should be tied to the principles of our Democracy not to the celebration of the anniversary of the death of a saint. Freedom, a gift, is surprisingly less a gift to the Church, then the gift of Christ’s saints, in their death. Thomas Becket should not become a symbol for our freedom, he does not belong to the American dream, but to the Church of Jesus Christ.

Flirting with a Soiled and Ragged Crowd: A new religious movement

 

During the seventies and eighties the name “cults” was changed by many in ministry and secular scholars who abhorred the use of the word cult.  The new religious groups are generally now referred to as New Religions. That is a better way of addressing such groups as Jehovah Witnesses or Christian Science—I was and am happy for the new way of seeing the many new developing groups. However there are still groups I refer to as cults. Scientology is one. Jim Jones group, seduced by Jones to reject all family and friends as well as God’s word, but to accept suicide, was a cult. A once local Sacramento group, Aggressive Christianity, was a small group whose members have dwindled since moving to another state where several of them, in the last few years, were arrested for child molestation. And that is a clue of why I would still call them cults, because their leaders attempt to absolutely control them and too often that controlling leads to bodily harm.

There is of course spiritual harm to members who belong to any false religious group. But generally there is no intent of absolute control.

There is, however, another description of religious groups, they can become movements rather than institutional entities. I think you could rightfully call the Fascists of the thirties a political/cultic movement. Each leader of the various countries, Italy, Germany and Spain were charismatic figures who became dictators. They were adored by many who felt they had returned their various countries to morality and prosperity. And, of course, there were those who detested and feared them, rightfully praying for their defeat.

I have been both reading and posting articles on Facebook whose authors believe that a new religious movement is growing among some Christians which they call a cultic movement. That is Trumpism. This Thursday I discovered on messenger a Facebook friend had left me a video—“The Plot to Steal America,” a video filled with conspiracy theories about the presidential election which supposedly led all the way to China. I did some searching and found that this person, Seth Holehouse, is a seemingly well to do man who loves fancy watches and motorcycles. And he was asking for donations.

Holehouse is on most of social media including the new Parler. And yes, he goes by the name Man In America. I wondered who he was attracting besides my Facebook friend. I did a lot of exploring, clicking on comments to what he posts and following up on the commenter’s site. It is troubling.

First, a day ago, he placed a link to “We The People Site,” which begins with this statement: We The People of the United States Request President Trump Invoke Insurrection Act to Take Back Our Republic w/Military. And there was a place to sign. Another posting or reposting was from “NO.1Dad☕🇺🇲·. He describes himself as, “American Nationalist, Fascist, Christian, White Lives Matter. On his site I found this remark about the recent Russian Hackers, “I wonder if every time Russia is blamed it's actually Israel.” And there is the far right’s use of Pepe the frog.

Another commenter calls himself Q tip and has all of the signs of QAnon plus also Pepe the frog. Another has posted a picture of soldiers saluting Hitler with this caption, “Adolf Hitler The Greatest Story Never Told (Full) PLEASE BE ADVISED: International Jewry has declared war on truth! This documentary like many others that are exposing the greatest lies of the 20th...”

There is more but that is enough. Is Trumpism a Christian cult attempting to mix religion with nationalism and using the fringe right to build a wide and greater movement? Well I’m sure my Facebook friend doesn’t think so. But it is simply a fact that cannot be denied. Some Christians are being seduced and within that seduction they are tearing the Church apart. Sadly they are hurting their own spirituality, their relationship with Christ. Any Christian who is flirting with that soiled and ragged crowd needs, as Jude, says to be pulled away from the fire. “Save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” (Jude 23)

Truthfully, biblically, we are called to that soiled and ragged crowd but not in cahoots with them, not in helping them in their delusions, anti-Semitism, and hate for other people but to proclaim the freedom of Christ to them.

The Jericho March and the Holy Name of Jesus

 

A march was held in Washington D.C. called a Jericho March with the intention of assuring a part of the American church that Donald trump who lost the 2020 election for president would be able to overturn the results. The name of Jesus was constantly used to undergird the wishes and dispel the fears of many.

Alex Jones used the name of Jesus loudly. He’s the fellow that insisted that the shooting of the elementary school children at Sandy Hook school never happened.* In the face of parents who could think of nothing but the terror, pain and great need of their dying children, Alex Jones said it never happened. Too many listened to Jones praise Donald Trump while insisting that many American citizens voted illegally in the election. Many applauded him.

Eric Metaxas, the author of a bestselling book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was the emcee. He also, both at the march, and on his radio and YouTube show, uses the name of Jesus, slanders others and lifts up Trump and Trump’s claim of a fraudulent election. In a recent video, in a parody of “Mary, Did You Know?” he accuses the Democrats, among other things, of being in league with the “Soros Folks” and Venezuela.[1] Many applaud his use of Christianity as he calls people to stand against the recent election?  

Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, a pacifist, who because of the horror of Hitler joined the German military helping a secret group of military officers as they helped Jewish people escape into Switzerland and plotted to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer went to prison for helping Jewish people escape, he was killed when it was discovered that he was part of the plot to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer struggled with his decision to join the military and to kill. He was devout and dignified, an intelligent and caring individual who wrote letters, poems and theology from his cell.  

Bonhoeffer wrote in his book Ethics of how those in the Church during the Nazi years must lead the German nation in confessing sins. One of those confessions was because the Church had allowed the nation to misuse the name of Christ. They tried to make Jesus Christ into a German nationalist. Bonhoeffer writes:

The Church confesses that she has taken in vain the name of Jesus Christ, for she has been ashamed of this name before the world and she has not striven forcefully enough against the misuse of this name for an evil purpose. She has stood by while violence and wrong were being committed under cover of this name. And indeed she left uncontradicted, and thereby abetted, even open mockery of the most holy name. She knows that God will not leave unpunished one who takes His name in vain as she does.[2]

Bonhoeffer’s call to confession was for the church, for himself and down to this day for me and you. Many men and women stood up during the Jericho march claiming Christ and his blessing but making it a political call to Christian nationalism and for the sake of one man, Donald Trump. But Christ is uniquely and only Lord of the Church—someday He will be Lord of not only this nation but all nations—but in the Parousia. The Church can claim Jesus but not the world, and it is the Church’s duty to hold His name Holy, to not use it as a political tool.

I am thinking now of how I fail to hold His name Holy. I am praying that both I and the Church in the United States find only praise for that name the name of Jesus.

*Here is where you can find a picture of one of the children who died that day. Jake Tapper just placed it on Twitter. He does this with the children every year .Home / Twitter

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[1] "Biden Did You Know?" A Parody - YouTube

[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics, 1949, reprint (New York: Simon & Schuster 1995), 113-14

We did not envision that among us there could be myths that would be honored more than the gospel of Jesus Christ

 

When I started writing for Voices of Orthodox Women, it seems years ago, I found myself in a denomination focused on everything but the word of God, the Lordship of Christ and faithfulness in our walk. Those years are gone as is my and many other’s membership in that denomination. (I realize there are still many faithful Christians in the PCUSA.)  But walking away from an often faithless denomination carries no assurance of somehow advancing the kingdom of God nor even of staying within the safe borders of orthodoxy. 

One can hold on to the dogma with the intellect but throw the whole being into a strange political ideology that strangles the faith. Religion mixed with extreme right or extreme left politics kills our first love which must be Jesus.

Twitter often carries the signs of the times. Several days ago I read and listened to an ongoing confrontation between Eric Metaxas, the author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, and Rod Dreher, the author of The Benedict Option and Live Not by Lies, who are supposedly friends. 

Dreher was appalled that Metaxas had on his show John Zmirak who had just published an article condemning Christians who were not backing Trump, calling them and Dreher servile Christians.  In the article, Zmirak wrote: “Servility is what I want to talk about today. Over the past few years, especially among the type of Christians who joined the NeverTrump camp, I’ve seen that deadly neurosis repackaged as a virtue. It pops up in repugnant essays like “Christianity Is for Cucks,” and in redundant books like The Benedict Option [One of the books authored by Dreher]."

Metaxas praised Zmirak’s article calling it brilliant. And on the video of Metaxas’ show there is total disregard for the genuine reasons and real concerns of those Christians who believe Trump’s worldview is not truly prolife, nor possessing moral principles. Instead both Metaxas and Zmirak see such Christians as cowards refusing to fight the “enemy.”  They see such Christians as those who seek virtue and martyrdom (from the Democrats) rather than joining in a fight to recover the election of Trump. They see America and Trump as the only force standing between Syria and its Christians, North Korea and its Christians, China and its Christians, etc.

While I have some very negative thoughts about Trump’s views and policies in regards to such authoritarian governments as North Korea and Syria that isn’t my focus in this essay but rather the great division that is now happening among Evangelical Christians in the United States. 

I have over the last 6 months read several books that are shaping my views; The Benedict Option for the second time as well as Dreher’s Live Not by Lies, also David French’s new book, Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation in which French first looks at our divisions, then writes of two dystopia like secessions and their outcome on the global scene, and then he focuses on federalism and courage as helpful in overcoming our divisions. Rounding out these books is a new commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians by a Catholic scholar Douglas Farrow.

While Dreher’s two books are aimed at Christians and how they can live as Christians while experiencing massive dislocation in a society that is increasingly anti-Christian, French’s book is aimed at divisions between secular and religious society and how we as Americans can live together in community without splitting apart. Farrow’s commentary, setting aside some of his more Catholic views, (he wouldn’t of course like that) speaks to the growing anti-Christian views of the West and how that relates to the Church and the coming of ultimate evil. It is a commentary on 1&2 Thessalonians after all!

Those of us who were or are a part of a progressive denomination thought of conflict in terms of progressive against traditionalist, of the deniers of Christian orthodoxy against those who were orthodox in faith. And truly that was the basic conflict and still is, but we did not envision standing between a rock and a hard place. 

We did not envision there could be opposition from those brothers and sisters who became so deeply entrenched in extreme rightwing politics that their loyalty to a man would cause them to mark us out as those who offend the faith.  We did not envision that among us there could be myths that would be honored more than the gospel of Jesus Christ—the idea that a man—and a nation could almost exist on the same level as our Savior, Jesus, the one, really the only one, who actually stands between the world and His Church. The One who gathers the saints of North Korea, of Syria, of China and all other hard places into His comforting arms.

Farrow in his book writes, of course, of the anti-Christ, “the man of lawlessness.” (2 Thessalonians 2: 3) And also of the great apostasy. He ties the anti-Christ very closely to the Church, because since he is anti-Christ he must in his opposition attempt to rule the Church, to control the Church. And here is where my deep concern is. We are all too often tainted by the world from one side or the other. Whether it is a disregard for the biblical view of the person of Christ, the Incarnation, which too many progressives deny or the biblical view of Christ as the only Lord of the Church which many on the right are undoubtedly, unintentionally turning their backs on; the Church, like a hungry needy cat, is too easily rubbing up against the world.

I am afraid that those demeaning those who care little for Trump fail to see that it is not only the secular culture that persecutes, but also the political/religious zealots who trouble the sheep.