By Wendell Griffen
Donald Trump’s path to the presidency and the overwhelming support from self-identified “conservative evangelical Christians” realizes dangers Cornel West identified in his book, Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism (New York: Penguin Press, 2004). Writing during the first term of President George W. Bush, 12 years before Donald Trump swept into the presidency of the United States, West predicted our current situation. He saw it coming.
West understood early that just as demagogic and antidemocratic fundamentalisms have gained prominence in Israel (Zionism) and the Islamic world (religious fundamentalism), so too has a fundamentalist strain of Christianity gained far too much power in our political system, and in the hearts and minds of a swath of its citizens, people I refer to as “Hateful Faithful.” Christian fundamentalism is exercising an undue influence over our government’s policies, both in the way relations are managed in the Middle East and here at home. Plus, America’s political leadership is violating essential principles enshrined in the Constitution. It is also providing support and “cover” for the imperialist aims of empire.
The three dogmas that are leading to the imperial destruction of democracy in America – free market fundamentalism, aggressive militarism, and escalating authoritarianism – are often justified by the religious rhetoric of Christian fundamentalism. Most ironically – and sadly – this fundamentalism is subverting the most profound, seminal teachings of Christianity, those being that we should live with humility, love our neighbors, and do unto others as we would have them do unto us. The battle for the soul of American democracy is, in large part, a battle for the soul of American Christianity. The dominant forms of Christian fundamentalism are a threat to the tolerance and openness necessary for sustaining any democracy.
West connects this development to the Constantinian vs. Prophetic understanding of Christianity. The choice we make between Constantinian Christianity and prophetic Christianity is determinative for the future of American democracy.
America is undeniably a highly religious country, and the dominant religion by far is Christianity, and much of American Christianity is a form of Constantinian Christianity. In American Christendom, the central battle between democracy and empire is echoed in the struggle between this Constantinian Christianity and prophetic Christianity. [Democracy Matters, pp. 146-146]
As West correctly observed,
“Constantinian Christianity has always been at odds with the prophetic legacy of Jesus Christ…The corruption of a faith fundamentally based on tolerance and compassion by the strong arm of imperial authoritarianism invested Christianity with an insidious schizophrenia with which it has been battling ever since.”
In the United States, the schizophrenia West identified allowed what he termed “strains of Constantinianism” to be “woven into the fabric of America’s Christian identity from the start.” And West added this observation:
“Most American Constantinian Christians are unaware of their imperialistic identity because they do not see the parallel between the Roman Empire that put Jesus to death and the American Empire they celebrate. As long as they can worship freely and pursue the American dream, they see the American government as a force for good and American imperialism as a desirable force for spreading that good. They proudly profess their allegiance to the flag and the cross not realizing that just as the cross was a bloody indictment of the Roman empire, it is a powerful critique of the American empire, and they fail to acknowledge that the cozy relation between their Christian leaders and imperial American rulers may mirror the intimate ties between the religious leaders and imperial Roman rulers who crucified their Savior.” [p.150]
Although I heartily recommend Democracy Matters (and especially Chapter 5 which is titled “The Crisis of Christian Identity in America”) to anyone interested in a thorough analysis of the Hateful Faithful mindset, I disagree with Cornel West on his assertion that “American Constantinian Christians are unaware of their imperialistic identity.” The elections of Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump conclusively prove that American Constantinian Christians are quite aware of their imperialistic identity. After all, Trump’s campaign slogan – “Make America Great Again” – is an explicit adoration of empire.
We need not quibble about whether Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jr., Robert Jeffress, Mike Huckabee, and other nationally known Constantinian Christians “see the parallel between the Roman empire that put Jesus to death and the American empire they celebrate.” That does not mean they are “unaware of their imperialistic identity.” Instead, Constantinian Christians knowingly reject the prophetic identity of Jesus. As Cornel West observed,
“Constantinian Christians fail to appreciate their violation of Christian love and justice because Constantinian Christianity in America places such a strong emphasis on personal conversion, individual piety, and philanthropic service and has lost its fervor for the suspicion of worldly authorities and for doing justice in the service of the most vulnerable among us, which are central to the faith.”[p.150]
I contend that the Hateful Faithful are heretics because Constantinian Christianity is heretical to the gospel of Jesus. At best, in the face of the disconnect between the teachings of Jesus and the policies of American government, Hateful Faithful claims of allegiance to Jesus are ill-conceived. At worst, their claims of allegiance to Jesus are fraudulent. To claim that Jesus is at the center of one’s faith and living, while simultaneously condoning bigotry against immigrants, denial of access to healthcare services to people who are needy, and the mistreatment of vulnerable persons amounts to moral and ethical nonsense.
The hard truth is that the Hateful Faithful are indeed faithful, but not to Jesus nor to American democracy. Like Constantine, they have hijacked the gospel of Jesus and are fraudulently using Christian identity as a disguise for patently unchristian policies and behaviors. I agree with Cornel West as he wrote in Democracy Matters near the end of his analysis about the crisis of Christian identity in America:
“To see the Gospel of Jesus Christ bastardized by imperial Christians and pulverized by Constantinian believers and then exploited by nihilistic elites of the American empire makes my blood boil… I do not want to be numbered among those who sold their souls for a mess of pottage – who surrendered their democratic Christian identity for a comfortable place at the table of the American empire while, like Lazarus, the least of these cried out and I was too intoxicated with worldly power and might to hear, beckon, and heed their cries.” [p.171-172]
I do not want to be numbered among the Hateful Faithful. Neither does Jesus, judging from what he declared near the end of the Sermon on the Mount:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name.” Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.” [Matthew 5:15-23]
— Wendell Griffen is a circuit judge and a pastor in Little Rock, Arkansas. His book, The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope is a must read. His regular columns published in Baptist News Global can be found at www.baptistnews.com/opinion
