ICE and Attacking Ministers
Hey there folks, been awhile. Not sure if I have any readers left, or if I ever had any at all, but I need to get some stuff off my chest and into the void so here I am again.
Ok, so, ICE sucks. We all know that. Fascism is here and everything is worse now. I have no secret wisdom or great words to share on this point other than to acknowledge itâs true and itâs awful.
One of the things (but of course by far not the only or the worst thing) I keep seeing as it pertains to ICE is the outrage at their supposed hypocrisy as shown in their attacks against various clergy. After all, folks ask, how could these Christian nationalists justify attacking Christian ministers?
To be clear, I agree this is atrocious. None of what Iâm going to say is a defense of any behavior on ICEâs part. Once more, they suck. Abolish ICE.
Still, as someone who was raised in Christian fundamentalism (and left), and as someone who firmly believes a full understanding is the first step to efficiently combatting hate, I feel I need to say something that Iâm not seeing said anywhere - and that is simply this:
They donât see these ministers as Christian.
See, you have to grasp the Christian fundamentalist mind to truly get whatâs going on here. This isnât a world where relativism is a thing. Gray is not a color in their moral spectrum. Everything is black and white and if youâre not with me, youâre against me. This frame of reference also extends to other Christian denominations. Sure, partnering with them might be useful when you need to seem like the Christian coalition is actually a super large, unified front, but behind closed doors those who are seen as more liberal denominations are considered false prophets. In short, they think if you donât preach the gospel as they understand it (that is to say, if youâre pro-lgbt or allow women to have places of authority in the church amongst other things), then they believe youâre preaching a false, and therefore satanic, doctrine.
To keep it simple: if a minister would show up to protest ICE, then the Christian nationalists in ICE would not consider them to be a âtrueâ Christian. Theyâre a false prophet, leading people astray. To them, they deserve to be attacked as much, if not more, than any other protestors.
So what does this mean? Well, for one it means that the attacking ministers line isnât going to permeate the right. Thatâs not to say we shouldnât bring attention to it, we absolutely should. Rather, I feel like most of this rhetoric is geared towards attempting to convince Christians and, by and large, Christian fundamentalists of ICEâs evilâŚand thatâs just not going to play. Fundamentalists are going to side with the guys taking out the âfalse prophets,â I can pretty much guarantee you. They totally see this as a win.
How does cheering for violence make sense in a religion grounded in peace and love you ask? Well thatâs a whole other long post but the short version is if you believe in hell, anything is justifiable. Does shooting a âfalse teacherâ in the face with a pepper ball keep one soul out of hell? Perhaps it could. Therefore itâs a holy act.
Second, I wouldnât be surprised if we start seeing more attacks on supposed false Christians. I donât think weâre quite to the point of it being an organized campaign yet. I think theyâre still aware they need to seem like theyâre a larger coalition than they actually are. But rest assured once they feel comfortable enough in power, they will start rumbling about being Christian the âcorrectâ way.
Third, cause everything is better in threes, it means the average person still really doesnât understand the fundamentalist. I think thatâs good. Trying to understand the fundamentalist mind can drive you insane. But itâs also at the core of a lot of this cultural split. Iâm not sympathetic for the fundamentalists by any means, but I think itâs worthwhile to remember theyâre an us-against-the-world subculture that has been given ample ammunition by a world that truly doesnât get them to claim persecution. Is that persecution real? Not even a little bit. Does that matter? Absolutely not. What matters is the rhetoric, and the world propping up false prophets as some sort of marginalized saints in this holy war is the perfect rhetoric for them to entrench themselves with.
So thatâs it, really. I donât have solutions for this issue. As I said it should be reported. Conservatives should be skewered for their hypocrisies.
Just remember that theyâll never believe theyâre wrong.