What are we doing?
When the culture counters threats of civil war with demands for civility - from those not making the threats...
Full disclosure: this might not be my best piece. I’m honestly too angry to write particularly constructively these days. The Trump court drama, the Proud Boys being sentenced, the amoral support for him as president, the team-sports-attitudes to matters of life and death, the callous, nonchalant, bizarrely vindictive calls for civil war against all the rest of US from his supporters…
I’m done.
“Too angry.”
It’s easy, to write even oneself off, that way.
What does it even mean, to be “too angry,” when I am reading the same rhetoric I studied in German once, more recently aimed at me, as a foreigner who identifies more with refugees, than with her own fellow citizens? (Is that my fault?)
Telling someone they are “too angry” is a cruel thing to say to someone who has not had the support of a loving community, to accuse anyone of being “too” angry; in the face of abuse and rape and murder.
Too angry.
How is one to be “too angry” in the context of finding out, though having done nothing wrong, that there are family members, and people you had trusted as friends, who hate people like you so much for having basic moral integrity, they threaten to kill you?
To find out that a group of fellow citizens you once identified with politically, is flippantly and calmly discussing murdering democrats, and calling that civil war?
(Or democrats, evil?)
Can one ever be “too angry” in the face of callous disregard for life, confronted by violence and murder? (Discuss.)
This week, I was going to write a bit about thoughts I had from watching the horror movie "The Pope’s Exorcist” - perhaps it’s a cliche, I’m pretty sure someone has said it before, but my thought about America was that
we don’t need a revival, we need an exorcism…
I was going to talk about the sexual abuse rampant in our country (and I’ve heard missionaries, with the gall to be aghast at incestuous sexual abuses in families in certain south American villages)...
I was going to talk about the disregard for the lives of sexual minorities, and ask the question whether Jesus would treat LGBTQIA+ like many in the US church do right now…
But instead I find myself once again confronted with the appalling, abomination of a reality that this man, who is not just a murderous traitor, but also a rapist by definition, is still the front-runner in a party dominated by alleged/professing Christians.
Apparently, these people I used to worship with, simply have no shame, and they have even less respect for life. It is transparent that they do not care who dies, since they have permitted and even engaged in civil war mongering and hate. No one wants a civil war but these callous fools. (I track comments all the time from the right threatening civil war on everyone to the left of them; I haven’t seen such comments from the rest of Americans.)
Let’s be very clear: a one-sided “civil war” is neither civil nor an actual civil war; such a phenomenon is defined as mass murder: genocide.
So I guess I am just too angry about that.
I mean, Jesus was probably thought to be too angry when he overturned the tables in the temple.
Careful, Jesus, you mustn’t be uncivil. (Because that would be sin, right?) You need to go through the proper channels if you want to stop abuse. (Right?) You shouldn’t disrupt worship or upset anybody. (You can’t do that, who do you think you are, God?)
What are the children of God, the little Christs supposed to do, in the face of murderous abuse of their neighbors? Pray? Sing Christian songs? Or maybe storm the Capitol?...
Oh come on, Christians, y'all know far better. There is absolutely zero excuse and you know it. This is kindergarten Sunday School level obvious.
We Christians were not called to pick up weapons; we were called to live by faith and in peace.
(So January 6th is out of the question then, as is hanging Mike Pence, in case you were unaware.)
So are we Christians simply to shut down and refuse to be angry at the wickedness of narcissistic abusers demanding civility while they threaten us with murder if they don’t get their way?
Are we supposed to allow mothers to die for someone’s legalistic interpretation of the beginning of life, even if the life involved should be grieved, because it is not viable and is going to pass away?
Are we not meant to be angry at glorified domestic abusers grinning ear to ear, after harming Capitol police, in their pursuit of a civil war and attempted overthrow of law and order as we know it?
If we are to be silent in the face of such great darkness, what is the point of our discipleship?
What happened to holiness?
And here’s the kicker, for everyone not willing to just shut up and let the abuse occur:
Why should anyone trust such lazy Christians with their lives?
I’m at the point where I don't worship with evangelicals because they are not sorry for the civil war threats; they keep doubling down on them. (I have a policy of not worshiping with people I can’t trust with my life, you see.)
And we, as the abuse victims, are the ones described as “too angry”?
Are we threatening to murder anyone? THAT might be “too angry.”
How dare anyone tell me I’m “too angry” at MURDER.
I’m not threatening civil war, the murder of neighbors.
Too angry?
Too angry?!?
You bet I am.
So what are we doing? Why are we allowing anyone to shame us for outrage at murderous incivility? Why are we submitting to cultural expectations of politeness towards uncouth murderous fools? Why are we cool with regulating ourselves according to what are essentially Confederate values instead of expressing our outrage at evil like Jesus would?
Truth is where the authority is at.
It is RIGHT to be LIVID at their threats. This idea that our trauma reactions are the problem, is wickedness and abuse.
Too angry?
Hell yeah I am. And all those who demand I tone it down better get it together. God hates abuse. God hates violent men.
Too harsh?
Oh, we can’t use the word “hate” - that’s ugly.
What, exactly, are we meant to feel in the face of murderous rhetoric that can get people killed?
Too angry is the least of your worries, Americans.
Not angry enough is your real problem.
Get angry and shut this sickness down. Stop the gaslighting and evict this demon from your life.
Those who label us too angry, when they are too lazy to stop the abuse, are the real problem.