The fall-out of the events on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol resulted in the well-orchestrated pronouncements of justice-warriors. We know what to expect from the pagans, but it’s a whole different story when the evangelicals who were silent during BLM and Antifa’s destruction-crusade across American cities begin to claim the demise of Trump voters enthusiastically. According to these political purists, if we supported Trump in any way, we are guilty by association and must acknowledge that “our guy” destroyed the Republic and caused the death of democracy. We should surrender our cause and accept defeat and go back to hiding. Shame! Shame! Shame! Walk the plank of blame!
No matter who we are, whether we were simply living quiet and peaceable lives, or whether we repudiated the acts of juvenile turds, or whether we say, “bad people did stuff,” the scarlet letter is cemented. It’s important to remember that such evangelicals have quietly borrowed from the terrain of the left, accepting easy bribes for quick respectability awards. For a long time, they have written lengthy articles on TGC and other notoriously effeminized websites exalting victimhood virtues while rebuking the slightest move away from their established narrative. Whatever that narrative is, it’s not what we fine people would uphold.
I was reminded of a wedding I officiated where I made the “controversial” statement that a woman ought to submit to her husband, and a husband must love his wife. In my world, such statements do not require explanations. To my shock, I discovered that the bridesmaids scolded the beautiful bride after the wedding. They were terrified that she would invite a minister that would make such archaic remarks about a wife’s role. In our day, many within the church add so many footnotes to Paul’s exhortations on submission that by the end, we are left wondering if Paul failed to hire an editor when he penned his words. Similarly, evangelicals on the left are eager to pounce on conservatives like us if we happen to share any item on the Republican menu. They want us to cower and do penance on behalf of the scattered zealots who align in any way to our cause.
As of today, Donald Trump has been excommunicated from every major platform, political figures who supported himTrump are now being ridiculed, conservative voices are being unmistakably targeted, Twitter accounts mysteriously deleted, Parler is receiving the wrath of techno giants like Apple and Amazon, and the signs point to increased specialization in detecting people like us as aggressors and apologists for riots and mayhem.
Well, bless their hearts! Atheists practice the same ethic when it comes to the crusades. They ask in a victor’s tone, “How can Christianity be true if Christians killed people in an unwarranted war?” Without delving into the futility of such assumption, we should really take heart and remember that the righteous ones are always the ones who are equal opportunity offenders, or as I like to put it, “equal opportunity ethicists.” By now, there is sufficient evidence to prove that a group of thugs defending the Trump agenda invaded the Capitol–in some cases with the aid of officers and in others by force—to stop formal proceedings from taking place. As one Trump supporter stated, “I got caught up in the moment.” Let that moment give him something to think about in a cell for the next many years. Others easily influenced by the totality of stupidity followed. No, this was not a righteous revolution; this was the Jewish zealotry of Jude’s day in action. It was the exertion of an over-realized eschatology that will scar the Trump presidency for decades to come, but it should not scar everyone who voted option A vs. option Witch of Endor.
The point is that we are not participants in the acts of anyone who acted unrighteously. None of us have to assume vicarious guilt for another. Calvary already accomplished such a feat. I have read enough reports from people who were merely in D.C. to voice their concern for the election’s integrity. Right or wrong, they have that right. Whatever else happened is the fault of scoundrels who should be rightly brought to justice. But make no mistake, such scenarios will be used abundantly to make generalized cases condemning a whole class of people. This is identity politics served raw.
Let me close with a summary of the Trump era as we move forward.
From the beginning, we all knew the sorry state of the Republican Party. I wrote back in 2016 that Trump won because there was no one else eager to speak plainly about what must be done. Trump succeeded, and his success is a sign that politics, as we know it, will never be the same. The Trump era emboldened people to choose and made a mockery out of independent voters…whatever that is.
But the lesson that strikes me to this day is just how little it takes for a leader to make substantive changes like de-regulation, abandoning childish international alliances, selecting imperfect but sane justices to the Supreme Court, inspiring the Pro-life agenda, protecting the church, avoiding unnecessary foreign wars, and a host of other important factors that move the Conservative voice forward. Still, Trump was a weak candidate. We all knew that, but his narcissism and pursuit of childish displays on social media and mediocre decisions at 3am, and a history of Cretan immorality, all of that, and everything else, is still better than a Clinton and Biden presidency. If Trump moved the conservative agenda forward in a few crucial ways, imagine what a fervent and decent candidate could do in office?
The lesson is that the evangelical left will eagerly look for scapegoats to accentuate their cause. The conservative voice should look to the brouhaha of January 6th and learn that zealotry is stupid, criticize the imbeciles who did what they did, and move on to better things. Conservatives do not need to defend everything done in the name of conservatism. We call that discernment. We should be ethical enough to condemn whatever does not harmonize with biblical standards and pursue the greater good as a result. After all, January 20th is not the death of conservatism; it’s an opportunity to properly advocate for healthier priorities.
Well said.