I came across some articles while contemplating Holy Week—one cohort linked to Welcoming the Stranger vs. MAGA Jesus.
A chapter was A Migrant 4 Life Journeys to the New Tower of Babel: Christianity and Immigration by Craig B. Mousin from DePaul University, written in April 2024. “This chapter focuses on two opposite interpretations, categorizing them as restrictionists and receptionists.
“The chapter contrasts how each group interprets Genesis’ Tower of Babel story to restrict immigration or welcome the stranger. The restrictionists, represented by MAGA Jesus, interpret the Tower of Babel story as calling for individual nations to protect borders. In that pursuit, they distinguish between lawful strangers a nation welcomes and those who constitute the enemy who should be excluded or deported. The receptionists, those welcoming the stranger, are represented by Jesus, the Migrant 4 Life. For them, the Tower of Babel cautions against authoritarian government and, instead, welcomes diversity” (44 pp)
Another by Mousin discusses Ruth and the daily trial of innocence, “Nonrefoulement: Responding to Asylum-seekers Through the Prism of Subversive Stories: A Study of Three Trials of Innocence.” (37 pp.)
Leap of Faith
David French in the NYT writes: “America needs to nail 95 theses to the megachurch door.
“Last month, Paula White, one of President Trump’s most faithful and powerful evangelical supporters and a senior adviser to his new White House Faith Office, began offering “seven supernatural blessings” for the Easter season.
“If you ‘honor God’ during the period of Passover and Easter, ‘God will assign an angel to you, he’ll be an enemy to your enemies, he’ll give you prosperity, he’ll take sickness away from you, he will give you long life, he’ll bring increase in inheritance, and he’ll bring a special year of blessing.’
“The suggested price for these extraordinary gifts is an offering to Paula White Ministries of $1,000 or more…
“After almost 10 long years during which Trump has captured evangelical hearts more than any other president of my lifetime, I am forced to admit that Trump may have been better attuned to conservative evangelical culture than any other Republican president in the modern era.
“His bond with evangelicals isn’t just a result of flawed theology. It’s a result of the broken culture that flawed theology helped create. And in some parts of American Christianity, the theology is so flawed, and the culture is so broken, that evangelicals don’t see Trump contradicting their values at all — he’s exactly like the men and women who lead their church.”
Read the whole thing.
Render unto Caesar
Another piece is There is no Jesus in MAGA by Earl Chappell, a longtime Bible study leader and teacher at First Baptist Church of Norfolk VA. “In no place in the New Testament does Jesus instruct us to take over government or to even align ourselves with government authorities. He modeled the existence with which his followers may be associated with the governing authorities, none of which was a ‘Christian’ takeover of government to force its way upon people. In Romans, Paul exhorts Christians to obey the governing authorities, essentially as they administer the laws over the geography of their influence.”
I imagine the GOP Jesus video will be incendiary. But in my experience, it’s often, though not always, true.
Finally, a short piece, Jesus at the MAGA rally, by Martin Thielen, retired minister, ex-megachurch pastor, bestselling author, and founder and author of www.DoubtersParish.com. It begins: “Several weeks ago, I had a strange and troubling dream. In my dream, I attended a massive rally. Thousands of people flocked to the stadium to hear their hero speak. As throngs of people entered the stadium, Jesus quietly entered and sat near the back. Nobody noticed him.
“In the dream, the speaker rose to the podium. He spoke a long time about himself, his greatness, and how he alone could save America from doom. He told one falsehood after another, but nobody seemed to care.”
It has an ending entirely appropriate to Maundy Thursday.
What to do?
I’ve been attending events and reading up on the issue. “The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) is an umbrella policy & advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York.” Because of events that have recently taken place in my own city and county, this will probably consume chunks of my time in the coming weeks and months. What will that look like? I’m not sure yet…