If you call a spade a spade in January, then call that same spade a diamond in October simply because you need to play a diamond, people are going to view you as untrustworthy. They can look at that spade and clearly see it’s a spade. Not a diamond.

Politics isn’t a game of cards (though it sometimes feels that way). Nevertheless, it seems the Church has decided following Trump’s cult of personality is more important than following Jesus and adhering to Biblical values; anything else apparently makes you a heathen liberal out to take away their rights (much like President Trump is trying to strip away the rights of those who elected Biden).

To be clear, this isn’t a pro anyone post. But Christians strange worship of Trump and the Republican party, even when that party is blatantly doing and saying things that go directly against the Bible, is baffling (but also a good reminder to keep our eyes on Jesus and not one another). The Church has always been happy to call out liberals over their perceived sins, but where is this same energy for conservativism and theirs? How can we as a church dismiss racism, white supremacy, sexual abuse, and the oppressions of the poor while in the same breath bemoaning liberals over abortion and the sanctity of marriage, yet not see the hypocrisy in this?

You cannot claim to be the party of good morals when you’re just as flawed as the opposing party. Being a single issue voter isn’t good either, especially when doing so comes at the expense of other, equally important Biblical values. Claiming that God cares more about some issues over others is frankly not true. You may personally care about one issue more than another and cast a vote that way, but you are not God. He may have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah over sexual indiscretion, but He was just as angry over Israel/Judah exploiting and oppressing the poor; profiting off the work of their neighbors while not paying them fairly, much like the Republican party does today with it’s promotion of capitalism as the end all, be all.

“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and painting it with vermilion.
Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.  He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
declares the Lord.
But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.” (Jeremiah 22:13-17)

That’s not to say the answer lies in the Democratic party, quite the opposite. Christians should not subscribe wholeheartedly to either party or any ideology as neither represents Jesus Christ and Basilica values well. One can vote for someone for one reason or another and still call those they vote for out on their injustice. Choosing the “lesser” of two evils doesn’t mean subscribing wholeheartedly to their ideology, particularly when that ideology generally is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. We can and should point out injustice and sin on both sides, regardless of whom we voted for. But the Church’s refusal to do so is making us look hypocritical to the “secular” world and turning people away from Jesus.

We are His hands and feet, after all, and it’s up to us to represent Him. Does the Church truly believe Trump and the Republican party represents the teachings of Jesus Christ and Biblical values well? If your answer is yes, you might want to crack open your Bible.

I often wonder if we, as the Church, have done a good job representing Jesus over the past four years, or if one day we’ll have to answer to God as to why we wasted so much energy whining about masks and curfews, getting upset about some dude facetiously saying awoman, and trying to keep a political party in power, instead of feeding the poor, caring for those who are hurting, and preaching the gospel to those who need Jesus.