There’s a story we like to tell in Christian circles that persecution purifies the church, as it separates the Real Christians from the pretenders and hangers-on.
It’s a powerful narrative. In fact it’s so good that it’s allowed us at times to vilify one other, such as when Protestants assert that Catholics aren’t really Christians because of things like the Inquisition or the Huguenot Massacre. When Protestants are the ones doing the persecuting, we either justify it or brush it off as sin in the church, rather than recognizing the problem in the narrative for what it is.
Here’s the deeper truth: The gospel is fundamentally subversive and invites persecution and harassment from the powerful, including from other Christians when the church allies itself with power. That’s the story we’ve seen at least from the time of Constantinople.
The white evangelical church recently allied itself with power of the worst sort. Donald Trump campaigned on white supremacy, on misogyny, and on the resentment white evangelical conservatives feel over the church’s diminished influence in American society. We have every indication so far that he’s going to govern in that same way.
As always, we need to choose between the powerful and the powerless. Jesus calls us to side with the powerless.
This is a time for Christians to be afraid, not just for our nation, but for our very souls.
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