How can people profess faith in Jesus ― who preached love, mercy and care for the oppressed ― while supporting policies that punish immigrants, demonize LGBTQ people and glorify cruelty?
Caroline Bologna, Huffington Post, 11/15/2025
Well, I hope we care. I hope we care because the culture of contempt that has become normalized in this country threatens to destroy us.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Washington National Cathedral, 1/22/2025
My cousin Randy sent me a link to a Huffington Post article about Maga Christians. He'd forwarded it to the Pastor of the Lutheran church in Ohio where he grew up; his sisters still attend the church. He wanted to know what the Pastor thought of the article. She wrote back a long email, somewhat pained I'd say as she admitted she was frustrated by her parishioners who are not thinking clearly. She loves the blues and the reds with a Pastor's love, of course, but is frustrated by their near total abnegation to "authority." How to educate them and still encourage their faith? How to help them "see" what's going down in too many neighborhoods in our beleaguered country? This is a progressive, thoughtful Pastor's challenge.
The moral questions raised by the violent actions, hate speech, and political demands of messianic Christians in America, messianic Jews in Israel, and Hindus in Kashmir, among too many religions and sects throughout the world, are challenging, if not dumbfounding. No one Pastor, Priest, Reverend, Bishop, Rabbi or Iman can untangle them easily. After all, they are men and women of faith, they are mortals, they are as flawed as the rest of us. But they do have a responsibility to their flock. If they become apologists for immorality, or amorality, they become unintentional collaborators with murderous regimes.
I'm reminded of Hitler, born into a Catholic family in Catholic Austria, he moved to Protestant Germany where the Nazi Party's propaganda assured the populace that the Führer had the same beliefs and goals as Martin Luther. Luther's teachings contributed to the rationale for the genocide. He even wrote a screed called "Jews and Their Lies."
It is nearly a year since the Bishop of Washington Cathedral, the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, spoke to the politicians in the pews without obfuscation, caution, or apology. If the targeted cruelty of the current administration does not abate in 2026, we must ask ourselves what small actions we can take every day to assuage the pain of those who suffer the most in our communities. Asking questions of professionals who educate and console is one way to challenge the ecosystem of hate. My cousin's email to the Pastor in Ohio was a request for accountability, a morally centered "Christian" example from a man who cares.