Across the Great Divide

THE ELECTION DID NOT, as many had hoped, offer a resounding renunciation of Trumpism and its often-explicit white supremacist ideology. On the contrary, millions more people than four years ago voted for a man (and a worldview) with few illusions about his nature, showing a willingness to ignore, if not condone, racism, misogyny, and xenophobia.

Trump’s presidency made unarguably clear, for those who harbored doubts, that racism and white supremacy are not restricted to a small, inconsequential fragment of society tucked away in the shadows. Now, it’s distressingly but importantly clear that a very significant minority of voters either harbors these views explicitly or is fine with ignoring or downplaying them for their own perceived advantage. As painful as that is to acknowledge, it’s actually a step in the right direction, since a problem cannot be addressed until it is first named.

A primary task before us as we emerge from the destructive tumult of the past four years is to mitigate the damage done to so many people and to our earth itself. “Mitigation,” by definition, includes “reducing the harmful effects” of actions taken. It’s considered a stage of emergency management, which feels about right.

One of our missions as Christians is to be healers in the world, and that includes actively working to repair the toxic ruptures and divisions that have been intentionally inflamed by those who have sought to turn genuine differences into hostile and supposedly irreconcilable enmity. The breach in the body politic also rends the body of Christ, as once again white evangelicals provided a significant base of Trump’s support. Half of white Catholics joined them, even as the nation elected its second Catholic president. As political scientist John Green put it, “the level of polarization based on religiosity is still very important.”

Pursuing a path of healing, of course, does not mean papering over the harm that has been done or the ongoing trauma it has caused. In fact, it means the opposite: The injurious actions, and their structural bases, must be addressed and reversed.

One of the most difficult aspects of that path is the recognition that those Christian Trump voters, whether we like it or not, are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Despite the very human impulse to dismiss or demonize them—to treat them as “the other”—we’re called instead to act as if we believe that those with whom we disagree, those whose actions have caused such harm, are part of the universal church.

For theologian and scripture scholar Walter Brueggemann, that includes reflecting on the reasons that some Christians continue to back what seems to be such an anti-gospel agenda. “Obviously, the support for Trump is complex, but I think at bottom it is resentment; he is a master at mobilizing resentment,” Brueggemann told Sojourners the day President-elect Joe Biden’s victory was announced. “We have to give thought about how we respond to people who are set deep in resentment. Our work in that regard has to do with ... hearing the narrative of resentment and outflanking that narrative with generosity that begins to treat people like neighbors. That does not mean we have to compromise any of our passion for justice, but we have to pay attention to who people are.”

Brueggemann pointed to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: “The hard work is loving enemies, and I think converting and transforming them precisely by that kind of action.” While turning the other cheek isn’t often the first impulse of those who have been repeatedly slapped, responding to hatred with love does have the almost-inexplicable ability to “heap burning coals” on our so-called enemies and, sometimes, bring about surprising transformations. Such behavior is at heart a form of witness, an invitation, and a call to conversion to our fellow believers—and to ourselves.

Finally, as sojourners in the land (Hebrews 11:9) and those with loyalties to a higher, eternal power, we’re called to remember that we are the “loyal opposition” to any administration. Our yardstick for judging the actions of the Biden administration can never be, “Well, he’s better than Trump,” or even, “That’s the best we can expect from a divided government.” Rather, we will continue to measure against the biblical standards of justice for the poor, welcome to the stranger, and healing of the nations—because, even while we work for a more just society, in the words of the West African hymn, “we have another world in view.”