It’s a funny dynamic, writing two very different newsletters that publish on Tuesdays. I take Sundays off writing, with the exception of preparing these reflections, because it helps me keep my Sabbath centered on my faith.
But of course, this weekend was Easter, which meant I played piano for the early Mass and conducted the choir for the later one, then finished prepping food to take to my family’s gathering out at the farm, and then took my niece’s senior portraits in the late afternoon. To be honest, I didn’t even think about this reflection this weekend. And that’s okay.
But it does mean that I am here on a Tuesday morning, two hours past the time I like to post these reflections, stream-of-consciousness writing this, having already done the author newsletter because it was easier. I was determinedly positive in that one, despite (or perhaps because) writing itself has proved a struggle for me in recent weeks. I wanted to stay upbeat.
When I come to this newsletter, it would be great to think that two days after Easter I could do the same.
But all that’s in my mind this morning to share is the troubling things I’ve encountered in the news, news roundups, and reactions from friends to the news in the last few days.
About two years ago, I embarked on an experiment to see if I could clean up my Facebook feed. It happened after I was triggered by and subsequently knee-jerk reacted to a headline and started a useless fight in real life. I thought, “Something has to change here. I wonder how responsive this algorithm is?”
I’m here to tell you: it’s pretty responsive. I started scrolling by political posts, and no matter how angry the quick-scan made me, I did not stop to read. No matter how much I longed to wade in and flex my “Intentional Catholic” muscles.
In less than a week, what I saw in my feed completely changed. I’m telling you guys, Facebook gives you what you tell it to give you. These days, I have to quit liking nature photos, lest I get nothing but nature photos. I almost never get political posts.
I have wondered how well that will hold in an election year. And yesterday I stopped to read a post, because it was a simple comment by a friend of mine whose steady faith and thoughtful approach to the world I value. I also read the comments. It was not a pretty sight. And now—well, first, I’m wondering if I’m going to start seeing more charged conversation posts, simply because I read one, even without clicking “like.” (Or “angry,” or “care,” or “sad,” or “wow.”)
But it was a deeply revealing exchange. I gather that conservative media is up in arms about Joe Biden making Easter about trans rights, and this middle-of-the-road friend was pointing out that in fact, this particular day has been trans day for decades. The ping pong of comments covered the gamut: that’s not the point, the point is they took Jesus out of the White House Easter egg roll. Well, in fact, religious symbolism has been removed from the Easter egg roll for years before Biden, and here’s that link. But Biden specifically made a declaration about trans day for THIS year. Well, that’s because this is a “memorial” that has to be declared every year, it just happened that Trans day this year coincides with Easter.
And then, of course, it morphed into a discussion of Biden’s and Trump’s moral character or lack thereof, which naturally came to “But the babies!”
I had so many thoughts, reading all this. First, I would like to point out the absurdity of making a religious flash point out of the WHITE HOUSE EASTER EGG HUNT.
What do plastic Easter eggs with candy inside have to do with the Resurrection in the first place? Come on, people. Let’s keep things in perspective.
Second, this exchange demonstrated how easily we can be manipulated into bickering with each other about things that really don’t matter (like Easter egg hunts) while we show tremendous apathy to the things that do (like caring for mothers who have crisis pregnancies, or addressing systemic injustice.)
I have so many thoughts, and it’s hard to tease out what is faith-related and what is really just about politics. I already wrestled… unsuccessfully… with that question a few weeks ago.
The options aren’t perfect this year by any stretch of the imagination. Our job is to figure out God’s will in the middle of it. I understand those who feel abortion is the most important thing, although I also say, candidly, that it seems far less justified now that Roe has been overturned.
What I don’t understand is the world view that says we can sacrifice everything, right up to democracy itself, for a person who shows so little self-control (or any of the other fruits of the Spirit) that he has to be repeatedly fined for his dishonest business dealings and assaults on the dignity of others, particularly women, and his habit of instigating violence on people who get in the way of his self-interest.
I don’t understand how people who hold conservative values can fail to see that the party they’ve put their faith in over the last fifty years has ceased to function as anything but a mouthpiece for a man who daily proves his lack of Christian world view. (See above paragraph.) Even his whole Bible shtick is about making making money!
I don’t understand how those who desire to see the U. S. be a Christian nation can fail to see that you can’t just take a sliver of Christianity, i.e., “save the babies” and “traditional sexual morals,” while completely jettisoning the Gospel call to, for instance, care for the marginalized. What about the prophetic takedowns of Israel, when it lived with idols and systemized injustice? We have both of those in abundance in America today. In fact, our entire economy is based on the idolatry of self-indulgence and consumption. If you want to be a Christian nation, you had better embrace the whole picture—not just the cultural flashpoints!
I’ll conclude by reiterating that these kinds of hypocrisies MATTER. When people see so-called Christians enthusiastically embracing, or at best remaining silent in the face of, violence and incitement to violence, changing the rules to suit one’s own self-interest, lies in the pursuit of a narrow definition of Christian values, and on and on… it MATTERS.
Why? Because what are we telling the world about God? That God thinks it’s okay to incite violence against judges, election workers, and the peaceful transfer of power? That God thinks it’s okay to change the rules to make sure the system always works for you and against the other person/party? And on and on.
If this is the god (I deliberately leave it lower-cased, because that is not the real God) we serve, then it’s no wonder people think the whole thing is b.s.
It. Matters.
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