What’s next?
Most of my 2,200 Facebook friends share a mixture of anger, dread, fear, grief following the election. We support and encourage one another as a community, although many of us have never met in person. Most of us wonder what will happen next, although Donald Trump has told us publicly and repeatedly what he plans to do as president. We have no reason to doubt he will do all he can to fulfill those promises – retribution, deportation, stripping human rights, endangering lives around the world by supporting autocrats and oligarchs.
What do we do next? For me, that is the question. Each of us has a different place in the world – different calling, ability, interest, commitment to specific human concerns. I will continue to oppose Christian Nationalism and the larger authoritarian movement it supports. You can read a lot of the work I have done at my website, and I will renew my personal commitment to this blog and to making the website a place to learn and access resources and know how to connect with people doing the work.
Amanda Tyler
You can find dozens of books and daily articles and columns about Christian Nationalism. One of the best books for people who have evangelical roots (or want to understand that tradition) has just come out. Amanda Tyler, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), focuses her life’s work now on challenging and dismantling the power of this movement, deeply rooted in our national history. How to End Christian Nationalism comes out of her deepest faith commitments as a Christian and someone who wants the Christian Church to be a place of truth, justice, and compassion. You can find a lot of the work she has already done at the site of Christians Against Christian Nationalism.
I interviewed Ms. Tyler in January 2023. You can find that interview here, along with several other interviews I did at the time with prominent leaders of organizations dedicated to opposing the growing power of Christian Nationalism, especially now that Donald Trump will again be president.
I added this a few months ago to my website: “To understand what’s happening in America today and what’s on the ballot this November, we need to pay attention to shifting coalitions. What we’re seeing right now is a strengthening and expanding coalition between Christian nationalists, tech billionaires, and Trump’s inner circle.” That coalition is about to govern this nation. I must do all I can to expose and oppose it.
What I wrote two years ago remains my foundation for this work: ” I oppose it because I don't want to live in a world this authoritarian movement wants. I imagine a compassionate world, with love and healing justice for all - and the worldview of the movement opposes that. I write about moral and spiritual concerns - with political implications. Justice and Compassion are major themes, which are beyond partisan politics but which cannot be acted upon without making a difference in how our society and nation organize themselves.”
Stay tuned …
