christian nationalism – garygunderson Blog

Bee

Radical non-conformists built this first Friends meeting house in Skipton in 1689 when slavery was utterly normal.

TC and I got back from England some weeks ago but writing is harder here. Especially as I agreed to teach an online asynchronous Divinity School class next semester. I didn’t quite grasp that this requires all 14 weeks of the teaching in advance by video. Yikes. It’s on the Leading Causes of Life, and I’ve got lots of help. But rather pushed my blog writing to the side.

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This is surely the worst Christmas since the slaughter of the innocents. So many slaughtered in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan by despots worse than Herod. Uncountable innocents bleeding out from the callous withdrawal of USAID across Africa. More ripped away by thugs at Home Depot in the land of the formerly free and brave. Blood on all our hands.

Against this ugly tide we celebrated Christmas for the City in Winston-Salem Saturday evening organized by the preposterously brilliant Love Out Loud. This is a quirky local extravaganza that for 14 years has filled our Convention Center with food, gifts, music from dozens of churches and vaccinations from the health department. This year included our one local Jewish Temple, so Jesus’ parents could have come, too.

Rev Dr David Docusen reminds us that Jesus knew all about the dark and was not afraid.

This event has lots of Hispanic energy, including those hunted by ICE. The organizers work closely with Siembra to monitor the surrounding streets for ICE. This the David that famously hounded Goliath ICE into the light and out of North Carolina and then out of New Orleans, too, which adapted Siembra’s technique, technology and Spirit. Still, as we moved toward the closing candle light vigil out in the street, all eyes were pealed for black SUV’s and big guys in boots. I volunteered to be the Nordic guy to obstruct and get arrested first, which turned out to be untested. David Docusen noted that Jesus knew all about darkness and only promised that we could walk home together as neighbors.

I’m sure Mary sang in an early version of Spanish:

“God’s mercy is for those who fear God

from generation to generation.

God has shown strength with God’s arm;

God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

God has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:46f)

This year has been about the art and craft of avoiding the total eclipse of the heart. TC and I lived half time on a narrowboat in England on the canal dug in 1770’s to link Yorkshire to the slave cotton and tobacco fields of North Carolina. Dug by what were effectively Irish slaves and the local landless just as desperate. Dark. But this is also where the non-conformists hid out from both King and Parliament which finally let them build meeting houses including the one where I worship in silence, listening for the way ahead. That seems—and has always seemed–so little and weak!

I’ve been kept by honeybees for some years as they gerenously to teach, tend my Spirit and feed me with honey and mead. But you can’t do that across an ocean, so I gave them and all the equipment to a local cooperative.

Then I become a honeybee myself. Quakers are as close to honeybees as humans can get. Both are generous, diligent, peaceful and so democratic they don’t even vote. Quakers seek in silence, bees vibrating in the dark. Neither kill to defend themselves, but are fierce for the babies. Both sting. Not like aggressive wasps (or the Christian Nationalists). Quakers sting just as Mary singing the magnificat; refusing to be complicit with the slaveholders, royalty and rich.

The most famous American Quaker prophet was a weaver from Philadelphia known as John Woolman famous for walking and talking across the South meeting with Friends about slavery. And then he followed the cotton thread of complicity to Skipton where he giving his inconvenient witness about their entanglement in slavery the canal made possible. He actually died nearby in Yorkshire after falling ill. Many Quakers were unexpectedly wealthy because their famous honesty made them trusted business partners. They were early investors in cotton mills, shoes (Clarkes) and chocolate (Cadbury and KitKat) and finance (Barclay’s Bank) and canals. They did not want to listen to Woolman; half of all slave ships had been built in Liverpool where the canal meets the sea. But in their silent seeking, his words percolated, turned to conviction and witness that ended the slave trade.

Our modern struggle is so much easier. Even amid the Trumpian blitzkrieg American democracy isfar more vibrant and robust than anything imagined by British Quakers, who were lucky to even have their tiny meeting house in Skipton. Less than 6% of white men could vote; no women at all. They had Thomas Paine pamplets (he, a Quaker). Imagine him with our websites! We citizens have liberties, technologies and revolutionary techniques honed in the long walk fromo the Magna Carta. Give the trumpians credit seeing and acting on all the weaknesses. But they are melting as they are dragged into the light, backbones withering like salted slugs.

Quakers are famous for what they won’t do–take off their hats in the presence of royalty and, of course, refusing arms. But their silence ferments endless creativity for justice and mercy. I’m guessing the Portland frog is one. But once creative courage is in the water, it spreads like a positive virus. King, Lewis, Barber, Indivisible—thousands whose names we will never know.

The Friends’ promise seems whimsical. Simple, radical, spiritual. Be quiet. Listen. Then act on what you hear and never stop.

Dei, Image of God

Every morning for a hundred days the Trinity went silent as the breaking edge of the early sun sped past Iceland, Greenland and then onto American soil. Spirit sighed as Son complained, “I saved their ungrateful asses for this kind of behavior?” Godhead was silent as godheads tend to be, but noted that maybe they should have gone with the dolphins as the lead species. “These humans don’t deserve to walk by forests and rivers, much less have dominion.” The Three/One gave up and stepped back to let the foolish species simply erase itself. It would leave only a very minor archeological layer of plastic as evidence of an experiment gone awry. “It’s a lovely little planet; someone will come along and treat it right.”

Somebody has to remind God not to give up. That usually means an artist with a soul that could not be silent, even against all the evidence. This time it was my friend and colleague Sally Morris who noticed that DEI–the target of the most sophomoric obsessions of you-know-who—also spell the Latin word meaning “of God.” Once the phrase “imago Dei”—“image of God”—entered her thoughts, she knew that other Latin terms and elaboration on them would follow. She turned to her poet and theologian friend Mel Bringle to keep faith with the subtle nuances of Latin and, well, God. The lyrics:

Imago Dei is the image of God.

Diverse and cherished, we are made by one God.

Each gender, class, and race reflects God’s holy face.

To see your likeness, help us, O God.

Voluntas Dei is the strong will of God.

Of equal standing as we follow our God, no longer slave or free,

we join in unity.

To work for justice, help us, O God.

Caritas Dei is the wide love of God.

Included gladly in the arms of our God, of this, we have no doubt:

God’s grace leaves no one out.

To welcome others, help us, O God.

These simple lessons are the teachings of God.

Diverse and Equal and Included by God, we rise to righteous calls

each time we topple walls.

To live your Gospel, help us, O God.

Descant:* Imago Dei. Voluntas Dei. Caritas Dei. Auxilio Dei.

*English: Image of God. Will of God. Love of God. By the help of God.

As Mel explains, “The concluding phrase about toppling walls alludes to Ephesians 2:14, where we are again called to live as one in Christ, because “He is our peace [who] in His flesh has made [us] one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (NRSV).

Saul Alinsky said long ago to never go up against a group of people that sing together, especially when they are singing like their life depends on it.

*Table Mountain, South Africa. From the Interfaith Chapel of Goedgedacht.*

Every church and organization on the verge of forgetting its identity should sing this song five times a day. Every waffling Board of every faith-related university and hospital should, too, or else they’ll embarrass themselves as they scurry into some safe corner in which to hide from history and their own self.

Artists remind us who we are.

Sometimes the artist reminds God to live up their name, too. Don’t give up on us God!

Tomorrow another day unfolds, built on the shambles of previous bad decisions. But not without hope that even when we waffle and fail, someone will come along to remind us who we are.

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You can download lyrics and full sheet music with a better explanation by the artists on the GIA website. https://giamusic.com/resource/imago-dei-is-the-image-of-god-pdf-du01930

If you use it, please let Sally and I know, maybe with a video link. Gary.gunderson@gmail.com or morrissa@wfu.edu

Inconvenient Jesus

As institutions and norms we thought solid melt, we all have to figure out what reality grounds our lives. It is ultimately money, power, violence and the grab? Does my family’s life depend on me wearing a red hat while being silent as park rangers, doctors and elected allied leaders are humiliated? Is that how it works? An unknown number of Americans think so; about half are silent.

The current administration have had an impressive 5 weeks ploughing through the American institutions like the Germans through Belgium. That Reich, expecting 1,000 years, disappeared in five. But it took a global war, Holocaust and vaporizing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end it. The revulsions produced the United Nations, World Health Organization, Marshall Plan, NATO, the European Union, liberating colonies around the world and a hundred other laboriously wrought agreements.

But if all those agreements are just undergirded by overwhelming US military force, why bother pretending otherwise? If we want “rare earth minerals,” why not just kick Ukraine to the Russians and take them? Is reality just that way?

Raw power isn’t just “over there.” I’ve never been mugged over my politics or faith. But the same thugs who attacked our Capitol are disrupting policy meetings in Washington now. Some time this Spring tens of thousands of normal Americans who miss democracy (or their Medicaid check) will be marching. They will vastly outnumber the thugs, but so was the Klan, and people got hurt.

It takes a vast outpouring of coordinated civil resistance to overwhelm the violent outliers. It works. As Tutu said, “anything war can do, peace can do better.” But this isn’t a video game. Some of the non-violent folks get injured; some die. So, you’d better be sure you want to bet your life on a loving God who guarantees mercy, justice and decency. Or go find a hat.

Most bands of thugs claim to have God on their side. The Klan burned…crosses. Putin has an obsequious Bishop. The Afrikaners had Christian Nationalism, as does MAGA.

This brings us to Jesus, the most inconvenient figure in all history; a vexation to every king, and pretender to royal privileges (I’m looking at you Bezos). Jesus has always tripped up bullies coopting the name “Christian.” The actual Jesus had a very inconvenient idea about power—don’t use it for yourself.

After an earlier blog, an actual Gideon told me that I needed a better Bible. They have warehouses full of them; I’ve only got a few dozen. But I have read mine, so let me be clear about three exegetical moves I am recommending in this radical moment:

First: Read Jesus before you skip to Christ. The latter is a nuanced theological construct that may or may not have anything to do with the Jewish Jesus who taught and was killed in Palestine. There is more than one “Christ” found in the New Testament, much of which was written a century or more after he walked. We’ve had hundreds of conclaves across millennia to sort this out. Most of those meetings ended up taming Jesus to be more useful to the Emperor Constantine or another one like him at the time. Every wannabe king has not only a chaplain, but a customized Christ.

Jesus life has cosmic implications which take a lot careful theology to figure out. Hence, seminary professors of different sorts.* That’s not blog work. And it doesn’t go fast.

My point is that, as important as it is, Christology and all the other -ologies can distract us from the basic call to follow Jesus’ Way of non-power, non-violence, pro-compassion healing.

Second, if your mental Jesus looks like you, you’re wrong (unless you’re a Palestinian Jew). He was from Nazareth, which was barely on the map of ancient Israel; rubble at the moment. Barn-born among the sheep, remarkable for all the privileges he did not have. Good news to the poor because he exposed the powerlessness of power. So, the King wanted him dead and slaughtered every boy under two to get him; his canny parents believing a dream about a different kind of power ran across the border.

Why bother with this old history? Jesus actually looked like the ones Christian Nationalism wants us to fear, despise, humiliate and, in the end, allow to be slaughtered in silence.

Third, the Jesus in the Bible wants it all. No to violence, but also to possession (one cloak for decency, but not two). Makes me a little nervous about my life. But it’s totally impossible to justify a violent kleptocracy on him. That’s why they talk vaguely about “Christian,” not Jesus.

This Jesus has implications for the movement now rising up to restore the damage to norms of modern constitutional democracy, checks and balances and law. Jesus didn’t enjoy any of those things. But he did pay taxes and ate with an IRS employee. So, he was ok with functional government as long as it wasn’t perverted to serve the rich. What make him angry were those who sold out the Temple to steal from anyone God so loves.

Find another god, if you must. But those who follow Jesus–even in a soft modern American kind of way—will stand against you without fear. Because love drives out all fear when you believe, as Jesus showed us with his life, that love of all is the ultimate power.

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*I am part of a Divinity School with some very smart colleagues, if you want one.

(Actual) White South African Christians

Statement from White South African Christian Leaders on Recent Actions by the United States Government

On 7 February 2025, the President of the United States of America issued an executive order withdrawing all U.S. government aid to South Africa. In the same week, their Secretary of State announced his refusal to attend the G20 summit in South Africa. The stated reasons for these actions are claims of victimisation, violence and hateful rhetoric against white people in South Africa along with legislation providing for the expropriation of land without compensation.

As white South Africans in active leadership within the Christian community, representing diverse political and theological perspectives, we unanimously reject these claims. We make this statement as white South Africans because these claims are being made about us and our experience in this place. The narrative presented by the U.S. government is founded on fabrications, distortions, and outright lies. It does not reflect the reality of our country and, if anything, serves to heighten existing tensions in South Africa. It also detracts from the important work of building safer, healthier communities and addressing the complex history of land dispossession by white Europeans from the black African majority.

That South Africa has failed to effectively address the racial injustices of Apartheid and Colonialism is obvious. Whilst the reasons for this are complex, one factor is the sustained resistance by many white South Africans to initiatives that seek to meaningfully address the economic and land ownership consequences of these systems of racial oppression. The resultant tensions thereof are now being weaponized for cheap political points in the USA. Similarly, there are South African leaders, especially within the white community, who are using the deplorable actions and statements of the President of the United States of America and his supporters to serve the narrow needs of their local constituencies. We call on our fellow South Africans to reconsider this dangerous political strategy and to rather give their energy towards working for a more just future in South Africa.

As South Africans who are Christian, followers of the ways of Jesus, we do this because we are conscious that the current U.S. government administration identifies and draws support from significant parts of our fellow believers in the USA. Recalling our history where the Christian faith was used to justify the oppressive colonial and apartheid regimes tacitly and explicitly, we have watched in horror as political rhetoric in the United States of America has also drawn on the Christian faith in ways which dismiss the most basic Christian call to caring for the vulnerable, loving of neighbours, and working for a good society for all. Such distortions of Christianity have produced innumerable violences, and the justifying of such violences in the name of Christianity is something we condemn and reject as leaders of our faith.

What is today known as South Africa is a part of the world that has experienced immense violence over multiple generations. We lament the fact that it continues to be a country with extremely high levels of violence which have impacted many, if not most of us, personally. However, while all South Africans have been personally touched by violence, the narrative of “disproportionate violence” aimed at white South Africans that President Trump is attempting to push negates the indisputable reality, for anyone living in South Africa, that black South Africans continue to be subject to the worst excesses of violence and oppression. Genocide Watch has noted that while white South Africans make up around 8% of the population they account for less than 2% of the murder victims.

Whilst we have serious concerns about the political nature of foreign aid into our country and continent, the sudden and immediate withdrawal of aid, particularly aid which supports our health systems, promises devastation for our communities. In particular, the support being withdrawn from South Africa disproportionately affects the HIV community who rely on antiretroviral medication. South Africa has a significant number of people who are HIV+, and for whom access to antiretroviral medication is a matter of life or death. As pastors, we know them as members of our congregations and communities. As followers of the God of life, and of Jesus Christ whose ministry of healing has guided the work of the church over centuries, we must protest in the strongest possible terms where we see racial politics being weaponized in ways that will contribute to the early death for the poor and vulnerable, while serving the political agendas of the powerful.

As white Christian South Africans, we confess that we have not done enough to rectify the injustices of our colonial and apartheid past. We acknowledge the call of the gospel to continue working to undo the injustices of the past, and we recommit ourselves to work for redress, restitution and healing. We know that rectifying historic injustices in land ownership and working beyond this towards undoing immense inequality is a key part of the gospel call for a commitment towards justice in our country.

We also commit ourselves to pray and stand in solidarity with faith leaders in the United States of America who are called to be a voice for justice and peace in this turbulent time. We recognize that the actions of the government and business leaders of the USA will have a definite impact on the future of the entire globe and that faith communities are called to critical witness in a time such as this. In the same way that churches were called to commit to united work for justice during the dark days of apartheid, we commit to supporting the prophetic church in the USA as it works for justice in the weeks, months, and years to come.

END—————————-

Add your name as a signatory here – https://forms.gle/FKeNSaru1UPLro7AA

Author Group

Cobus van Wyngaard, Unisa & Dutch Reformed Church Pretoria, Gauteng

Craig Stewart, St Peters Anglican Church, Mowbray, Western Cape

Curtis Love (University of South Africa, Theological Ethics) Johannesburg, Gauteng

Sarah Montgomery, Lifespring Community Church, Durban, KZN

Signatories

Stephan de Beer	Centre for Faith and Community, University of Pretoria	Pretoria
Prof Dion Forster	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / Stellenbosch University	Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Marthie Momberg	Research Fellow, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University	Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Liesl Stewart	St. Peters, Mowbray (Anglican)	Rosebank, Cape Town, Western Cape
Alexa Russell Matthews	Arise Family NGO, Church of the Holy Spirit, Social Worker	Lakeside, Cape Town
Pete Portal	Tree of Life Community Trust	Manenberg, Cape Town, WC
Anneke Rabe	SACLI	Mpumalnga
Christo Greyling	Dutch Reformed Church representative to the World Council of Churches’Commission on Health and Healing, Lead on subcommittee on HIV, reproductive health and epidemics	Somerset West, Western Cape (and Hilversum, Netherlands)
Prof Sharlene Swartz	St Francis Anglican Church; University of Cape Town	Betty’s Bay, Western Cape
John Scheepers	Isiphambano Centre, Cape Town Baptist Seminary	Salt River, Western Cape
Wendy Lewin	The Greenhouse Collective	Hout Bay, Western Cape
Philip Donald	Anglican	Lansdowne, Western Cape
Pieter Bezuidenhout	AFM pastor	Centurion, Gauteng
Dr Colin Habberton	Signal Church, Angello Network	Cape Town, Western Cape
Rev Brendan Fox	Anglican	Kirstenhof, Western Cape
Xana McCauley	Rhema	Fourways, Gauteng
Nigel Branken	Neighbours NPO and We are Church, Pastor, Social Worker and Activist	Gauteng, South Africa
Wilna de Beer	Tshwane Leadership Foundation	Pretoria, Gauteng
Chris Kamalski	Follower of Christ, American (married to a South African!) living permanently in South Africa, Editorial Director for Missio Aliance, Coach & Spiritual Director, Restore Voice	Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape
Garth Japhet	Heartlines	Johannesburg Gauteng
Marius Louw	Minister in the DRC. Currently minister of the English Reformed Church, Amsterdam.	Amsterdam
Sarah Portal	Tree of Life Manenberg	Manenberg
Brett “Fish” Anderson	Heartlines, Wellspring Community Church	Diep River, Cape Town
Stuart Talbot	Lay worker ngo	Kzn
Rev Steven Lottering	Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Cape Town
Dr Vaughan Stannard	Beautiful Gate SA	Pinelands, Cape Town, Western Cape
Wilma Terry Jakobsen	Anglican/Volmoed	Hermanus Western Cape
Riaan de Villiers	Dutch Reformed Church	Cape Town Western Cape
Duncan Mclea	Anglican Priest	Claremont, Cape Town
Dr Robert Steiner	Rondebosch United Church	Cape Town
Louis van der Riet	Dutch Reformed Church	Cape Town, Western Cape
Jacqui Tooke	Pinelands Baptist Church	Pinelands, Western Cape
Alexander F Venter	SACLI co-chair and Vineyard pastor	Salt Rock, KZN
Stiaan van der Merwe	South African	Norwood, Gauteng
Jennifer Charlton	Anglican	Greenside, Gauteng
Janet Trisk	Anglican	Port Alfred, Eastern Cape
Miles Giljam	SACLI; Anglican Church of the Holy Spirit, Kirstenhof	Muizenberg, Western Cape.
Bianca Truter-Botha	Dutch Reformed Church	Cape Town, Western Cape
Chris Ahrends	Retired Anglican Priest	Cape Town, Western Cape
Cecile Murray-Louw	NGK Durbanville Moedergemeente	Durbanville, Western Cape
Susan Smith	Church membership	Caoe Tiwn Caoe Orovincr
Daniela G	Coordinator, We Will Speak Out South Africa and Lay Canon, Anglican Diocese of Natal	Durban, KwaZulu Natal
Rev Dr Rachel Mash	Anglican Church of Southern Africa	Capetown, South Africa (permanent resident)
André Buttner	The Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Cape Town
Lou-Maré Denton	Dutch Reformed Church	Brackenfell, Western Cape
Tamsyn Pretorius	Every Nation Rosebank	Gauteng
Ecclesia de Lange	Inclusive and Affirming Ministries	Durbanville, Western Cape
Dr. Khegan M. Delport	Stellenbosch University / Otto-Friedrich Universität Bamberg	Cape Town, Western Cape
Kerry Wiens	Inundo Development Model Farm	Assagay, KZN
Revd Dr Claire Nye Hunter	Anglican priest	Rondebosch
Renier Lindeque	Atheist	Bryanston, Gauteng
Grant Edkins	White active citizen	Hilton, KZN
Rev. Chuck Spong	Assemblies of God	Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Caren Falconer	Ubukho Bakhe	Western Cape
Arnau van Wyngaard	Dutch Reformed Church Paulpietersburg	Piet Retief, Mpumalanga
Annie Kirke	Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Diocese of Cape Town	Cape Town, Western Cape
André Buttner	The Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Cape Town
Carol Franck	Pinelands Baptist Church	Pinelands Western Cape
Jaques Pretorius	Anglican Board of Education for Southern Africa (ABESA)	Cape Town
Ab IJzerman	Uniting Reformed Church	Khayelitsha. Western Cape
Rev Ron Robertson	Methodist church	Linbro Park, Gauteng
Neil Vels	Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Cape Town
Rev Joe Taylor	Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Hilton, Kwazulu Natal
Rev Toni Kruger-Ayebazibwe	Metropolitan Community Church / GIN SSOGIE	Newlands, Johannesburg
Jessica McCarter	Christ church Kenilworth. Anglican	Claremont. Capetown Western Cape
Robyn Jacobs	Arise Family NPO, Clinical Psychologist and University Drive Alliance Church	Cape Town, South Africa / Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Antoinette Erasmus	AFM of SA	Cape Town, Western Cape
Ann Currie	Anglican Church	Pinelands, Western Cape
Charlene van der Walt	Honorary Associate Professor, Gender and Religion, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu Natal/Global Coordinator for Theological Education, Act Church of Sweden	Stockholm, Sweden.
Fiona McLennan	Congregational/Presbyterian (United Church)	Rondebosch, Western Cape
Michael Deeb	Catholic Dominican	Scottsville, KZN
Johannes Mouton	Dutch Reformed Church	Cape Town, Western Cape
Kerrigan McCarthy	Anglican Church of the Province of South Africa	Johannesburg Gauteng
Kevin Robertson	Anglican Church	Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Tiana Bosman	University of the Western Cape	Cape Town
Julian cornelius muller	Dutch Reformed Church	Western Cape
Mel Steyn	Anglican	Bathurst Eastern Cape
Muller Oosthuizen	Dutch Reformed Church Williston	Williston, Northern Cape
David Field	United Methodist	Basel Switzerland
Mogomotsi Diutlwileng	Methodist Church	Pretoria – Gauteng Province
Etienne Snyman	Dutch Reformed Church (NGK)	Cape Town, Western Cape
Rowan Haarhoff	Wellspring Community Church (Landsdowne)	Claremont, Western Cape
Larry Warner	Disciples of Christ	Oceanside, CA USA
Louis Kritzinger Louw	Retired minister of the Dutch Reformed Church h	Pretoria, Gauteng
Joel Mxolisi Mayephu	Free Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Sunnyside Pretoria Gauteng
Andrew George Fair	White Christian South African Male	Somerset west, Western Cape
Mani Molefe	Methodist church	Roodepoort – Gauteng
Helène Smit	Stellenbosch Gemeente	Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Jacobus Adriaan Myburgh	Dutch Reformed Church	Wierdapark Gauteng
Doug Falconer	Ubukho Bakhe	Bergvliet, Western Cape
Petrus Francois Smit	Pastor of Dutch Reformed Church Groenkloof	Groenkloof, Gauteng
Andrew Wonnacott	New Hope SA	Muizenberg, Cape Town
Susan Hobbs	Amglican	KLOOF, KZN
Lyn van Rooyen	Dutch Reformed Church, consultant, World Council of Churches	Randburg, Gauteng
Dave Stroud	Member Care,Youth With A Mission	Parklands,Western Cape
Corne Peters	South African	Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Andries du Toit	Numa Life Church	Retreat, Cape Town, WC
Jacques	DRC Parke	Kraaifontein, Western Cape
Charles Matthews	CHS Anglican	Lakeside, Western Cape
Karen Grant	Common Ground	Constantia, Western cape
Matthew Lewis	YWAM Durban, Follower, 24/7 Prayer South Africa	Durban Kwazulu-Natal
Andrew David McElwee	United Methodist	Bothell, Washington
Mike Durrant	Minister MCSA	Ifafi. North West
Rose S	Private	Durban KZN
Bronwyn Witthoft	Uviwe – You are heard : Debriefing, Pastoral Counselling and Member Care	Cape Town, Western Cape
Margie Pretorius	Unaffiliated Jesus follower	Cape Town, Western Cape
Revd Lorna Lavarello-Smith	Anglican Church of Southern Africa	Claremont Western Cape
Lesley Pope	Methodist	Edenvale, Gauteng
Lindy Bossenger	Anglican South African	Gauteng
Doug Sevre	Jesus Follower and Disciple Maker	Indio, CA United States
Abby Mkhwanazi	Lifespring community church, Brethren Church in Africa, Heart to Heart International	Waterfall, KZN
Laurie Gaum	Durch Reformed Church	Muizenberg, Western Cape
Carusta van der Merwe	University of Pretoria	Queenswood, Pretoria, Gauteng
Angela Clarke	Youth with a Mission	Muizenberg, Cape Town
Ronel Betts	Teacher; follower of Jesus.	Fish Hoek, Western Cape
Roleen Webber-Green	.	Waverley, Gauteng
Ernst Conradie	UWC	Bellville, Western Cape
Johan Pienaar	Retired minister Dutch Reformed church	Gauteng
Justin Taylor	Minister in the Church of Scotland	Guernsey
Sue Gray	Signal Church, Vineyard	Newlands, Western Cape
Esias E. Meyer	University of Pretoria and Dutch Reformed Church	Pretoria, Gauteng
Megan Chitsike	Wellspring Community Church	Western Cape
Bruce Nadin	Capricorn Community Church	Western Cape
Nicole Masureik	Pinelands Baptist Church	Pinelands, Western Cape
Ian France	Gracepoint Methodist Church	Johannesburg Gauteng
DEBBIE	Personal	Gauteng
Henry Pienaar	Christian Theologian	Strandfontein Cape Town
Rebecca Parry	member, Christ Church Kenilworth	Kenilworth, Cape Town, Western Cape
Greig Daryl Wegerle	Pastor and Businessman	Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Mary Jean Thomas-Johnson	St John’s Anglican Church	Wynberg, Western Cape
Valerie Anderson	Christian	Cape Town CBD
Richard Bolland	Founder, New Hope SA	Muizenberg, Western Cape
Jo-ann Scheepers	Teacher in Christian Education	Salt River, Cape Town
David J. Kleinhans	All Saints United Church	Pietermariztburg, KwaZulu-Natal
John van de Laar	Methodist Church	Atlasville, Gauteng
Andrew Holmes	Anglican	Cape Town
Dereck Palmer	Assemblies of God	Bergvliet, CPT, WC
Fr Russell Pollitt SJ	Roman Catholic	Gauteng
Cindy Duvel	Christian Leader	Pinelands, Cape Town
Taryn Wegerle	Pastor & Principal	Durban, KZN
Glenda James	Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Milnerton, Western Cape
Nic Paton	Cape Town Interfaith Initiative	Cape Town Western Cape
Craig Duvel	Pinelands Baptist Church	Pinelands, Western Cape
David J. Kleinhans	All Saints United Church	Pietermariztburg, KwaZulu-Natal
Dr Grace Nkomo	Connect Network, Ubukho Bakhe, University of the Western Cape	Tokai, Western Cape
Jackie Gallagher	Hillside Vineyard Church South Africa	Johannesburg Gauteng
Nicole Joshua	Anglican	Heathfield, Western Cape
Johan van der Merwe	Dutch Reformed Church Stellenbosch	Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Taryn Galloway	CHS, Anglican Church	Kenilworth, Cape Town, western Cape
Prof Hennie Goede	Faculty of Theology, North-West University	Potchefstroom, North-West
Mike Batley	Social worker, restorative justice practitioner	Pretoria Gauteng
Lucy Ivins	Hilton Methodist Church & Religious Education Teacher	Hilton KZN
A. James Goddard	Methodist Church of SA	Hilton, KZN
Rebecca Benn	Home Ground	Westville (KZN)
Professor Anthony Reddie	University of South Africa	West Midlands, the UK
Dr Gideon van der Watt	Lutheran Pastor	Bloemfontein, Free State
David Botha	Religious leader	Tulbagh Road Western Cape
André Bartlett	Dutch Reformed Church	Riebeek West Western Cape
Sarah Rule	Roman Catholic Womenpriests South Africa	Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Charlotte Brown	Anglican Deacon	Cape Town, western province
Wendy Rens	Pinelands Baptist	Pinelands, Westeen Cape
Juanita Greyvenstein	Krugerpark Community Church	Skukuza, Mpumalanga
Annalet van Schalkwyk	Theologian, Honorary Professor in School of Philosophy, Religious Studies and Classics; UKZN	Tshwane, Gauteng
Sunelle Stander (Lays)	Ordained Pastor, Presbyterian Church (USA)	Jacksonville, Florida
Sas Conradie	Tearfund, NGK Pretoria-Oosterlig	Londen
Heather Hill	Central Methodist Mission	Cape Town
Nozipho	mcsa	kzn
Grant Stewart	R-Cubed (Restore Reconnect Rebuild)	Western cape
Heidi Newby	Active white citizen	Deneysville, Free State
Tumo Joseph mofokeng	Director of Afrolatin in favor of the world	Free State
Tony Drake	Christian	Observatory, Western Province
Joe Janse van Rensburg	Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk)	Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape
Megan Forster	Methodist Church	Somerset West & Netherlands
Francois Mynhardt van Pletsen	Interdenominational Independent	Somerset West, Western Cape
Noxolo Khanyile	Christ believer & follower	Soweto, Johannesburg
Luan Martin	Dutch Reformed Church	Kloof, KwaZulu Natal
Charnelle	Follower of Jesus Christ	Western cape
Rev Chris McLachlan	Reforming Church, South Africa	Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal
Bishop Geoffrey Davies	SAFCEI and ACSA	Western Cape
Melissa Riordan	Christian (Anglicanl	Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape
Rev. Patti Ricotta	Life Together International	Massachusetts, United States
Revd Dr Kevin Snyman	United Reformed Chirch	Durham, UK
Jocylyn Liedeman	Anglican	Parow, W. Cape
Richard Stephenson	Independent	Edgemead, Cape Town, Western Cape
James Mumper	Vineyard Church	Global Citizen
Catherine Draper	University of the Witwatersrand	Pinelands, Cape Town
Peter Watt	Church Leader	Durban KZN
Heather Ferreira	Self	Totally agree
Susannah Farr	Life Church; Pan African Youth Development Agency Leader	Kigali, Rwanda
Eugene Roberts	Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa	Gqeberha, Eastern Cape
Francois Naude	NG Kerk	Calvinia Northern Cape
Ashley Roberts	Christian; teacher	Gauteng
Tiaan Muller	Dutch Reformed Church	Humansdorp
Carien de Villiers	South African	Western Cape
Jacobus Francois Potgieter	None	Constantia, Cape Town
David Barbour	Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Musgrave, Durban, KZN
Marike Brink	Member: Dutch Reformed Church	Gauteng
Enrico Fourie	Methodist	Gauteng
Franziska Andrag-Meyer	Dutch Reformed Church	Struisbaai, Western Cape
Jenny kerchhoff	St matthews anglican church in hayfields	Pietermaritzburg , kwazulu natal
Nyasha Musimwa	Roman Catholic	Randburg, Gauteng
Tracy Bell	Anglican – Diocese of Natal	Pietermaritzburg, KZN
Alastair Buchanan	A pastor (retired) of Jubilee C.Church	Rondebosch
Tracy Jean Smith	Anglican	KZN
Ralph Willcox	Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Parklands, Western Cape Province
Marthe Muller	Urantia Teaching Mission	Bantry Bay, South Africa
George Lyon Sander	CfC Ministries	Marina Beach, KZN
Allan David Booth	Methodist	Kwa Zulu Natal
Deon Snyman	Uniting Reformed Church	Malmesbury, Western Cape
Sue Clarke	Methodist	Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal
Jabu Mnculwane	Endumisweni Community Church	Pietermaritzburg
Nicole Snowball	Signal Church	Cape Town Western Cape
Johan Stander	Emeritus Reverend Dutch Reformed Church	Bettys Bay Western Cape
Isolde de Villiers	Law Researcher	Free State
Sharon Westcott	White Christian	La lucia 0832700478
Ashling McCarthy	Christian non-demomination	Berea, South Africa
Stephen Oliver	Good Hope Metropolitan Community Church	Vredehoek, Western Cape
Rev Dr Jenette Louisa Sprong	Methodist Church of Southern Africa	Scottburgh, KwaZulu-Natal
Wilhelm Henry Meyer	University of KwaZulu Natal	Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal
MarilynSchott	Baptist	Ekurhuleni, Gauteng
David	Tomfoolery	Durban, Kwazulu Natal
Nadia Schoeman	White Christian	Mbombela Mpumalanga
Helgard Pretorius	NG Kerk Pinelands	Cape Town, Western Cape
Sally Goldman	Methodist	Hillcrest, KZN
Sarah Crawford-Browne	Anglican	Milnerton, Western Cape
Dr Annemarie Paulin-Campbell	Christian belonging to the Roman Catholic Church	Linden Johannesburg
Delme Linscott	Methodist Church	Cape Town
Terri Clapperton	Home Ground Church	Westville, KZN
Johan Pienaar	Predikant NG Kerk	Lynnwood Gauteng
Ayub Khan	ANC	KZN
Joe Baumgartner	Swiss residing in SA, humanitarian worker, worships at TNC Midrand	Johannesburg Gauteng
Jenny Pereira	Methodist church	Pietermaritzburg, Kzn
Pieter Roeloffse	Stellenbosch Gemeente	Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Gil Marsden	Church of the Holy Spirit	Kirstenhof, Western Cape
Mpole Samuel Masemola	College of the Transfiguration/ Anglican Church of Souther Africa	Makhanda
Martin Badenhorst OP	Roman Catholic	Hyde Park, Gauteng
Revd Mpole Samuel Masemola	College of the Transfiguration / Anglican Church of Southern Africa	Makhanda, Eastern Cape
Lawrize Stofberg	Vineyard Church senior pastor (VCUKI)	Piperdam, Angus
Barnard Gerhard	WinaCity	Kuilsrivier, Western Cape
Mary Robson	Catholic	Durban KwaZulu-Natal
Jon Kerr	Anglican	Claremont, Western Cape
Xolani Nkosi	BARA-CREATION MINISTRIES, Principa at Union Bible Institute	PIETERMARITZBURG, KwaZulu-Natal
Rev Erica Murray	Anglican Church	Capetown Western Cape
Tim Tucker	The Message Trust	Observatory, Western Cape
Thomas Plastow, S.J.	St. Francis Xavier Seminary	Athlone, Western Cape
Sarah Oliver	Anglican	Observatory, Western Cape
Sarah Porter	Anglican Church	Firgrove, W.Cape
Nqabomzi Gawe	I support the group and the statement!	Berea KZN
Annatha Nel	NGK Keimoes en Neilersdrift	Northern Cape
Jim Cochrane	Em. Prof. University of Cape Town	Cape Town, Western Province
Grant Gunston	Jubilee Community church	Cape Town, WC
Brian Helsby	Heartlines	Gauteng
Ines Neto	International Grail	Western Cape
Martin Breytenbach	Anglican	Mowbray, Western Cape
Wendy Appleton	Christ follower	Rondebosch, Cape Town
Ashley Maclennan	The University of the Western Cape	Parow, Western Cape
Roselyn Ann Morrow	Catholic Chrostian	Morningside, Durban
Anne Webster	NCCB	Jhb
Craig Banks	Methodist	Sea Point Western Cape
Saleem Badat	University of the Free State	Durban Kwazulu-Natal
Craig Algie	Christian	Western Cape
Martin Mulcahy	St Michael’s Catholic church	Rondebosch, Western Cape
Retha Scholtz	Private	Aston Manor Gauteng
Werner Lottering	Catholic Church	Gauteng
Wimke Jurgens	DR Church	Goodwood, Western Cape
David Grant	Common Ground	Constantia, Western Cape
Rosanne Shields	Southern Cross Magazine (Catholic)	Cape Town, South Africa
Janine Preesman	Ordained Minister Metropolitan Community Churches	Queenswood, Gauteng
Rev. Nkululeko Khanyile	Christian	Soweto, Gauteng
David Meldrum	Anglican	Mowbray, Cape Town, Western Cape
Sarah-Leah Pimentel	White Catholic	Muizenberg, Western Cape
Jonathan King	Crossways Church	East London

Don’t Protect Me

Celeste Wray a spirit warrior who belonged to St. John’s United Methodist church in Memphis, Tennessee which has seen its share of evil and evil overcome. She fought every good fight with grace.

Mr. Trump used the National Prayer Breakfast to announce he was going to lend the power of his office to protect Christians. This venue has always been religion-for-show with the theological standards in the subbasement. But anytime he goes anywhere near the Bible, it ends up upside down all over again.

This is a good time to clarify the relationship between his policies and Jesus. For the most part there is none. I’m an ordained Baptist minister and I’d be hard pressed to find a proof text for or against tariffs. Lots of texts about mercy and care for the poor and immigrants (of which Jesus was one). Lots about God warning the rich and those that suck up to them. Lots more texts about obeying the law and telling the truth.

Jesus never voted or ran for office. When tempted he turned away from political power. He was killed by his government at the insistence of a subservient spiritual cabal. Actual Christians find spiritual cabals repellent.

Religion has little to do with Project 2025, except as cover. It’s about the money and power. Most gods don’t care about money and they don’t mind royalty. But one particular God does, the One we see in the peculiar life of Jesus. That One flipped over the temple tables speaking of mercy and justice. That One mocked the self-congratulatory cabal that took money from the poor, weak and vulnerable. You can do that in the name of Tesla, but not YHWH.

This brings us to Christian Nationalism, the explicit theology behind the Trump claim to royal privilege. Not that Mr. Trump thinks he needs help from theo—he thinks he is theo.

There are similar theological betrayals in Turkey, Russia, India, Hungary. But the American one is by Christians, of whom I am one, a Baptist whose heirs bled to put the separation clause in the Constitution now being shredded.

I believe these people are wrong about more than theology. That’s not my argument right now.

They are certainly wrong about who is theo and who is not.

Jesus must not be tethered to any nationalism, especially one so calloused toward the poor and the vulnerable. Use some other god, if you must have a god for your movement; I think the Aztecs had one closer to their policies.

It’s up to the Christians to sort that out. There is a different betrayal peculiar to people of faith who are also citizens of the United States of America. Because we were founded by numerous strands of faith, we have hard-won practical intelligence about how faith works well in democracy. We know that we are at our very best when none of us has the power of the state to enforce our own views. We know that it is better—spiritually—for the state and the structures of faith to partner in the love of the people, for instance by helping everyone get vaccinated, but not share in the exercise of power. You protect Christians by protecting everyone in the rule of law under the Constitution. That’ll do it.

No country is exactly the same, but we can learn from others such South Africa’s long walk from Apartheid. They gave us Mandela, Tutu and ….Musk. South African Christians challenged the theological and moral foundations of the Apartheid Government who had wrapped all their worst policies with the trappings of Christian Nationalism. The South African Council of Churches in 1968 called Apartheid “heresy” which was bold but not quite accurate. ‘Heresy’ is a ‘wrong belief,’ which is bad but not fatal. Christian nationalism was fatal; a betrayal of the Gospel. They came back and wrote the extraordinary Kairos Document which named it apostacy—betrayal. Apartheid cracked at the base.

The Christian Nationalist movement in the USA is the same betrayal.

It is one thing to punk the Democrats; quite another to punk YHWH.

It will not stand.

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Consider joining Christians Against Christian Nationalism.