When I was in high school, one of the first cracks in my Reaganite armor came in the form of theologian Philip Yancey’s book What’s So Amazing About Grace. I devoured it; it felt revolutionary and kindred at the same time, like it was changing the way I thought about the world and others, and yet also so familiar, like it had always been there.
And to this day, I still feel that way. I haven’t left the faith but for grace. It’s the one anchor, the one compelling aspect of Christianity that impels me to stay. What does radical acceptance really look like and how would it change the world if we let it? How would sacrificial love, unconditional and all-encompassing, change you and me if we all lived by it?
In that vein, and in these times of decided, intentional anti-grace, it has been something of a psychic schism for me to realize that those that taught me what grace was have lost it as a guiding principle. My betters have sworn allegiance to a figure and a movement that does quite the opposite of grace and love: round American citizens up without identification and with masks and abduct without due process for deportation to countries not their own.
There is even a popular Evangelical book right now called “Toxic Empathy” by Allie Beth Stuckey that perfectly, cartoonishly captures the MAGA movement’s need to turn everything upside down about authentic Christian values. There is an excellent multi-part podcast series on Straight White American Jesus on the book.
So how does one talk to their former world about Jesus’ love, turning the other cheek, and scandalous forgiveness? If that generation has traded in these foundational principles for weapons, wealth, and revenge, is there any salvaging them and their relationships?
The MAGA damage is being done in large swaths across our society now; I’m not convinced there is any repair, certainly not easily. Both tangibly, but also (and perhaps more) psychologically and spiritually, these damages are durable.
It is hard to put into words the deep grief a person like me sits with, knowing that the previous generation has given up on grace. They look at what is happening now with our immigrant community with a sort of tacit approval, believing that the trade of liberty for security is a sound one. What is missing from that calculation though is also the loss of love and grace. In their place is a callousing, a hardening of the senses toward empathy and community. That may be lost forever.
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