Remembering the 2016 Republican presidential debates and primaries, nothing in the wake of the 2020 election and everything surrounding January 6, 2021 surprises me at all.

 Remembering the 2016 Republican presidential debates and primaries, nothing in the wake of the 2020 election and everything surrounding January 6, 2021 surprises me at all.

Compare and Contrast the Legal and Political Dynamics of Nixon and Trump

 

I don’t know if I want to put this out in social media, yet or ever. I am not looking to pick fights about either Nixon or Trump, but as more and more emerges about Trump, I can’t help but speculate on the power of politics on crime and justice.

 

When Nixon knew that Watergate meant that he would be impeached and probably convicted, he resigned. He never acknowledged his culpability, but said he was forced to resign when his political support collapsed. Gerald Ford gave him a Presidential Pardon to spare the country from a very ugly and destructive legal situation. Many Democrats even thanked him, not for letting Nixon off the hook, but for letting the country off the hook. So we don’t have an historical precedent for handling legal proceeding against a former US President.

 

As more and more problematic information about Trump’s political and business practices surfaces, I am seeing many observers predicting that he cannot escape legal consequences. Yet at the same time, his supporters not only dismiss all of this as politically motivated theater, but affirm their allegiance to him. Trump’s loyal base does not seem to be wavering much, even as jockeying for position seems to undermine the unity of those seeking to hold him accountable.

 

Nixon considered the collapse of his presidency to have been a loss of political support. At this point, Trump and his supporters seem to think politics can protect him from legal consequences. Almost halfway through the public phase of the January 6 Committee’s hearings, I will be interested to see how all of this shakes out. If Trump is truly legally vulnerable, will that ever be discerned if his political base collapses? If his political base remains strong, will we ever know if he should have been charged? If two competing political power blocks come to an impasse, will that further the division and fragmentation of the country, regardless of the legal outcomes?

 

 

My Urgent Plea to Heed the Call of the Theological Declaration of Barmen

For over 40 years I have been saying all Christians and churches of all traditions in the US would be well served by a serious revisiting of the Theological Declaration of Barmen. Perhaps because I was raised and educated and served in the broad evangelical tradition, I have been aware of their particular vulnerability to the lure of a pseudo-Christian identification with the country. Recently these undercurrents seem to be taking the form of an organized movement with a name that is openly used by both its proponents and critics: (white) Christian Nationalism.  It even seems to have made its way into mainstream US politics.

 

The Theological Declaration of Barmen is brief enough to read at a sitting and deep enough to ponder for a lifetime. It sets for a clear foundation for why the Gospel of Christ cannot be identified with any country or nationalism. It was the solid basis for the Confessing Church’s break with the “German Christians” in Nazi Germany. I believe all of us who trust, love, and follow Jesus must reject every manifestation of “Christian Nationalism.”

 

The Confessing Church struggled mightily with how to be faithful Christians and good citizens. I sense that Christians and churches in the US are struggling similarly. I am not suggesting a pat formula and certainly not a painless way forward. I have no voice in any particular group, and with my present calling and vocation wrapped up in caring for my wife on her Alzheimer’s journey, I am in no position to become an activist. But I cannot ignore the aching in my spirit that has persisted for over four decades and is growing into a crescendo.

 

The full text of the Theological Declaration of Barmen is available from a number of sources. In keeping with its Lutheran and Reformed roots, it is cast in the classic form of a Church Confession. On the surface, its declarations seem obvious expressions of Christian faith and discipleship, but it rocked the German government and the churches of that time.

 

Find it at this link. The Theological Declaration of Barmen (sacred-texts.com)