Beneath the anger

 

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had known every act the LORD had done for Israel. (Jos 24:31 CEB)

"Mediating narratives of supremacy that originate in diseased theological and social imagination--and ultimately unresolved trauma--must be replaced by alternative, healthy theological imagination that contributes to human flourishing." -- Charles Kiser and Elaine Health in Trauma-informed Evangelism

This past week, I have enjoyed watching the Olympic games in Paris.  There is something about competition, involving the world's best athletes that is awe inspiriting.  What I have been fascinated by is the massive social media reactions of self-professed Christians to an opening ceremony float, and an Algerian female boxer.  Both situations are very small portions of the Olympic games, but the attention to each situation, and the intensity of emotions behind posts and my favorite, social media arguments is a symptom to larger problems, all of which synergistically collaborated to undermine the incredibly frail credibility of Christian witness of American Christians.

Before going into specifics, let us lean in what Jesus said would give his Church credibility, namely loving God, one another, and our neighbors (Jn 13:34-35, I Jn 3:10-11, 23, and so many more). In fact, the Bible is viewed as a story of God's restorative justice (making breached relationships right and mending how we live in relation to God and one another) revealed in the world.  People prefer to understand truth in narratives, or stories.  These are called myths, not because they may or may not be true, but because they are stories in which we find meaning.  Narratives help us all form a sense of identity and purpose.  This is why Jesus preferred to teach in parables and stories, rather than simply clarify religious principles.  Theologian Bryant Myers (Walking with the Poor, 2011) writes:

"Every community needs a big story, a story that frames our lives and our understanding of the world.  Everyone must have some kind of transcendent narrative that gives answers to questions of meaning and provides moral direction and social purpose."

The power of narrative is that they inform and shape our understanding of our world.  In the book of Joshua (which is one of my most difficult books to study, but that's for a different blog), we find that the Israelites fulfill the promise of God to live in ancient Canaan but along the way made many mistakes that literally imperiled their existence in Canaan.  I know many preachers who preach that the possession of the land was granted unconditionally to Israel, but that is contradicted by reading Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28.  The leaders who understood the narrative of the God who brought them out of captivity to reflect the glory of God and how God was faithful to his promises, which included the privilege of living in Canaan as well as the risk loss of the privilege of living in Canaan if they were not mindful of God's presence, power, and purposes.  In Joshua 24:31, we see that the Israelites did well as long as the leaders remembered or were mindful of the ongoing narrative of God's purposes for the children of Israel.  Subsequently, we will find out in the book of Judges, which takes place after Joshua's death:

When that whole generation had passed away, another generation came after them who didn’t know the LORD or the things that he had done for Israel. (Jdg 2:10 CEB)

It goes on to say that the people, without the guiding framework of God's story, then did things that God saw as evil (v11).  It is important to realize that without the narratives of God to give meaning, the people misunderstood their purpose and began to forfeit the promises of God.  

The Church also has God given narratives to remind us of what God has done through Jesus and to continually remind us of our purpose.  The gospels are not simply stories of a man named Jesus Bar Joseph of Nazareth who rose to prominence from an obscure village to endure persecution from the religious and political powers of his day.  No, they are God's revelation to humanity showing God's grand narrative of restorative justice for creation in and through the person of Jesus Christ, and subsequently, the foundational narratives for the Church.  We have rituals which literally cause us to reflect and consider the narratives.  Baptism reminds us of sharing in Jesus' death and resurrection with the forgiveness of our sins and the participation in a new and eternal life.  The Lord's supper helps us recreated the Passover story where Israel was liberated from Egypt and the blood of a lamb was a sign to God to spare the household from divine wrath.  Jesus would celebrate his last meal on Passover but introduce his body and his blood as the new covenant which gives eternal freedom, and forgiveness of sin.  These are narratives which give Christian's lives meaning and purpose.

Back to the Olympics, during the opening ceremony, there was a float that was recreating a painting celebrating Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and festivals (see above).  There is a painting in France that was the inspiration of float.  There were similarities in the style of the float and what Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci painted as the "Last Supper" but the similarities really only relate to the way that guests were seated at the table.  Immediate reactions that the Olympic committee was making a sacrilege of the Last Supper and mocking Christianity came quickly.  Despite the Olympic Committee clearly stating that it was a recreation of the painting of Dionysus, the furor continued until the Olympic Ceremony Committe made an official apology, again restating that the purpose of the float was to celebrate festivities and unity and not related to Christianity but apologizing that it was understood as offensive to Christians.  Christians all over social media continued to express their outrage, and particularly their victimization which is particularly important to consider in this blog.

Later in the same week, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won the gold metal in her weight class.  She is a female with androgen resistance syndrome (previously called testicular feminization syndrome) in which the fetal tissues (prior to birth) that develop into genitalia are resistant to androgen hormones so female or incomplete female genitalia develops.  So, their genitalia are female despite the fact that they have y chromosomes and often high testosterone levels.  It was her high testosterone level that had her disqualified previously.  There are many disorders, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, which can produce elevated testosterone levels. The Olympic committee felt that elevation in testosterone levels is not a good evaluation of "femaleness" since many women have this.  Additionally, testosterone has not been tested until recently, making it impossible to know how many women in the past had elevated testosterone levels.  She is not a trans-woman but a woman with androgen resistance syndrome.  I am not arguing that testosterone levels are not important as it may be a legit competitive question to ask if naturally elevated testosterone provides a competitive advantage.  However, the amount of anger and rage expressed by American Christians was far greater than what was warranted if the primary concern was fair competition.

The vitriol of Christian folks talking about her as a "man" beating women was loud and clear.  While multiple news sources clearly discussed Khelif's situation, that didn't keep many Christian leaders from decrying the narrative that this was an example of transgender individuals preying on innocent people.  This is the same narrative that stokes the anger of some Christians who legislate to deny medical treatment to intersex children or makes drag queen shows illegal.  It comes down to something far deeper than unfair competitive advantage.  It comes down to narratives and the truths that threaten American Christian preferred narratives.

As I shared before, myths are created to give meaning and purpose to those who identify with them.  Theologian Dominique Gilliard (Subversive Witness, 2019) states

"Privilege affords those who possess it the ability to recast narratives, nations, and false gods in their own image."

In other words, those with greater access to opportunity and power, have the ability to inform the narrative.  Italian Sailor Christopher Columbus can be described as a hero for sailing a hazardous journey and "discovering" the island of Hispaniola by those who most benefited from his landing there.  However, the truth is that he came to an Inhabited Island, stole the land, enslaved the indigenous people, and brought catastrophic illnesses to a new continent.  The myth of Columbus discovering America is a holiday because it celebrated the myth of White supremacy.  That is the superiority of European ethnic groups to introduce their superior ways to uncivilized, and according to the Declaration of Independence, "merciless and savage" people.  

In the United States, the percentage of the entire population who identify as White is rapidly decreasing. So much so that our census bureau estimates that Whites will be a minority by 2050.  Similarly, the percentage of the American populus who identify as Christian continues to plummet, with Christians becoming a minority by 2070.  All of this has led to what Sociologists describe as crisis identity formation in some (certainly not all) White Christians.  In crisis mediated social identity, threatened groups (regardless of whether the threat is real or imagined) defines who the ingroup is (White Christians), and who the outgroups are (any group that threatens the exceptionality of White Christians).  Then they develop narratives that explain how the outgroups threaten the purity, innocence, strength or way of life of the ingroup.  These narratives require dehumanizing the outgroup and catastrophizing the threat.  The threat is so imminent and intense, that violence and rage is not only possible, but also sacralized. In these narratives, killing a capital police officer on January 6th was divinely sanctioned because they threatened a crisis identification narrative now referred to as the "Big Lie". 

The power of the crisis identification is that it blames the outgroup for anything and everything that goes wrong or anything that threatens its forming myths.  White Christian nationalism is a narrative that conflates the purpose of a nation with the purposes of God in a manner that White Christians have a divinely ordered authority to lead or occupy positions of power and privilege. The Christian nationalistic narrative demonizes the outgroup as a part of their ongoing revisioning:

"When something goes wrong in church or society, or when conventions change, white Christian nationalist quickly accuse people of color.  When the economy fails, people of color are at fault.  When white students are passed over for admissions to top colleges and universities, foreigners are blamed. Christian nationalism wants to maintain the status quo without any form of disruption or challenge.  Christian nationalism does not want to remember the genocide against Native Americans, enslavement of Africans, indenturing of Asian workers, or taking of land from Mexico.  They want to recollect their whitewashed version of history where they were the white savior to Native Americans and people of color." (Ji-Sun Kim, When God Became White, 2024)

Former President Trump describes immigrants in dehumanizing and debasing terms.  According to his own statements, they are "all" criminals, rapists, murderers" who are seeking your jobs, or at least the "Black jobs".  That narrative gives people purpose and motivated atrocities such as the mass murder of Latino's in El Paso in 2019, or the decision to place razor wire in the Rio Grande that killed and maimed many, mostly children.  These are examples of crisis social identity formation, which are based upon fear and typically resorts to rage and violence.

Sociologist Michael Emerson recently published the findings his 20+ year study on race and religion in a book called "The Religion of Whiteness" where he shows that narratives of White superiority (implied, and often unsaid expectation that those who identify as White are better equipped to lead and to be in positions of authority) have now become religionized. Whiteness is not a racially isolated phenomena and is documented in every racial caste of in American society. Colorism is a global phenomenon attributing divine favor or superiority to Whites or lighter hues of Black, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous people.  Sociologist Biko Mandela Gray at Syracuse University (Religion of White Rage, 2019) describes the connection between religiosity and narratives this way:

"Sacred is subjective, determined by the collective's perspective.  Sacred things are always identified and protected in mythic story and ritual behavior, while profane [or common] things, contaminants that they are, are always kept at a safe distance."

One of the tenets of the crisis identification of some White Christians is that there is a global conspiracy to victimize Christians and displace them from what was uniquely theirs, often described as replacement theories.  Due to that, it sees advancements from non-Whites as a threat as well as the public prominence non-Christian faiths (including paganism that was on display at the Olympic ceremony).  All of these things threaten the idea that White Christian way of life is not only superior but White Christians are divinely ordained to lead.

What if the mission of Jesus, better yet, the narrative of God's restorative love was the primary narrative from which Christians of all ethnicities and races found their identity and purpose?  If that is the case, then a pagan float, and an Algerian woman with androgen resistance syndrome, are not threats to your existence, but opportunities to demonstrate the alternative unifying mission of Jesus and demonstrate compassion to a woman who has been mistreated and misunderstood in a part of the world where authentic and credible witnesses to the love of Jesus are incredibly rare.  

We have to allow the divinely revealed narrative of God's love to challenge and if necessary, deconstruct our preferred narratives of ourselves and what is God's will in the world.  This is not mainly a critique of Christians who expressed outrage at the events listed above, but a challenge for metanoia, or a change of heart and perception, renouncing narratives that define you as threatened and victimized people but rather participants and authorized agents in the globally expansive kingdom of God that is life-giving, liberating and most importantly loving witness to the attributes of God.  We are to be living witnesses of a loving God, to a watching world.  The challenge again is:

"The challenge of the faith community is not to dilute, filter, or translate its witness...but so to purify, exemplify, and clarify it so that the World can perceive it as good news." (Yoder, Essays for the Nation, 1997)

Interrogate what is beneath the anger.  Look for the stories and the assumptions that provoke your responses.  After all:

"The greatest danger of any organization is to lose sight of its reason for existence.  This is especially true for the church." (Howell, Platt, Akin, Merida, Exalting Jesus in I and II Thessalonians, 2015)