While I am not a theist in any form, I do believe that divinity is occasionally comprehensible to humans, and I respect everyone’s right to peacefully practice their membership in organized religion, should they choose.
The influence of the Black Church on Black culture is an integral part of our magic and our struggle. And since Black culture is American culture by osmosis, by commodification, and by appropriation, there simply is no America without the Black Church.
On Monday evening, the American president cowardly swung his infamous hands over peaceful protesters standing up for Black humanhood, ordering them dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets, so he could walk to church and take some photos with Jesus, for the culture.
Needless to say, he hasn’t read Jesus’ book.
But I have. As I understand it, there are two basic rules of Christianity, under which all other rules can be categorized (unless the rules are blatant examples of codified heteronormative cisgender male privilege and fragility, in which case I believe they should be summarily discarded).
The rules are thus: 1. love God, 2. love your neighbor.
Though there is plenty of overlap, most of the Old Testament in every version of the Bible is about loving God — obeying Him, not taking false idols, yada yada. Most of the New Testament is about loving your neighbor — rejecting greed, lifting up the poor and the sick, etc.
The current president loves himself, and he loves money. He is a vain, vindictive, pathological liar who showcases visible difficulty expressing both humility and empathy.
In this way, he is pretty much the opposite of Jesus. Sort of an anti-Jesus, or “anti-Christ” if you will.
Though they refuse to see it, his unabashedly Christian followers have put him above God. They put “the economy” above God as well, and have conflated Holiness with America, the military, and the police.
They don’t realize that they don’t actually have a relationship with God, and may have never had one, despite the fact that they identify so strongly with the church.
In actuality, they worship on the altars of fear, greed and hate.
Forty years ago they were exalting the Gipper — another entertainer playing the role of the president — with the same fervor they now reserve for this ignoramus.
Reagan began the process of dismantling the public sector that Trump is today all too eager to complete. Back in the ‘80s Ronnie weaponized Christianity to aid his anti-government crusade, while Trump was busy not writing The Art of the Deal.
The founders of America, ostensibly Enlightened thinkers, were in fact hypocritical slavers who realized the powers of social control inherent in organized religion, and decided they wanted their mechanisms of control to be God-adjacent, rather than God-centered.
They and their ilk presided over the abduction of millions of Christians, Muslims, adherents to indigenous West African religions, and non-theists. The love of White Jesus was beaten into the survivors of the Middle Passage for generations.
And yet we grew, of our own accord. And yet we thrived. We followed the drinking gourd to freedom. We was no ways tired, even though we were so goddamn tired!
We built communities, raised good, God-fearing children there, and then saw those communities burned to the ground as we directed our children to escape from the phantom visage of the flaming cross.
Our church leaders led marches. They nudged American Empire to see us and hear us. And then they were slain. No doubt slain by Christians. No doubt slain without remorse.
And when a Black man ran for president he realized that in order to win he needed to disown his own pastor, whose crime was speaking the truth of American Empire to his congregation.
Obama carried the electoral college and the popular vote twice, and white Christians from his rival party said “nah”. They doubled down on doublespeak and proceeded to steal the judicial branch of the federal government.
Reputable polls showed a significant percentage of their supporters were sure Obama was the Antichrist.
Despite being a prominent figure in the zeitgeist and in evangelical circles, the Antichrist does not actually appear alongside Jesus in the Gospels or in Revelation. The character is a cypher, meant to transform from era to era to suit the politics of the time.
I prefer my Biblical stories more canonical. The Hebrew Exodus from Egypt is perhaps the most zeitgeisty story from the Old Testament. The Prince of Egypt was one of my most re-watched movies as a kid. I wore that VHS out back in the day.
Of all the elements I love about this film, the gorgeous animated montage of God’s plagues sweeping over the land accompanied by eerie choral vocals is definitely my favorite. So grim, but since we’re supposed to be rooting for Moses, also entirely justified.
It gets me every time, watching the pharaoh hold his dead son in his arms, in all his cartoon despair, after the Holy Spirit comes into Egypt and passes over the doors painted with lambs’ blood.
I am constantly reminded that COVID-19 is a literal plague. It’s real. It’s here. It has been killing us, and will continue to do so.
But we also have lambs’ blood, in the forms of adherence to science, and goodwill toward each other.
This president and the frothing televangelist pharisees who back him would have their Christian supporters believe COVID-19 isn’t real, or if it is real it was sent by God to punish the wicked (aka not them).
But if God is to be a practical tool for any of us to rally around, we are more apt to take the good and leave the fuckery behind.
I have long decried #blessed culture. I believe it is a bastardization of virtue, both human and divine. Conversely, I see humans as the blessings God bestows on other humans.
Any time someone is kind to someone else, or generous, or supportive, or nonjudgmental, that is a blessing from God.
When Anthony Fauci was researching HIV/AIDS and sounding the alarm, as the voices of organized Christianity praised the fate of the heathens amid Reagan’s unforgivable silence, the good doctor’s work was a blessing from God.
Now Dr. Fauci is here blessing us again. All the scientists researching this disease and working on vaccines, treatments, cures, testing, contact tracing — they are blessing us every day.
All the medical professionals, exalted on pillars of false virtue but not actually heard or respected or protected, are blessing their patients with their wealth of medical knowledge and their wherewithal, amid incredible and mounting pressure.
We bless one another when we stay physically distant, when we wear masks even though they’re uncomfortable, when we wash our hands thoroughly and frequently, when we empathize with our elders and folks with underlying conditions.
We bless one another when we protest peaceably, protecting each other even as this latest anti-Christ sends his infrastructure of death after us, cursing us all the way.
So today I say to all of y’all who have made it this far, remember that though individually each one of us is truly imperfect, we are a divine collective. We are, literally, stardust.
And to my Good Christians of all denominations, whether y’all are Black or white or any other race, I say this: God’s path for us is to be the blessings in other people’s lives.
Right now that specifically means unpacking your own religious privilege, learning and growing in your faith, and reminding your fellows-in-Christ of the rules.
Love God. Love your neighbor.
There is no destination. The good work never ends.
