On the murder of a “sacred politician”

This post is a longtime in the making and took several days.

I was so thrown off by the reactions of many of the majority of Evangelical Christians, on the murder of a certain person this summer, that I still have a hard time writing. I do not even want to name him because just his name seems to bring out the worst in people, as far as I have seen. But he was neither sacred, nor a politician, reading people’s reactions though, he sure seemed to be. Like I had to explain to people over and over in discussions: NO, I do not agree with this person’s murder, or murder of any kind. But I deeply disagree with his rhetoric. Just saying that though, raised so many heckles from White Evangelicals, be they relatives or people I have never met. The reactions from “brothers and sisters in Christ” hurt me deeply and have affected me to this day. Not only myself, but my husband as well. How can you revere someone like this man and claim he died for his beliefs in Christ? Mind you, I know the arguments white Evangelicals are coming from, but excuse me, thinking they are sacred is a totally different thing.

This was my facebook post at that time:
“Civilization is why you can have a nice life. It is civilization that tamed humans, gave you antibiotics, gave you elevators, gave you stoplights, gave you air conditioning, gave you surgery, gave you the ability to if you have a headache, I’m going to take an Advil. It also gave you the rule of law, separation of powers, consent of the governed. The indigenous population had none of that. We came here and we built something new. We came to a barren country with a very violent quote unquote Indian domestic…These are the people that won’t go to church, but they’ll chant indigenous pagan incantations. I’m sorry. Western civilization is a good thing. I’m glad our ancestors came here and I’m proud of what they built.” Taken from a transcript of one of this man’s podcasts.

Do you realize how deeply hurtful this is to your Native American neighbors?

My own points on this so-called civilization…At the point “civilization” was brought to an “empty” land, the “civilized” nations did the following, for example. The death penalty for “treason” (treason could be claimed under any excuse): If you were noble, you were lucky. You were simply hung. If you were not noble, you were hung till almost dead, taken down, slized open and your entrails ripped out, then you were quartered by being pulled by 4 horses in four directions. And all that after having been horrendously tortured with methods that make scalping seem like an act of mercy. Also, lets not forget the inquisition that existed in Europe for hundreds of years, which included the burning of “witches”. These witches were in the most part medicine women, knowledgeable in the uses of plants for healing. That’s where our medicinal knowledge went: burnt up in the fires of the inquisition. Because if people could go to natural healers, they did not need the church and pay for prayers, etc. The inquisition was used for so many reasons: Political power, land crabbing (easy to denouce the owner and then take his land), money. Least of all religious reasons. In this civilization, women were nothing. A woman got raped? So what? No one would believe her claim. Here, among the Native tribes on the other hand, the perpetrator was sent out with no or hardly any weapons to fend for himself. Something which constituted an almost certain death sentence at that time. You committed murder in Europe? Well, it depended on who you were and who you killed: If you killed a noble, you were in trouble. If you killed a commoner, no big deal. Here, many tribes shunned the murderer for the rest of his life. Something that is still practiced today by some tribes. And it did not matter who you were.

Here, the members of a tribe shared everything. In Europe, the poor were starving. And if they dared to help themselves to a piece of bread, for example, their hand was cut off. And/or they were sent to the gallows. Or /and sent off to the colonies like Australia. Oh, the glories of that civilizations. Why do you think so many of your ancestors came over here???

“Though he once praised Martin Luther King Jr., he later reversed course, calling the civil rights leader “awful” and “not a good person.” At a December 2023 event, he declared that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a “huge mistake,” claiming it created a permanent bureaucracy designed to push diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Do you know how deeply hurtful this is to your African American neighbor? His rhetoric about well known African American women who only got into college because of “special permissions? The same about African American pilots. What nonsense. Those “special permissions” were necessary because otherwise African Americans were still not given the same rights as their European American counterparts. It is the same in all sectors. Qualifications do not matter for many. Color does. It is the reality in both the States and Canada.

Have you ever held the hand of a person struggling so deeply with who they are that they are willing to mutilate their body through surgery, accepting the life-long consequences because it is better than the deep pain they are going through right now? Have you? Probably not, but you stand at the sidelines and judge. Just like him

Have you ever held the hand of a girl/woman pregnant by rape? Have you ever experienced the utter devastation of rape? Have you pledged support, took her into your home? My guess is no, but you stand at the sidelines and condemn, like him

Have you ever held the hand of a woman fighting for her life and that of her unborn child during extreme sickness, monthlong bedrest. Have you helped her out with practical means? Has he?

Are you involved with helping pregnant moms out in anyway? Are you involved in the fostercare system where many unwanted babies end up?

I am not justifying abortion, but I am asking for love and understanding and a helping hand, Jesus’ hand in a very practical way.

Have you ever held your dying baby that most would have aborted, but that the medical community after birth refused life giving surgery because she wasn’t worthy enough? So abortion is wrong, but supporting that life after is not a given? Have you supported someone in this situation? Has he? Has he forced hospitals to go the extra mile? No, he just used the same old words any Evangelical knows ad nauseam. I guess that’s why he got so much support.

There is more that I could list…if you can still stand with him and defend his rhetoric as a Christian…In each point I have either personally been that person or have/have had close friends and family in those groups. He has deeply hurt them and your praise of him hurts every time they hear it! And no, that is not what Jesus would do!

They say her defended the faith and died for it. But where did Jesus ever address abortion (and yes, it did happen back then too). Where did Jesus address gay, lesbian, etc.? No, the popular passages quoted about that supposedly address this are taken out of context and misinterpretated. Homosexuality was not even a word in the Bible until not too long ago (last century) As usual we forget that the historical context when trying to understand and translate certain unknown words in the Bible. You can research it for yourself. When did Jesus discuss the rights of different shades of people? Actually, when does color ever come up in the Bible? But Jesus sure did adress where the powers that be did things wrong against others. And these people were, most often, his own religious leaders.

Immigration? That just makes me roll my eyes. This was a descendant of immigrants talking about other immigrants. Jesus himself was at a time an immigrant. Many of his people were at that time immigrants to the many nations of the middle East and Europe, etc. His own country was occupied.

What gets to me most is that this man was not very smart. I have heard the same arguments about the same topics growing up in Germany…discussed among young people. The exact same rhetoric. Nothing had changed over the centuries and the distance. You just needed to grow up in those circles and you could talk like him in your sleep. And if, like him, you could not win your argument, you just did the same as him: Get loud, interrupt, put the other person down, etc. Nor did he have a vast biblical knowledge. Unlike Jesus, he just made sure to please the masses. And unlike Jesus he would cut you down mercilessly if you disagreed. Okay, one correction: Jesus would be quite merciless in his discussion with the religious leaders, who thought they had all the answers, even in regards to Jesus.