I believe our faith and political leaders should call our people to the better angels of our nature, not to the worst demons of our history. I believe our leaders should bridge our differences, not make the chasm wider. I believe in non-violence as a moral imperative, and that the language leaders use can inflame tempers and incite violence — or can calm tempers and lead to healing. I believe that kindness and love will ultimately overcome cruelty and hate. It must, because the alternative is to live with the status quo of violence and cruelty towards others that has been too widely accepted as the norm in our country. If we believe in the nonviolence that Martin Luther King preached, then why don’t we hold nonviolence up as the standard for everyday behavior? We must no longer preach the virtue of nonviolence only one day out of the year – on Martin Luther King Day – while ignoring it the other 364 days of the year. If we truly believe in changing from the status quo towards a more civil, loving, and nonviolent society, then why aren’t we teaching nonviolence in every grade, in most lessons in schools, and why aren’t we regularly preaching nonviolence and grace from all of our houses of worship as a standard for daily life and for daily decisions? You either believe in nonviolence, or you don’t. When we attack other Americans as not being real Americans or for not being real patriots – anytime we use unkind words for fellow Americans, we are choosing to do violence towards them and to promote and incite violence toward them. We cannot speak unkindness or cruelly about one another if we are focused on loving one another. Love and hate cannot come from the same mouth, either one or the other will take over. What comes from your mouth every day?
Love starts in the home. One who is kind to strangers in public but is not kind toward their own family behind closed doors is not practicing love. It is important to remember that when the great Mother Theresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she was asked what others could do to promote peace. The great woman’s answer was simple: “Go home and love your family.” Children learn grace, love, and nonviolence at home, or they learn violence and unkindness at home. If you want world peace, go home and be kind and nonviolent.
I believe Nationalism is a sin. It elevates one group of humans over another, and encourages thinking that leads to hatred, to discrimination, to war, and to genocide. We are all one. The sooner we learn that we are all human beings who all reflect the image of God, the sooner we will reduce violence and war. There is no ‘them’, there is only ‘us.’ People in South America are just as much our brothers and sisters as people in Europe or in Florida or in Texas. The sooner we learn to focus on our common humanity, the sooner we can start to truly love one another. You can’t love people you have irrational fears about, and you don’t show the love of God when calling entire groups of people criminals or threats. You either love people or you don’t. Christians are called to love. Dolly Parton best exemplifies this. Dolly just accepts and loves everyone and is mature enough to know that being critical of others means we are being critical of God’s handiwork. When we are critical of others we are saying in effect, that we know better than God. We must strive to become better than we are. Nationalism speaks to the darker demons of society, not to our better angels.
I believe that prisoners are made in the image of God and should therefore be treated with dignity and respect. The purpose of prison must be rehabilitation – their punishment is being separated from society. Too often Americans treat prisoners – fellow Americans – worse than we treat animals, only to be upset when prisoners leave jails worse than when they were first incarcerated. When you treat men like animals, we should not be surprised when they act like animals. Many advanced nations have had great success with rehabilitation prisoners so they do not reoffend – so much so they have had to close prisons. Our current for-profit prison system is not about rehabilitating prisoners but is about punishing them only. Our current prison system is a shameful disgrace to any decent society or people. Prison reform must be a moral and a Christian imperative of our time. Our current system dishonors those made in the image of God, is exorbitantly expensive, and does not work. A moral, Christian society demands better. This is one issue that is being ignored by most Christians in America. We ignore this to our own peril. Our treatment of prisoners brings great shame to American Christianity.
I believe the problem with the border immigrant crisis isn’t with the immigrants, the problem is with us. This immigrant crisis is a humanitarian crisis, as well as a test of Christianity. If American Christians cared, we would be sending food, clothing, medicine, and other aid to refugees fleeing violence and starvation on our Southern border. I believe the evangelical Church in America has failed miserably in this test, and American Christians have failed this test because of racism within the American church.
The reason American Christians overwhelmingly supported doing nothing to aid these Christan refugees who are starving and fleeing poverty and violence is because these immigrants where the wrong color. Their religion was right, but their skin color wasn’t. Let’s be honest, if these were white Christians from northern Europe, white American denominations would have not only thrown their doors and treasuries of their churches open to assist these white Christians, but they would have demanded that our politicians open the borders to let them in.
Racism within the white evangelical church in the United States remains a significant problem. In 2016, 2020, and in 2024, white evangelicals overwhelmingly supported the man who ran the most openly racist presidential campaign since George Wallace ran on a pro-segregation platform. It is almost as if Jesus wanted to test his followers, and American Christians failed the test miserably. We failed to respond to massive human suffering – hunger, sickness, and poverty afflicting hundreds of thousands of Christians right on our border. We responded not with the compassion and the love of Christ, but with indifference and cruelty, merely because of the color of their skin. Is it any wonder why millions of Americans are now rejecting Christianity? We all failed this test, and we are still failing. Immigrants are not the enemy. ‘Us’ vs ‘Them’ thinking is the enemy. Ironically, America desperately needs immigrants if our economy, churches, and society is to thrive. Our falling birthrate (having children is expensive and our government has chosen policies that make college and raising a family expensive), means that without immigrants, tens of thousands of churches around the country will have to close in the coming decades, along with many Christian schools and colleges.
I believe there are too many angry voices of division and hatred in America, so I seek to be a voice for love. We need more voices for love in our country today.
Love is the answer. You cannot hate someone and love them simultaneously. Why is hatred of fellow Americans being encouraged by some in the sphere of religion and in politics? Anyone who preaches hatred of fellow human beings in not of God, and is not good for America. I hope you will join me on this journey toward becoming more kind, and in promoting nonviolence. We will not come together as Americans or make our country better by screaming at one another. We will come together when we recognize and accept that almost all Americans, regardless of politics or political party, and regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, all want the same things for our country, and all want the same things for our children. We all want good-paying, decent jobs for ourselves and our countrymen. We all want good schools and good infrastructure. We all want low crime, affordable health care, and a country at peace.
We all agree with where we all want America to go, we just disagree on how to get there. We need to rachet down the inflammatory rhetoric and learn to reject those who use it – regardless of political party. Demagogues with their angry rhetoric that is designed to instill fear and anger in Americans should be rejected out of hand – no matter what party they belong to. America deserves better. America deserves fewer voices of hate and cruelty, and more voices of grace, of kindness, and that are focused on loving and respecting one another. Anyone can attack and divide Americans; the real leaders are the ones who can bridge gaps and bring us together as a country. I hope you will join me in rejecting those who attack and demonize other human beings. Such voices are not of God. The status quo is hurting people. The status quo is harming Americans. We must consistently teach nonviolence and respect for one another in schools, in houses of worship, in our homes, at our places of employment, and in our entertainment. If nonviolence is a good thing, then why are we not actively pursuing it every day at every level of society – from our local officials all the way up to our national leaders? You either believe in peace and nonviolence or you don’t. If you’re ok with the status quo in America then great for you. If you’re not happy with the status quo in America, then join me. Jesus challenged the status quo, his American followers mostly defend it.
We can be better. Remember, kind people are kind not because of how others treat us. We are kind because that is just who we are – no matter how others treat us. We can still put boundaries on how others treat us, we just do so appropriately, because being kind means also being kind to ourselves and not let others mistreat us.
For now, my pen name is “Beaux Bonhoeffer – a reference to the Reverand Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who gave his life defending his faith and defending the dignity of all humans against Hitler. America needs a Bonhoeffer, and since so few others are standing up, it might as well be me. This blog is part political, part spiritual, because a spiritually healthy society does not elect demagogues like Donald Trump who harm so many fellow humans. As of this writing, over 600,000 people have died because of Trumps policies in the past year, most of them children. How is this ‘Pro-Life?” If the Democrats nominate a demagogue I will oppose that leader as well. I write under this name because Trump’s supporters are known for harassing and threatening the lives of those who criticize Trump. We are experiencing dark days in America, with a leader who intentionally incites and feeds the flames of hatred in his followers towards other Americans, and who has repeatedly sent the message that political violence is acceptable – and will be pardoned – so long as it is done on his behalf. No American has done more to incite and normalize political violence in the last 100 years than Donald Trump. It’s time for those of us who oppose the status quo of angry voices on both the far left and on the far right, and for those of us who believe in nonviolence and treating one another according to the Golden Rule, to have our voices heard. There is too much hate in America.
If you want to join us, follow this blog to get updates and feel free to let others know about this site. Together we can do what none of us could do on our own. America deserves better.
If you’re not appalled by how politicians act in public, or by how awful American politicians and religious leaders are talking about and acting towards fellow Americans and towards fellow human beings, then I don’t know what else I can say to you. Jesus challenged the status quo; too many American Christians – especially evangelicals – support it. Let’s challenge the status quo together.
Beaux
Find me also @beauxbonhoeffer.bsky.social and at beauxbonhoeffer.substack.com