America’s Public Theologian

The recent State of the Union address has caused quite a stir. For me, the State of the Union just like any other public, political speech has the sheen of the holy attached to it. I imagine that this is thanks to my training as a pastor and as a public theologian. I know that every single theological statement is also a political statement, and the same is true of its opposite: Every political statement is covertly (and sometimes not so covertly) also a statement about God.[1] This has been true, at least in the West, since ancient paganism. In the United States the blending of the political and the theological is just the default for political and social rhetoric in this country. This year’s State of the Union has provoked me into reflecting on the theological character of our country and specifically on the religious power of presidential speeches. Rather strangely, the president’s State of the Union has inspired me to revisit his first speech he made as president. So let’s talk about that.

My President, My Preacher

Every four years the United States enacts a ritual deeply important to its life and sense of identity: we have a presidential election. This phenomenon functions as one of the countries’ most vital and public displays of its religious and theological dimension. In his article on presidential rhetoric Wade Clark Roof argues that presidential rhetoric shapes religious identity of the United States saying, “with the succession of presidents we witness noticeable shifts in national vision and narrative, illustrating how the discursive elements of civil religious heritage can be selectively drawn upon to tell the story of the nation.”[2] One cannot fully understand the religious identity of the United States until one understands its mythos, which is constantly told and retold by its priests and prophets: The Presidents. President Trump’s inauguration speech is ultimately both a political event and a theological event, and like any good preacher the president’s words interpret the character of God and the role of the religious community for his listeners.

So what is the president’s interpretation of the character of God and the role of the religious community? Honestly, it’s a little unclear. The president does not mention God often, and very rarely by name. President Trump does mention God once[3]saying:

“There should be no fear — we are protected, and we will always be protected. We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and, most importantly, we are protected by God.”[4]

President Trump conceives of a God whose main source of action is rooted in protecting the United States as it goes about doing its business. The president also makes reference to God as the reason why all American citizens should feel a sense of unity, saying all “are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.”[5] Even though these are the only real times President Trump makes specific reference to God, being America’s priest and residential public theologian he locates the theological in the political.

“Where Does My Help Come From?” (Psalm 121)

Perhaps another question we may ask is what does the president believe will save us? In her work on the social construction of evil and the religious dimensions of the United States, Womanist theologian Emilie Townes identifies the way a kind of “Christian triumphalism” has made its way into the religious identity of the country.[6] Springing from the Christian sense of Christ’s victory over sin and evil, this idea has easily blended into political rhetoric regarding American triumphalism. Townes continues to explain how this theological triumphalism creates political triumphalism saying:

“The goal is to win, dominate, conquest, convert — at all costs — even if that cost means lying, stealing, killing, and subverting justice. Winning becomes more important than helping bring in the Kingdom, the Realm of God. Winning — doing it my way or no way — becomes the doctrinal creed that fuels the piety of annihilation that is often the refuse of triumphalism.”[7]

Anyone who has heard our president speak at least once should feel a sense of…alarm from this passage in Townes. Looking only at the inauguration speech we find this exact language echoed all throughout it:

“America will start winning again, winning like never before.”[8]

Or

“We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones — and unite the civilized world against Radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.”[9]

Or

“When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.”[10]

And even

“Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America. We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again. We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.”[11]

I could go on, but I believe the president makes the point. All of these passages convey a sense of complete confidence in the United States and its ability to accomplish whatever it wishes. It is a winning America that has the power to save.

“What Must I Do to Be Saved?” (Acts 16:30)

If the past and future triumph of the United States is what assures salvation, what exactly must one do to get a piece of the action? For the president it is remarkably simple: total allegiance to the United States. Americans must all speak with one voice, the singular narrative of “America First.” He says:

“At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.”[12]

This language is intentional. I would argue that President Trump makes use of a common Evangelical Christian phrase. Opening one’s heart to patriotism sounds a lot like opening ones’ heart to Jesus Christ. There is something salvific about a patriotic person in the president’s theology. It “will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.”[13] This is the president at the climax of his sermon, this is his gospel: It is patriotism, allegiance to America, and the destiny of greatness that is mighty to save.

Disruption

Any and all baptized Christian should know that at the moment of their baptism it is to no other god that they belong except the Triune God. Any baptized Christian knows that it is to Jesus Christ that they must declare their allegiance and to his Kingdom. Basically, any baptized Christian knows that the president is talking about a false god and a false salvation, full stop. So what can we do as Christians to disrupt this false doctrine?

One of the most provocative images from President Trump’s speech is “American Carnage,”[14] his way of describing the terrible failure that the United States has gone through at least over the past eight years. The president is noticeably vague on who is responsible for this American Carnage but he goes to great lengths to describe it. American Carnage is the flooding of inner-city life with “crime and gangs and drugs,” it is the supposed decay of American business, wealth, joy, safety, and security. It is the very thing that the president has claimed to have defeated in his election and the ascendancy of “America First” and its triumphalism.

Let us take that language and retool it. The Christian knows that there is an American Carnage. We see American Carnage in the blatant disregard for human life in our immigration policies. We see American Carnage in the rise of white supremacy, in mass shootings, and in our lust over money at the expense of God’s good creation. Let the Christian disrupt the president’s diabolical preaching with the proclaiming of the true Word: It is the first who will be last, the meek who will inherit the Earth, the poor who will be blessed. It is Jesus who saves, not America.

[1] We see this principal first formulated by the political theorist Carl Schmitt in his text Political Theology.

[2] Wade Clark Roof “American Presidential Rhetoric From Ronald Reagan to George W Bush: Another look at Civil Religion.” Social Compass, 2009: 293

[3] Trump also technically speaks of God in one quotation from the Bible and the typical “God Bless America” catchphrase at the speeches’ conclusion.

[4] Trump, Donald J. “The Inaugural Address.” The White House. January 20th, 2017. https://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural-address (accessed Feb sixth, 2019)

[5] Trump, 2017

[6] Townes, Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, 2006, page 90

[7] Townes, 2006, page 92

[8] Trump, 2017

[9] Trump, 2017

[10] Trump, 2017

[11] Trump, 2017

[12] Trump, 2017

[13] Trump, 2017

[14] Trump, 2017