JD Vance is out and about preaching up his version of Christianity. Vance, a Roman Catholic, calls for a restoration of Western Civilization; alleging that liberals, humanists, socialists, and atheists want to destroy America. This is patently untrue. The issue at stake is a radical difference between worldviews.
Vance promotes not Christianity itself, but Christendom. Christendom vs. Christianity — the former all about restoring Western Civilization to what Vance considers its glory days.
Christendom is about power, not piety. The goal is coercion, not salvation. Christendom gave us imperialism, colonialism, empire, and war. Millions have died as the result of the West’s lust for world domination. Trump, Vance, Rubio, and Hegseth all think that the Christian deity and the United States are best buds; that this God gave his approval for America’s immoral wars. Or so we’re told.
Vance’s promotion of Christendom explains why he says there’s no such thing as the separation of church and state. In Vance’s view of the world, the United States is an explicitly Christian nation, divinely chosen and blessed by the triune Christian God, not just a nation of mainly people who self- identify as Christians.
Various streams of Christian nationalism all want one thing: a Christian nation governed by the laws of the Bible. This is nothing more than the Christian version of Muslim Sharia Law. Calling pluralism and multiculturalism evil, Christian nationalists want religious purity; or at the very least a culture dominated by Christianity and a society where unbelievers are grudgingly tolerated as long as they know their place.
I recently began my seventieth year of life. For the first time in my life, I no longer feel welcome in my own country. I’ve been told there’s no place for people like me: an unbelieving atheist, socialist, and pacifist. How dare I live according to my values and beliefs. Vance and his fellow Christians want a religious monoculture, one where everyone thinks, believes, and behaves the same way.
Vance’s wife is a Hindu. You would think he would respect his wife’s religious beliefs, but he does not. Before converting to Catholicism, Vance was an Evangelical — and it shows. Vance has publicly called on his wife to convert to Christianity. This is a reminder that Vance’s goal is restore Western Christianity to its former greatness. How much blood he is willing to shed to advance his cause remains to be seen.
Bruce Gerencser
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Published in the Crescent-News on Thursday, April 23, 2026.
Dear Editor,
I keep hoping to read in the Crescent-News a plethora of letters from Evangelicals condemning Donald Trump’s use of Christianity to advance his unholy, violent agenda. Alas, there are no letters to be found. Even publishing a meme showing Trump as Jesus was not enough to dislodge them from the president’s hip. Both Paula White and Pete Hegseth favorably compared Trump’s self-inflicted troubles to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Why the silence from Evangelicals? They are directly responsible for putting Trump in the White House. Three times in the past ten years, almost 80 percent of voting White Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump. By the the 2024 election, every American knew who and what Donald Trump really was. Everyone knew Trump was a violent narcissist who couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it, yet devout people of faith voted for him anyway.
Spare me the explanations about not voting for a “pastor in chief.” I was an Evangelical for 50 years. I listened to preachers excoriate President Bill Clintonover a stained blue dress. Despicable? You bet. And at the time, I eviscerated Clinton from the pulpit, as I would have Trump today if I were still a pastor. If Evangelical pastors can’t see Trump in the same light they viewed Clinton, they have lost their moral authority. They have sold their souls for a bowl of soup.
Worse, an increasing number of Evangelicals have adopted theocratic beliefs, asserting that the separation of church and state is a myth. Both Russ Vought and Hegseth are card carrying theocrats who believe the Evangelical God has called them to re-establish the United States as a Christian nation. Their nefarious dogma will lead to violence and death on our streets, as is currently happening in Iran and the greater Middle East.
The Pope recently condemned Trump’s offensive war against Iran. More than a few Evangelical talking heads told the Pope to “shut up and mind your own business.” J.D. Vance — allegedly a Catholic — lectured the Pope on “just war theory.” What is going on in Iran is anything but “just.” The United States is waging an immoral war against [the newspaper’s editor removed “the people of” from my letter] the people of Iran. And Cuba is next, if Trump gets his way.
Several letter writers have suggested than I am morally lacking. Maybe, but I’m moral enough to know it’s evil to wage offensive wars and murder innocent people.
Bruce Gerencser
Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Submitted to the editor of the Defiance Crescent-News.
Dear Editor:
I am troubled by the increasing hostility of Evangelicals towards those who hold opinions and beliefs different from theirs. It seems that every issue, no matter how insignificant, is a hill to die on. Thus, my recent letter about Lifewise Academy was seen as a personal attack. This was not my intent. Unlike some folks, I understand the difference between critique and personal attack. When people don’t understand the difference, they attack the person, not the idea.
Over the past twenty years, I’ve had countless Evangelicals personally attack me for something I’ve written or said. Most often, I am threatened with hellfire and brimstone, though I have received death threats too. Worse, I have had Evangelicals attack my partner, children, and grandchildren. One fine Christian even suggested that our daughter with Down syndrome deserved to be assaulted.
I know more than a few local school administrators and teachers read my letters to the newspaper. I know this because my grandchildren tell me that administrators and teachers call on them, both privately and in class, to defend what I have written. My children have experienced similar behavior at Northwest State Community College and their places of employment. In what world is it proper to question and berate grandchildren over something their grandfather said or did? I stand on my own two feet. My words are my own. My family knows I don’t expect them to defend me. In fact, I have let them know it is okay for them to disown me if it makes life easier for them. So far, none of them has done so.
I told my children and grandchildren to tell their interlocutors to contact me directly if they have questions or want to challenge something I have said. I am a public figure; well-known, and easy to find. If school administrators and teachers want to put me in my place, I suggest they not use children to passive-aggressively make a point. I am more than happy to respond to any questions people have. I told my one granddaughter to tell her high school teacher that I would be more than happy to speak to his class or engage him in a formal debate. He, of course, refused to engage. It’s easy to berate kids lacking theological, philosophical, and historical foundations. Not so with someone like me, and I suspect that’s why he ignored my challenge.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Recently, a local Evangelical man responded to my recent letter to the editor of the Defiance Crescent-News about the LifeWise Academy release time program. His letter was published today. Here’s what he had to say. The title, by the way, is added to the letter by the editor of the newspaper. He is also a Christian, so I expect he agrees with its sentiment.
Pray for this man
The Bible (Matthew 24:10-12) speaks of a falling away of the church as we approach the end of an age. I can’t think of more classic example of that than an ex-pastor of decades long dedication maligning the Bible, the Church and a religious organization. [Ooh, I am a classic example of the “great falling away” the Bible speaks of.]
That is the rotted fruit of freewill that God has given us. I cannot imagine the turmoil faced by this man that has caused such a gigantic swing in his spiritual thinking. [Note the straw man he has built in his mind about me: a man with a life filled with turmoil. As far as freewill is concerned, it is a myth. I will gladly debate any and all local Christians on this issue, especially since the Bible does NOT teach humans have freewill.]
But I don’t take that away from him. It is his choice, and it will be his consequence for it. The sad fact is by his public announcement he may well lead others to follow his path, and that too will have serious consequences. [I can only hope.]
The organization which he berates not only leads children to the Cross of Jesus, but it also builds character and honesty and fosters love, something that is missing in some of the homes these children come from. [And they do so by hiding their true agenda.]
Matthew 18:6: “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” [Awesome. No Hell for me. This man suggests putting a millstone around my neck and throwing me in the sea to drown. What an awesome God he serves.]
Please, may every Christian who reads this, pray for this person. [Thousands of Evangelicals have prayed for me over the past seventeen years, without success. Either God ain’t listening or he doesn’t exist. My money is on the latter.]
Ron Bliss Wauseon
— end of letter
Today, I also received an email from a local man praising me for my letter to the editor. And for that I am grateful.
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Lifewise Academy has now infiltrated half of Ohio’s public schools. Most local schools release students so they can be indoctrinated and conditioned to believe that the teachings and stories of the Bible are not only true, but written by God himself. Lifewise, an explicitly Evangelical organization, officially believes that the Bible is inerrant and infallible — an absurd statement, if there ever was one. The Bible may offer wisdom to those inclined to read it (and I have read the Bible from cover to cover numerous times), but it is intellectually dishonest to claim that there are no errors, contradictions, or mistakes in the Bible. Granted, Evangelicals can and do explain away these things, but I do not find their explanations compelling.
I recently followed a discussion about Lifewise on a local Facebook group. The amount of misinformation about Lifewise suggests that locals are long on opinion and short on facts. For example, Lifewise supporters hide the fact that it is an explicitly Evangelical organization. Suggesting that Lifewise is non-denominational is a smokescreen. I was an Evangelical Christian for fifty years, a pastor for twenty-five years. I know, as other preachers know, that “non-denominational” is code for “Evangelical.” It is used to distance churches from the increasing hostility towards Evangelicalism. This is akin to Burger King changing its name to McDonald’s. A Whopper is a Whopper, and no amount of subterfuge will turn it into a Big Mac.
I have even read of local Catholics defending Lifewise, as if it is no different from Catholicism. It is, and the goal is to evangelize every child with the Evangelical gospel. According to Evangelical dogma, Catholics preach a false, works-based gospel. This is why many Catholic priests oppose Lifewise.
If you want your children taught young-earth creationism, which directly contradicts what science tells us about the world, then Lifewise is for you. If you want your children taught that the mythical stories of the Bible are factually, historically true, then Lifewise is for you. If you want your children to be taught that premarital sex is a sin (as is masturbation), LGBTQ people are an affront to God, and divorce is wrong, then Lifewise is for you. If you want your children to be taught patriarchal and complementarian beliefs, then Lifewise is for you.
Why did Lifewise sue a local man over the release of internal documents? What are they trying to hide?
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Letter sent to the editor of the Defiance Crescent-News.
Dear Editor:
Our republic was saved from Donald Trump’s worst tendencies during his first administration by Republicans who understood what unchecked power could do in the hands of megalomaniac. Over the course of four years, they were replaced by feckless true-blue believers willing to bow to Trump’s delusional demands.
Today, the three branches of government are dominated by devotees to Trump and Project 2025. Loyal to the man, instead of the people, these servants tirelessly work to advance the whims of their leader. No regard is given to the U.S. Constitution or the rule of law. All that matters is obeisance to their savior Donald Trump. He alone, they say, can deliver us from communism, socialism, atheism, liberalism, and anything that paints White American Christians in a bad light.
In their minds, the United States is a Christian nation governed by the teachings of the Protestant Bible. Well, some teachings anyway. Trump-loving Christians ignore the verses that talk about how they should treat strangers and enemies; they ignore verses that explicitly condemn the Trump administration’s immoral treatment of undocumented workers and LGBTQ people. They worship what I call a Jesus of convenience; a Jesus that is used to advance political and social agendas instead of saving souls and transforming society.
It remains to be seen if our country will survive Donald Trump. Democrats fiddle while Rome burns, offering muted responses to Trump, if any at all, waiting until the time is “right.” If they can’t see the flames erupting through the roof, they aren’t paying attention. Protests and letters to the editor have their place — I’ve been writing letters for almost 50 years — but they alone cannot bring political and social change. The solution remains what it has always been: voting. As long as we are a democratic republic, voting remains the only means to effect change. If most Americans don’t vote, we can’t expect lasting change.
Trump plans to roll back progress to the Gilded Age of robber barons. The rich now control the reins of government more than ever before. One of their own now sits at the head of the table, acting like he’s a mob boss. All that matters to Trump is power and money; things Jesus expressly condemned. And if you stand in Trump’s way or dare to challenge his actions, he will bring the full force of the government down upon your head.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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President Donald Trump is a psychopath who has no empathy for anyone but himself. Trump does no wrong. He even said he hasn’t done anything worthy of asking forgiveness from God. In his eyes, he sees himself as one of the greatest American presidents, ever, worthy of his spray-tanned face being chiseled into Mount Rushmore. Trump’s visions of grandeur know no bounds. He delusionally thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. A liar and a braggart, he spins lies into stories about everything from his prowess with women to being the greatest negotiator who ever lived.
Whatever Trump might think about himself, in the real world we continue to judge politicians by their works. The Bible tells us to judge people by the fruit they produce. What, if anything, has Trump done for everyday Americans? Not much. So far, all he has done is foment chaos and fear. Financial markets are having a hard time figuring out what the “stable genius” is doing. Trump’s handlers tell us to trust him, saying he is a master businessman and financier, all the while ignoring that he has gone bankrupt numerous times. A reckoning is coming for Trump. Not today, but once he is out of office and lacks the power of the state, business leaders will be free to ignore his insanity. Of course, until that glorious day, we have to live with Trump’s ignorance about how the world really works, hoping he doesn’t drag us into another war or burn our world to the ground. This should come as no surprise since Trump doesn’t read. He even avoids reading security briefings, preferring pictures or summaries. He is the most illiterate man to ever be president. Regrettably, millions of Americans are fine with Trump’s apathy towards learning new things, especially things that challenge his racist, fascist, misogynistic beliefs.
Trump now faces questions about his relationship with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. Extant evidence suggests that the men were best buds who had a sickening obsession with underage girls. Trump, of course, denies everything. Instead, he blames Barack “Hussein” Obama, “Sleepy” Joe Biden, and arch nemesis, Hilary Clinton. Take his whopper of a lie about his uncle, John Trump, teaching Ted Kaczynski at MIT. From stem to stern, this was a lie. Are we so numb to his lies that we ignore them? I hope not. The future of our republic is at stake.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Jesus summed up God’s laws by commanding Christians to love God and love their neighbor. Jesus had much to say about how to treat others, especially the poor — whom the Bible calls “the least of these.” Allegedly, Republicans are God’s Only Party, and President Donald Trump is Christian in Chief. Evangelical Christians hold numerous cabinet-level positions, and others hold lesser positions in the Trump Administration. Yet, a cursory review of President Trump’s first month in office reveals a Republican administration disconnected from the teachings of Christ in the gospels.
Sadly, many Evangelicals think they will one day be judged based on having the right beliefs; that what’s important to God is certain doctrines and social beliefs. However, the gospels reveal that God will judge everyone based on how they live, not what they believe. Matthew 25 makes clear that God will judge people, not on their beliefs, but on how they treated poor, marginalized people.
While I am no longer a Christian, I was a follower of Jesus for fifty years. I pastored Evangelical churches in three states for twenty-five years. If there’s one thing I learned, it is that how we treat other people matters to God; and, more importantly, how we love, care, and minister to the least of these reveals what matters to us.
With these things in mind, what do we make of the Trump administration’s treatment of undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, non-Christians, people of color, transgender people, pregnant women, government employees, and poor people? Just today, Jesus-loving Republicans voted to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid, with cuts to Social Security and Medicaid to follow. Millions of Americans will lose medical insurance, child care, and food stamps. It is impossible to square these draconian, immoral cuts with the teachings of Jesus. Local Evangelicals send weekly letters to the editor preaching right doctrine and political affiliation. I have yet to read one letter in the Crescent News from Evangelicals preaching the importance of helping the least of these. I am grateful that a handful of local churches take seriously the teachings of Christ, providing food, utilities, rent, car repairs, and clothing to the poor. However, most churches are more concerned about political and theological fidelity than they are about a beaten, half-dead man along a dirt road. What we need are more Good Samaritans — Christian or not, Republican or Democrat — who love their neighbors as themselves.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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I spent most of my sixty-seven years on Earth living in rural Ohio. Outside of a few years in California and Arizona, I lived my formative years in Northwest Ohio, attending schools in Bryan, Harrod, Farmer, Ney, Deshler, Mt. Blanchard, and Findlay. My travels put me in close contact with Mexican migrant workers. While most of these workers would come and go depending on what crops needed picking, some of them stayed in Ohio after their work was done. Migrants, many of whom spoke little English, assimilated into our culture, taking jobs, marrying, and raising their families. Over time, multiple generations of Mexican families made rural Northwest Ohio their home. They have, in every way, added to the richness of our communities, even though racist epitaphs are still hurled their way.
Many of those migrants who originally stayed in our communities are undocumented; people Donald Trump and the Republican Party call “illegals.” Trump would love for us to believe that all of these undocumented workers are “undesirables” who must be immediately rounded up and deported to Mexico. Suppose Trump and his MAGA cronies have their way. In that case, more than eleven million undocumented people — most of whom hold gainful employment and pay taxes — will be violently ripped from their communities and families and returned to countries many of them have never visited.
Republicans and Democrats agree that the United States has an immigration problem; that conditions at our southern border are unsustainable. How to fix this problem is where disagreements arise. Trump wants to ship undocumented workers back to where they came from, wholesale, and in doing so will tank the U.S. economy. Democrats want to see meaningful paths to citizenship for everyone here illegally. If they are gainfully employed and don’t have serious criminal backgrounds, we must provide a way for them to become legal. Trump’s policies, and those of Project 2025, hail to the days when we rounded up indigenous people and Japanese-Americans and locked them up against their will in internment camps or reservations.
Just remember, that dear Mexican family who lives next to you may have parents or grandparents who are here illegally. Do you want to destroy their families so that you can defend the mythical Great Replacement theory? We can and must fix our southern border, but not at the expense of people who have played an essential part in our communities and workforce.
Bruce Gerencser Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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In 2006, I was still a Christian. I self-identified as an emerging/emergent pastor. As you will see, my liberal/progressive political views were quite developed by this time. I was far from the ranch, so to speak. For my Evangelical critics at the time, it came as no surprise to them that I embraced atheism two years later.
May 2006 Op-Ed for the Bryan Times (slightly edited):
Throughout the history of the Christian church, it has been commonly believed that state and church, both ordained by God, operate on separate, yet equal planes of authority. This is commonly called the “separation of church and state.” History painfully reminds us of what happens when state and church are joined together. This union always results in the death of many people and the authority of both the state and the church being compromised. Adolph Hitler would not have been successful during World War II without the joining of church and state together. The church lost her moral authority when she became complicit in the Aryan teachings and programs of the Nazi regime. Yes, there were those who stood against Hitler and his murderous minions, but, for the most part, the German church remained silent. As a result, the world was plunged into war and millions of people suffered and died. This is but one example of many that could be pulled from the pages of history. I am using it because it is “current” history and one that can readily be researched.
The world owes a great debt to the United States for her willingness to stand against Germany and her attempt to rule the world. The United States stood on solid moral footing and she is to be commended for her courage and sacrifice. With such a great moral stand also comes a great challenge; to remain humble in the light of great victory. Coming out of World War II, the United States had the approval and appreciation of the world. Sixty years later the United States is now viewed as an imperialistic superpower that is intent on dominating and taking over the world one nation at a time. How did this happen?
Pride! One-word answer. Pride! Reinhold Niebuhr, shortly after the end of World War II said this:
We are indeed the execution of God’s judgment yesterday. But we might remember the prophetic warnings to the nations of old, that nations which become proud because they were divine instruments must, in turn, stand under the divine judgment and be destroyed……If ever a nation needed to be reminded of the perils of vainglory, we are that nation in the pride of our power and our victory.
As the post-September 11, 2001 era continues, there is an increasingly ugly, nationalistic pride that is rising up in the United States. This errant pride is seen in our nation’s actions in Iraq and in the continued saber-rattling against Iran. Strong traces of it can be viewed in the current debate going on in the United States over Mexican immigration.
A clear distinction needs to be made between patriotism and nationalism. According to Michael Dyson in his book titled Pride, “Patriotism is the critical affirmation of one’s country in light of its best values, including the attempt to correct it when it is in error. Nationalism is the uncritical support of one’s nation regardless of its moral or political bearing.” Sadly, much of what is called patriotism in the United States is actually prideful, sinful, nationalism.
As in Germany during World War II, this errant nationalism is graphically on display in churches everywhere. Christian theology has been wedded with political ideology and given a healthy baptism of flag-waving nationalism and the result is that the church in the United States has abandoned her call to follow Jesus. Far too many churches, including an unhealthy number of churches in this area, have become pawns in a political chess game. Such churches have lost their prophetic voice. Where is the voice calling out for justice and mercy? Where is the voice calling out for peace in the name of the Prince of Peace?
The flag-waving nationalism on display in many churches needs to stop. Ties with liberal or conservative political agendas need to be broken. The war in Iraq and Mexican immigration need to be viewed through the teaching of Jesus instead of a political party’s platform. It is time to repent.
Over the past 36 months, I have visited a number of churches in the northwest Ohio area, including churches in Indiana and Michigan. I have yet to hear one critical word concerning the War in Iraq. I did hear numerous words promoting the war, and sometimes I was almost certain that I was hearing a public service announcement from the defense department. Why are the pulpits of so many churches silent on this crucial issue? Even churches that come from the “peace” denominations are strangely silent or even go so far as to promote war, in direct contradiction to their church doctrine. I realize I can not make absolute judgments when I only visit a church once or a few times, but overall the silence is deafening.
It seems that many churches are requiring allegiance to the State and her war policy as a test of fidelity to Jesus. If one dare raise a voice of objection, immediate questions of salvation and love for country are raised. Coward, un-American, unsaved, liberal, and military hater are some of the kinder words hurled at those who, in Jesus’ name, oppose war. In spite of the name-calling, lovers of peace must continue to stand for peace. It is the LEAST we can do. Churches and ministers must be prodded and cajoled, and if need be, shamed into returning to being prophetic voices in the world. Instead of allowing political agendas to control the voice of the church, the clear and emphatic teachings of Jesus must set the agenda. It is time to stop the debates about “just war” (which is nothing more than political ideology wearing theological clothes) and return to doing what Jesus commands us to do; love our enemies and be a people who actively promote peace.
May 2006 Op-Ed for the Defiance Crescent-News (slightly edited):
Every time Christians gather together for communion, it is for the purpose of memorializing the death of Jesus. The death of Jesus on the cross has many theological implications: redemption and sanctification among many others. The death of Jesus also has political implications. His death, along with his resurrection from the dead, proclaimed a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. Who, and all that Jesus did, challenges the politics and agendas of every generation. There is a new King in the world, and Jesus is his name.
Last Sunday, many churches took time to briefly mention Memorial Day. Some churches had full-blown patriotic rallies, complete with the presenting of the colors and taps. Others sang a few patriotic songs and said a quick prayer for those who have died in our nation’s wars. Some took time to honor church members who are serving or had served in the Military.
I always prepare myself for what “may” happen in church on our nation’s various national holidays. I would prefer that churches not meld worship of God and nationalism together, but I have come to the place where I can tolerate it in short doses. Interjecting nationalism into our worship of God diminishes the focus of our worship, and can, if we are not careful, suggest that Christianity and American nationalism are one and the same.
In many sermons, we will hear that Christians need to view the sacrifice of war in and of itself, separated from its theological and political implications. An attempt is made to link the sacrifice of war with the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus laid down his life for others and in war we are called on to do the same.
It is unwise to connect the sacrifice of Jesus and the sacrifice of war. Jesus was the guiltless dying for the guilty. In war, there are no guiltless parties. It is also impossible to divorce the sacrifice of war from its theological and political implications. War ALWAYS has such implications.
My prayer is that churches will stop being agents for the political agendas of the Republican and Democratic parties. Instead of giving public service announcements for the defense department, churches would be truer to their calling if they proclaimed what Jesus said about peace and loving our enemies. I am still waiting to hear a sermon anywhere that takes seriously the claims and teachings of Jesus concerning peace and as a result, declares the war in Iraq to be contrary to Christian teaching. Instead of wrangling about “just war” I hope and pray churches will wrangle with the implications of “thou shalt not kill,” “love your enemies,” and “blessed are the peacemakers.”It is certainly proper and right to quietly remember those who have died during our nation’s wars. Some died defending freedom, others died for a political agenda, but all died as Americans and we should remember them. We should also take time to reflect on the awfulness of war and the danger of a nation with unchecked arrogance waging war against all who cross her path.
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
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