Trump’s election will either awaken the sleeping heart of Methodism or accelerate its turn towards schism and irrelevance.
Trump “Even Though”
While much has been said about the racist, misogynist, and anti-gay statements of President-Elect Donald Trump and his supporters, such conversations tend to fall into “Not all supporters!” and “He isn’t to be taken literally!” and other unhelpful conversations.
However, there’s one incontestable fact that helps us better understand Trump’s supporters and The Church at this time.
What is not contestable is that a simple decision was made by every electorate who voted for Trump: they voted for him “even though” they knew all the bad things about him.
- Even though he said he would ban all Muslims from entering the country.
- Even though he bragged about sexually assaulting women and entering dressing rooms of teenagers.
- Even though he chose a Vice President who supports conversion therapy ie. that teenagers should have the gay electro-shocked out of them.
The billions of dollars of free air-time and Fox News updates means that the super-majority of supporters knew these things before they were in the voting booth.
Even though he did all those things, the electorate voted for him in the majority in key states (though not the popular vote by a significant margin), which will put Mr. Trump in the White House.
They knew. And even though all these concerns were known by Trump’s supporters, they still voted for him. Racism, sexism, and anti-gay actions were not deal-breakers for their support.
UMC Parallel
The 2016 Presidential Election has a strong parallel to The United Methodist Church because Trump drew much of his “even though” support from the same power-base as The UMC.
Donald Trump won significant majorities in a wave of the Rust Belt, which Colin Woodard’s 2011 book American Nations designates as Greater Appalachia and the Midlands. As established in a previous post drawing on demographic data in the Church:
Greater Appalachia is the strongest cultural force in the United Methodist Church, with a land mass that spans the midwest, to the plains of Oklahoma, to Texas, and the northern parts of what is considered to be “the South.”
The largest unit of United Methodism in America comes from Greater Appalachia, which along with the Deep South and the Midlands comprises 51% of American Methodism.
And this is the same region with the largest upset of voters who voted for Trump “even though” he denigrated women, immigrants, LGBTQ, veterans, and disabled Americans.
“Even Though” in the UMC
For at least 44 years, The United Methodist Church has chosen be a Church of the “Even Though.” In 1972, at the first General Conference for what is now United Methodism, the delegates (from roughly the same demographics as today) approved the following language:
We insist that all persons are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured, although we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Gee, look at that word: although, or “even though” in my parlance.
Methodism has a history of the “even though” when it comes to its relationship with minority groups. As Jane Ellen Nickell outlines in her bookWe Shall Not Be Moved: Methodists Debate Race, Gender, and Homosexuality:
- The debate over women’s ordination led to efforts to license women to serve an agreeable local congregation, even though they would not have the same voting rights as male pastors, thus denying connectional authority to them. This was the case from 1924 until full clergy rights in 1956.
- The debate over African-American clergy led to aAfrican-Americans being allowed to serve as clergy, even though that was only in the Central Jurisdiction, a non-regional jurisdiction consisting of only African-American churches and pastors. This was the case from unification in 1939 until the merger with the Evangelical United Brethren denomination in 1968.
- Read more here.
The UMC has a choice ahead of whether it will continue to be a church of the “even though” and sacrifice people groups on the altar of unity, or if it will choose to be a church for all people.
Option 1: Trumpian Theology
The Trump moment could go one of two ways for United Methodism.
The first way is the most obvious: Methodism (and especially its current antagonist The Wesleyan Covenant Association) follows American culture very closely, especially in its treatment of minorities. Even though the executive structure overall works hard against mistreatment of minorities, the general population (often represented by General Conference) does not:
- In a time when Black Americans are being killed in custody and about to lose a Black president and bring in a white nationalist, United Methodism came this close to shuttering our Religion and Race programs through the PlanUMC debacle, and continues to not support local efforts like Hannah Adair Bonner’s vigil at Sandra Bland’s site.
- In a time when Native Americans are suffering, our Bishops have been silent on the North Dakota Access Pipeline and Standing Rock–outside of the Western Jurisdiction’s Bishops, and DAPL is not even in their jurisdiction!
- In a time when women’s rights are being threatened, The UMC’s electorate chose to walk away from the table of women’s health, and deny affirmation of important statements on women and children.
So Trump’s election could exacerbate this allowance of mistreatment of minority groups because the power-base supports The UMC “even though” they exclude LGBTQ people and a widening circle of other minority groups. And they could continue to do it while claiming to be loving their neighbor: It’s easy to love our neighbors when they are all white.
This is the direction hoped-for by The Wesleyan Covenant Association as they offer the ultimate “even though”: join this revival and get all the evangelistic resources, even though your hopes for LGBTQ inclusion will never happen. A reactionary United Methodism to the WCA’s lures would also continue the same institutional exclusion, denying that such choices lead to irrelevance, schism, and a failure of all we are entrusted with.
Option 2: Healing and Resistance
The second option is for Trump’s election to shock United Methodism into living differently in the shadow of a country turned against minorities from the top-down that straight, white people are only now becoming aware of.
Methodism, even though it was not always for “all people,” used to be the Church for the prevailing needs of the most marginalized groups. We stood against child labor, wrote the first Social Creed of any American church, and stood for the Temperance movement (that did not stand the test of time), and advocated for labor laws. I’ve already named the many prevailing needs of this age that demand the church’s witness, blunted as it has been by systematic silencing for decades. But in truth, we are perfectly positioned to do precisely that witnessing, given our small church outlets for messages all across the Rust Belt and beyond, to turn the tide back towards inclusion of all people.
My unfounded and idealist hope is I believe we could use the Trump Moment to spur us to truly stand in solidarity with each other, rather than the shallow unity of “even though” and “although” that Methodism has become adept at.
Jim Wallis at Sojourners wrote in response to the election:
After this election, faith communities’ faithful role is imperative — for prayer, discernment, speaking and standing up, solidarity and support for those most fearful right now, and for speaking the truth to power. Our call and our ministry, in such a time as this, will be both healing and resistance. Lord have mercy on us all.
My hope is that the sleeping heart of Methodism–that loved one another although rather than oppressing people even though–awakens and stands again against the powers and principalities that would do harm to our neighbors, white or otherwise.
Your Turn
Let’s be clear: “Even though” is not about a particular candidate, as everyone votes even though a candidate is not perfectly aligned with their values. Rather, it matters when the “even though” includes the systematic oppression of a minority group, or when a church calls for unity “even though” minority groups are in the crosshairs. We need to fix this now.
Thoughts?
Thanks for your comments and your shares on social media.
There’s a huge difference between the currents in our national politics and our denomination.
Some (many?) voted for Trump “even though” because the option was, in their opinion, worse for the nation. They’re not, for the most part, happy about Trump, but breath a collective sigh of relief that Ms. Clinton is not the president-elect.
United Methodists, however, have stayed the course regarding sexual morality not as choosing the lesser of the evils, but as a rejection of one evil and choosing God’s best, as defined by our best understanding of Scripture. We have not had to hold our nose to do this. We have no regrets about it. We are striving for holiness of heart and life as defined by Scripture.
Voting for Trump certainly doesn’t exemplify any concern whatsoever for sexual morality. It shows blatant hypocrisy on the part of many to tolerate someone who advocates at least treating women as objects and has been married three times, while demonizing long term, faithful and loving same sex relationships. And now Trump claims he isn’t against gay marriage EVEN THOUGH he picked a Vice-president who has a deep personal animus against LGBT. And this Pence is from the Indiana where I was born. I live in Georgia now, but in the more progressive Atlanta area. Bloomington, Indiana where I mostly lived also voted Democratic.
I was angry and dismayed that our Bishops, out of sense of tradition (we have done this since the first president of the USA), congratulated the President-elect and will present him with a Bible that they all signed. Even though…. I am sorry to admit that I imagine him taking the Bible and tossing it in a corner never to be picked up again. I think it is just an empty gesture and just another check off in the legitimization of someone who fits in my “other” category.
It’s no surprise that the rust-belt and Appalachia which so strongly limit the progress of United Methodism and which were also the driving forces behind the Trump surprise are also among this nation’s most educationally impoverished. Unless and until our public education system is significantly improved (highy unlikely under the president-elect), this problem will continue to plague our church. Thus, improving public education should be a top Merhodist priority.
It took the repetitive rhythm of listing the “even though” practices of the Methodist / UM Church over the decades, for me to realize that the foremost portion of the sentence is the more important grammatically, and in terms of the direction of the church’s trajectory, and in terms of what the church is firmly united on, about which there is no significant debate in terms of theology, polity or social principles, across the US and across the global UMC. In terms of the 1972 statement on sexual orientation and with one voice, we hold that “We insist that all persons are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured.” (Not to mention the preceding sentence, that regardless of sexuality, all “are persons of sacred worth.”)
This week, when bigots think the election gives a free pass to harassment in the secular world and in the church on the basis of religion, nationality, gender, and more, the primary point of any UM statement should surely be that first part. “Sacred worth. We insist. Human and civil rights ensured.”
The “even though” or “although” clauses in each case represent areas in which the church does not speak with that single voice … and as you noted, in the former cases, our conviction has changed over time.
Indeed. It is possible to respect a person, and treat them with full human and civil rights, and also disagree with their life choices or practices. As Wes pointed out, our Book of Discipline/guidelines has changed over time as our convictions have directed it. I see nothing wrong with a denomination expressing their stance on issues. We lost the prohibition stance in society. We have recently lost the gambling stance in society. What next? It is ok to not fully agree with everything your denomination claims as a stance. If it is that offensive to you however, seek a different denomination. All persons are of sacred worth. God loves us all deeply, regardless of our sins, and we all have them. Yes, even God has a regardless clause.
And yet his first 3 selections for his transition team are a woman, a gay man and a black man.
Jeremy, Bishop Bruce Ough, standing bishop for the Dakotas (and Minnesota) Conference, did issue a statement/blog post at the end of August regarding Standing Rock and the pipeline. Both conferences had clergy present two weeks ago at the clergy gathering at Standing Rock, and articles have been shared via conference communication lists. Thanks for your thoughtful post.
Hi Jeremy, The silence of the White church (I include the UMC in this designation) around issues of racism ended with this election. They spoke loud and clear and racism has won the day. This is not a wake-up call–many many White Christians decided on this outcome. Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” fits with the desires of a great number of United Methodist members who continue to hold on to the false-nostalgic hope of a revival of their overflowing majority White churches in the 1950s & 60s. The UMC has failed to disciple these folks and I see no way that the overall church will adopt option 2. We also, as a church, will probably will not openly admit option 1–but just remain “politely” quiet and chastise some folks who cross the line & commit open acts of hate (see clothes pin story). We will continue in our complacency and complicity in the banality of evil that surrounds us. I do believe there are individual United Methodists that are willing to stand up to this evil. Hopefully, disciples from that group (most likely united with folks in other denominations) will disciple others and the UMC will begin moving towards being a prophetic voice that speaks on behalf of God & God’s people in the face of power.
The United Methodist Church affirms the authority of scientific research within that domain even though they promote programs and policies that minimize the importance of critical thinking about the natural world.
The United Methodist Church promotes the Wesleyan Quadrilateral even though they promote many unbalanced forms of pre-modern thinking about scripture, nature, and humanity, human sexuality in particular. (I can give examples of both if needed)
Thanks, Jeremy.
The UMC, as well as most other mainstream Christian churches, failed to reject Trump’s message of bigotry. In doing so, it gave tacit approval to his message. It additionally failed to reject the Evangelical right embrace of Trump as the one who would “make America safe for Christians.” In doing so, it endorsed this belief. I won’t try to explain the possible reasoning, because it really doesn’t change anything. Irrespective of its motivation, by failing to repudiate what Trump promotes, the Church is complicit in his rise to power. “Even though” is a rationalization that does nothing to deflect that responsibility.
The choice of the Church not to take a stand is at once eye-opening and liberating. The Church has revealed itself more beholden to other ideals than the love of God and neighbor, grace, and mercy.
I chose to be called a follower of Jesus, who has taught me to include everyone, as I try to live a life of love and inclusion…not hate and rejection.
Further, I believe God expects me to fully use my mental capacities as His truth continues to be revealed…through new discoveries, scholarly research, prayerful understandings. That has caused me to broaden my perspective beyond my childhood beliefs.
What is not contestable is that every voter who voted for Hillary Clinton did so;
Even though she jeopardized national security
Even though she slut shamed several women who were assaulted by her husband
Even though she used public office for private gain
I would hesitate to take our recent election as any sort of bell weather for The UMC.
Well stated Kevin.
Jeopardized national security – “but the email, the email” – while Trump colludes with the Russians to get elected and sides with dictators and tries to help Putin destroy western alliances.
Slut shamed – as Trump grabs them by the only part he cares about. As he regularly attacks women from the office he does not deserve.
Public office for private gain – conspiracy theory hogwash. Trump’s gain is clearly documented and he’s being sued for it.
Stop making excuses for a person who cares not one iota about Christian behavior. Stop putting your politics before the country and before the teaching of Christ. Most of the things said about Hillary Clinton are right-wing lies that you hatefully buy into. How is that Christ-like?
I think that you are missing something about the rust belt. From the end of World War II until the early to mid 1970’s America had a manufacturing boom that had no presidence in the modern world. For various reasons we did not have a lot of competition but my the 1970’s other countries started to challenge us in manufacturing ability, coupled with relatively cheap transportation manufacturing in the US was decimated. When we were the only manufacturing game in town high wages and good benefits were plentiful for someone with a high school education. Since the 1970’s politicians have pandered this group that they would bring back those times but they cannot. All of those years of frustration have erupted in the election of Trump. He is not a conservative or a Republican in his life / policies but he had enough money to run his own campaign and he won by pandering to this group who has been under employed for generations. Trumps trade polices are more like Bernie Sanders, tariffs and protectionism, welcome to the 1800’s. Your article degenerates a wide group of Americans but you never investigated the history to find out why things worked out the way that they did.
Trump never said he wanted to ban all Muslims! He just stated that he thought it would be a good idea if we stopped the ridiculous flood of refugees until they could be properly vetted
This is just another example of how you so called ministers like to twist facts to fit your liberal agenda!
I have been an active UMC member for a lot of years, but considering the path that the church seems to be going with people like you guiding, maybe I should be looking for another denomination.
Ps. Muslims aren’t Christians…quit coming to their defense. Obama has promoted Muslims at Christian expense long enough. He doesn’t need you to continue his work!
I think you need to go back and listen to his speech.
Larry, your points are some of the reason I am even on this page…..looking for how “my” church for the last 55 years is looking at things. May be time to leave the UMC.
And we have seen the hateful path that Trump has taken us down. But those who don’t understand the teachings of Christ – those who think they are simply there to protect their tribe and use the Bible as a weapon against God’s other children – gladly follow him. Trump is a false prophet and a sower of destruction.