Photo by Nina Strehl, Unsplash
Photo by Nina Strehl, Unsplash
When religious liberty is used as justification for discrimination or when it impedes the daily lives of those who don't share our convictions, we move from merely having freedom, we become a theocracy.
Republished with permission from John Pavlovitz
Ok, so by now, you’re probably familiar with Project 2025. (If not, I’ll suggest that there are few more pressing things on your agenda as we approach this election). It is a 900-page document outlining in terrifying detail, Conservative Evangelical plans for a second Trump term.
And followers of Jesus should want nothing to do with it.
It wouldn’t be a win for the Gospel but a rejection of it.
It doesn’t represent a defense of the Christian faith but a perversion of it.
And it is is not an affirmation of religious liberty by our government, it is an attack on it.
It’s also completely anti-American.
The essence of what has been woven into our Constitution for people of all faith traditions, is the individual freedom to worship as one chooses, unfettered by any individual or group. It is personal protection for everyone. That freedom was intended to create space here in this country where people of disparate religious convictions are equally able to pursue their religious practices without fear or suppression or censorship—and the freedom of all people to live without religious practices of any another forced upon them.
This liberty, is not permission for one, small extremist segment of one religious tradition to impose its beliefs on the citizenry—no matter which segment of which tradition it is.
In fact, that Christians seem to specifically benefit from Project 2025 is the very reason we who follow Jesus should reject it.
Christianity was never supposed to be synonymous with power. It was born in obscurity and smallness; a grassroots movement of the low and ordinary, birthed by a homeless, itinerant preacher who kept company with lepers and prostitutes and beggars.
That was its beauty: it welcomed diversity, it denounced power, it shunned affluence. Jesus was never about imposing his will upon anyone, but about people’s free decision to choose or reject him. He would never allow religion to be coerced, let alone mandated.
When religious liberty is used as justification for discrimination or when it impedes the daily life of those who don’t share our convictions, we move from merely having freedom, to demanding that others adopt our beliefs and adapt to our prejudices. We become a theocracy—and Christians, we cannot become a theocracy because Jesus would have had nothing to do with such things. He rejected privilege and dominance with every second of his humble existence, and he would be horrified by the bullying being done in his name under the guise of spirituality. It is the very kind of domineering religious shakedown that he repeatedly condemned in the Scriptures from the both the religious leaders and the Roman government.
And when such religious manipulation targets those already among the most marginalized and at-risk (as it does relentlessly with Project 2025), it runs in direct opposition to the core of our faith, which seeks to protect and shelter those that the powerful would swallow up. An agenda like this transforms us into the very thing Jesus was pushing hard against.
The heart of the Gospels, as witnessed in the life and ministry of Jesus, is a declaration of the inherent worth of all people; that all warrant dignity, respect, and love equally. Any legislation that denies that inherent worth or that fosters and sanctions bigotry, even in the name of religion—is still bigotry, still hatred, and still in direct opposition to both the Constitution and the Gospel.
Do we Christians really want to be known as the people who force others to conform to our preferences through the might of legislative mandate? I sure hope not. I know it is not what Jesus would have us be known for. He said that it was the way that we loved one another: as we wish to be loved. That was our stated singular purpose and the desired legacy we should seek as we claim the name Christian or simply to emulate Jesus.
In the Scriptures, in the 25th chapter of Matthew, Jesus gives his most explicit warning to those who neglect “the least among us;” those overlooked, vulnerable, and oppressed—as if they were neglecting Jesus himself. Far more than simply neglect, Project 2025 would be doing intentional harm to the least and to the image of God residing in all people; of all faiths, all races, all gender identities, and all sexual orientations.
We cannot embrace Jesus and the tactics of Conservative Evangelicalism simultaneously. They are fully incompatible.
Christian, if you can’t differentiate between your personal freedom to worship as you desire, and a Government-decreed, forced compliance of people who don’t share your beliefs—you need to do better.
We who are Christians should declare our unequivocal denouncement of these planned actions by any politicians, and we should instead affirm the central call of our faith tradition: to love our neighbor as ourselves, regardless of whether that neighbor worships the way we worship or loves the way we love.
The thing about sanctioning religious liberty as an excuse for discrimination, is that one day you may not be the beneficiaries of it, and then you’ll want freedom from it.
And in any case, the liberty we Christians are supposed be marked by, is the freedom we find in Christ to love others and to reflect the character of God to people through mercy and kindness and compassion—not to demand that the world share our beliefs.
Project 2025 and its architects are peddling a predatory heresy in religious clothing, perverting the compassionate through-line of Jesus’ teachings and making their beliefs compulsory for everyone.
If we are people of faith, our political advocacy and our votes should reflect the best of our tradition and they should be leveraged to oppose anything that hinders the path of another.
Recognizing the face of God in everyone.
Seeing the image of the divine in everyone.
Extending the love of Jesus to everyone and demanding nothing in return.
This should be the only religious liberty we seek to exercise in these days.
John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities. When not actively working for a more compassionate planet, John enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, cooking, and having time in nature. He is the author of A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, Low, and Stuff That Needs to Be Said.
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