Let’s Bring Theology Into The Big Bill

This isn’t just cruel politics and a moral failure, this is a theological crisis and biblical failure.

The largest transfer of wealth in history has just passed the United States Congress. But this historic reversal of resources is from the poor to the rich. I have never seen such a piece of legislation in all my life. We all know the numbers. 17 million people will lose their health care–with a trillion dollars being cut from Medicaid. Millions of low-income Americans, including countless children, will lose the food aid that keeps them from going hungry–by slashing SNAP.

This bill also doubles the budget for more ICE agents to enforce President Trump’s harshest agenda of mass deportations. We are seeing the results of that around the country now–lying about those being detained and deported as mostly criminals, while separating long time and law abiding residents from their families.

The truth is that the great majority of those being detained have no violent criminal record. Whoever says that is a liar. Fear has taken over in Hispanic communities around the country, with huge numbers of people now being afraid to come out of their homes, even to grocery stores or church, regardless of their immigration status– but just because they don’t know what could happen to them.

Perhaps the core moral contradiction of this bill is why the Republicans are taking health and food from the poor.

They are cutting from the life support of poor people, in order to add more rewards to the lives of wealthy people. A decision was just made to further marginalize the poorest Americans to pay for the preservation and addition of huge tax cuts that will most benefit the millionaires and billionaires in this country.

The Bible has 2000 verses about the poor and how to treat them. Our Scriptures clearly favor the poor over the rich who receive God’s judgement when they exploit the oppressed. When 800 clergy and other faith leaders came for a vigil on the Senate Steps on June 10th, we turned toward the Members of Congress inside and made a repeated call: “Read Your Scriptures!” They did not.

This isn’t just cruel politics and a moral failure, this is a theological crisis and biblical failure–despite the fact that most Senators and Congresspersons who voted for this bill call themselves Christians.

In particular, the Republican bill directly targets the people Jesus called “the least of these,” the very ones he taught his disciples to especially serve and protect. It was me, Jesus said, “I was hungry…I was sick…I was a stranger (immigrant). “Truly, I say to you, as you have done to one of the least of these, you have done to me.” What this bill will now do to the least of these it will do to Christ himself. This famous passage in the 25th chapter of the gospel of Matthew 25 ends with judgment on those who ignore or mistreat the least of these. That is a theological reflection on the casting of these votes, and the passage of this bill, not just a political one.

Staying on theology, the Republican support for this bill contained myriad lies about Medicaid and SNAP and the people who receive that support. Once again, Jesus' bold words that only the truth can make us free directly apply to this bill. The lies about this bill made many Americans captive to those behind it. And the whole legislative process was captive to fear. This was Donald Trump’s bill, and the fear factor with which he governs caused almost every Republican to ultimately cave to his will and threats.

There were very few profiles in courage in this process. One of them was North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who refused to support the bill because of the Medicaid cuts. When he failed to give up his moral convictions to protect the poor, Trump decided to remove him from office by promising to “primary” him with a more subservient candidate loyal to him. Within hours, Senator Tillis decided not to run for re-election and accepted his fate for standing by his moral conscience. Authoritarian rulers cannot stand moral and theological conscience

Hypocrisy is a religious issue too. As Republicans transfer money from the poor to the rich, these allegedly fiscal conservatives just increased the federal debt by 3.4 trillion dollars according to the estimates of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Debt is a theological issue too.

It is quite symbolic that Donald Trump insisted the process on one of the biggest and more complicated bills in American legislative history be rushed so he could sign it on July 4 which is now expected at the White House sometime on the nation’s birthday holiday. It is the day we celebrate the Declaration of Independence signed 249 years ago, which declared “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Those founding words go back to the foundations of the world, from the first chapter of the first book of the Bible in Genesis 1:26 where it reads. “Then God said. ‘Let us make humankind in our own image and after our own likeness.” The image of God was not respected by this bill which failed to accept the dignity and worth of people made in God’s image who are already poor and marginalized. At root, the image of God is being replaced by white Christian nationalists with the image of Trump in America. Theology is at stake in America’s political crisis.

Another theological issue is hope. Former House Member John Lewis, who was also a Reverend as well as a Representative, was quoted on the House floor today.

Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, or a week, a month or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never be afraid to make some noise and get into good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Let’s do that and continue to bring our good theology into our bad politics.

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