Hunter White is a Government and Religious Studies major. The views expressed in this piece are entirely his own and do not express the views of organizations he is apart of.
The views expressed in this piece are entirely his own and do not express the views of organizations he is apart of.
Every Sunday at Mass, I find myself struck repeatedly by one line in the Confiteor prayer. Right in the middle of the prayer stands this line: “What I have done, and what I have failed to do.” An admission of guilt. A plea. A confession. We say the Confiteor to acknowledge sin, not just through our actions, but also through our neglect, omissions and dereliction of moral duty.
I write this to confess my dereliction of moral duty. I am guilty of one of the deadly sins set forth by Pope Gregory I. I am slothful, conciliatory in my criticism and apathetic to those who are quashed under the boot of our government. I have not, to the best of my ability, sought to prevent or warn of sinful behavior in our politics. I have willingly turned a blind eye or kept my mouth shut on matters I consider blasphemous and morally rotten for the advancement of myself and others. I have failed again and again to serve those our God calls us to serve, even in my wholly insignificant power. The sick, the meek and the poor. I have not condemned men and women who profess the Gospel and the mercies of God, but spit in the faces of his children. I have been afraid to call this government what it is. Authoritarian. Incoherent. Murderous. Sinful.
I by no means posit that my expression of outrage at my own inaction and the actions of others is meant to elevate me morally above the consequences of this administration. I am not more sinless, nor more holy nor more of an American by writing some little opinion piece.
I write as I am, an inconsequential student who cannot stomach the idea of not acting at a time when I feel that the tenets of my faith and the foundations of the country I love are under incredible strain. My only goal is to encourage you, dear reader, to look inward and ask yourself if you have done all that is possible in your conscience to prevent political and moral evil on our shores.
Truthfully, all of us, especially my fellow Christians, are profoundly guilty of cherry-picking in our politics. We excuse sinful behavior if it’s advantageous to our worldview. Many Christians are willing to look past a man who cannot, for the life of him, name his favorite Bible verse. Who has been found guilty in court of sexually assaulting women. Who has been married thrice. Many of his supporters seem to worship him as a golden calf. Some evangelical leaders even go so far as to call him “the Second Coming.” Yet, so many have been willing to overlook the moral failings of this President because “God works with imperfect instruments.”
We have seen the consequences of that cherry-picking, both on the state of governance and on the state of the Christian faith in America. Decrying the murder of Charlie Kirk but silently watching the brutal killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Advocating for the protection of Christians abroad while targeting our immigrant community, the most religious group in the United States. While we strike northern Nigeria to “save Christians,” we are dragging immigrants out of our own churches. We say we will protect the hollowed-out middle class, but we shutter hospitals and rob families of food assistance. Claiming to be pro-life while actively ramping up extralegal killing and the use of the death penalty. Even so-called victories like the overturning of Roe v. Wade have resulted only in the expansion of state control, while the number of abortions increases.
What we are doing is harming our country and our collective faith. We are not acting with moral and intellectual consistency. We spent decades warning each other that the growth of government would replace God’s law, yet cheer with glee as this president’s government tramples on the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We allowed God to become a partisan instrument. With this hypocrisy, how can we be trusted? We are not living by our values, so how can we claim to represent those values in the political arena? Perhaps religious justification of our own politics is truly impossible without embracing overwhelming moral contradiction.
I fear we have fallen deeply into worshipping false gods, whether they be political parties, ideologies or cults of personality. I am as guilty as anyone else. This era is the strongest indictment of our lives that the way Christians have pursued politics in America has left us far from God and far from the nation our founders intended for us to have.
I am sure many reading this with indignation or antipathy will dismiss this as either moral grandstanding or as evidence of the faults of organized religion. I have no qualms with those who do, but for those of us who are wrestling with the depravity of politics from a Christian background, there is an arduous future for us. You and I have erred greatly; the Lord and the nation know it. And while our sins will be forgiven and our derelictions forgotten, the lasting impact of our duplicity results in the mortal suffering of the innocent.
It is not just sufficient to confess to my sin. There must be an act, a penance, to rectify its worldly consequence. So, I will, to the best of my ability, warn of sinful behavior in our politics. I will not turn a blind eye to things I know to be blasphemous. I will not fail again to serve those our God calls us to serve, even in my wholly insignificant power. I will refuse the work this administration has offered me and will not exploit this sin for career advancement. I will call out men and women who profess the Gospel and the mercies of God, but spit in the faces of his children. I will not be afraid to call this government what it is. Authoritarian. Incoherent. Murderous. Sinful. And to you, and the Lord our God, I ask for your forgiveness.
