Speaking out against MAGA

I tried really hard the past four years to avoid posting anything political on Facebook. What good did my silence do? I avoided arguments, but did I make a difference? Did I stand up for what’s right?

A few days ago, several strangers – MAGA trolls – attacked me on Facebook (calling me retarded, questioning my sanity, and other things too vulgar to repeat) all because I posted, on a Biden page, that what I will miss about his presidency is human decency.

I am not a Biden fan, but I do not dislike him. I wish that he had not run for reelection. But he is a decent human being.

What motivates people to troll the page of a person with whom they disagree? Hatred is my guess.

Americans have been fed a steady diet of lies by MAGA. The trollers are doing exactly what their leader has trained them to do. Hate your enemies. Live in fear of others, especially immigrants and LGBTQ.

Christians, including loved ones and those who sit in the pew with me, are being led astray. Their faith has become transactional.

When did it become wrong to value basic human decency? When did dehumanizing immigrants, sexually assaulting women, hating your enemies, and lying pathologically become acceptable to Christians?

My mother didn’t go to church, but she taught me to be a decent human being, to treat other people with dignity and respect. She taught me to accept people for who they are.

Earlier this year, my Christian sister  demanded that I stop speaking when I criticized Trump in response to her criticism of Harris. Later, she said that she does not pass judgment on Trump. (She does pass judgment on others, however).

My mother taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But today, silence feels like complicity.

In the last few days, I found a couple of channels on YouTube that encouraged me and gave me hope. One of them is Culture, Faith, and Politics, hosted by a retired pastor named Pat Kahnke. He encouraged his listeners to find your channel of resistance.

This page is my channel. I pay for it. I will use it to speak out!

God, give me the courage to speak out against the MAGA movement and Christian Nationalism. Thank you for showing me that it is not only right to resist. It’s my Christian duty.