One of the social media feeds I watch is images and videos of animals in a South African game reserve. Being able to watch, even remotely, the animals in their natural environment normally makes me simultaneously homesick, and comforted.
Today’s highlight, however, was extraordinarily
disturbing. It was a video of two male
lions eviscerating and eating another male lion. He was doomed to die, with his innards spread
all over the place, yet he was still fighting back with all that he had left. This broke me. Partially because of the cruelty of the
aggressors to their own kind, but more because it is a gruesome illustration of
the conservative church in the USA.
Comfortable white Christians are riding the wave of their perceived
influence on political power, while verbally and emotionally eviscerating those
who dare to question where this trend is headed. As a legal immigrant in a culture that is
increasingly punitive of all immigrants, legal or otherwise, I am unable to
speak out about the corruption of the leadership, failure of the checks and
balances in the constitution, and the normalization of greed, cruelty, and
lawlessness. I hide in my cave, muted,
and hope that no one notices that I am here, while biblical norms evaporate in
the society around me. Man’s inhumanity
to man is rampant, and celebrated, even an especially among christians. Commands to love God and love neighbors are secondary
to the priorities of money, security, and so-called freedom.
Should I fulfil my ministry as a teacher and fight back,
albeit futilely, while my innards are spread all around, or hide out and just hope
to survive until God steps in (Ps 13)?
