The Babylonian Captivity of the American Church

In 1520, just weeks before a papal bull arrived in Wittenburg condemning him for heresy, Martin Luther published On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In its pages, he accuses the Roman church and the papacy of keeping the church in captivity, making Rome analogous to the Biblical Babylon that exiled the Israelites.  According to Luther, the pope and papal authorities were holding the church in captivity, suppressing biblical faith and true freedom through a rigidly enforced system and theology of the sacraments.

In similar fashion, today's church in America is being held captive by evangelical leaders and their duped  constituents who follow blindly a religious nationalism that has so deeply corrupted their faith that they no longer understand what it means to be Christian.  The Babylonian Captivity of the American church was centuries in the making, but kicked into overdrive in the late 1970s as the Christian Right allowed themselves to be identified as more as a voting block than as followers of Christ.  It came to fruition with the election of Donald Trump which made support of our nation't most corrupt president the litmus test of evangelical identity.  American Christians, left and right, have allowed Donald Trump to determine what it means to be a Christian in today's world, confirming the political takeover of God's people in America. The fault lines have obscured true Christian identity.

If you have no compassion for immigrants at our borders who are separated from their families, and for immigrant parents who would rather hand their children over to strangers than risk bringing them up in daily, imminent danger, you do not know Jesus.

If you have no concern for unborn babies and their mothers who, either from suffering or indifference, choose to destroy life's potential rather than allow that fetus to emerge as God's loved child, you have no idea what it means to be a Christian.

If you harbor evil toward others because of the color of their skin, the nationality of their passport, or their chosen religion, you have have totally missed the point of the Christian faith.

If you would rather be right than compassionate towards the person with whom you disagree, you have no place among those who truly believe in Christ.