It’s a sad irony that the party founded in opposition to slavery has become the party of white supremacy.
Ever since Trump awkwardly descended his golden elevator with promises to rid the country of unwanted immigrant “criminals,” both he and his party/personal cult have spent the past 8 years not just spewing, but normalizing racism in ways not seen so prolifically in public since the days of Jim Crow.
That’s not to say, of course, that the sort of vile racism that accuses immigrants of eating their pets hasn’t been hanging around this entire time. It most certainly has, but Trump and his MAGA cult have stripped away any sense of shame that kept racists from feeling comfortable spewing their bile so freely and without consequence.
Take, for example, Clay Higgins, a representative from the state of Louisiana.
Yesterday, he posted this on Twitter…
If you’re familiar at all with Higgins, then this sort of unhinged racism didn’t come as any surprise. He has a long history of hate and bigotry. You might even say it’s his brand and why he fits so well in MAGA circles. He’s their idealized man: a big “tough” white guy who “tells it like it is.”
But you would think that folks who profess to be followers of Jesus wouldn’t be so keen in their support Higgins. Or rather, you might think that if you haven’t been paying attention for the last 8 years and missed 80% of white evangelicals shamelessly throw their support by the racist-in-chief Donald Trump.
It’s not exactly breaking news that legions of self-professed Christians have either chosen to turn a blind eye to Trump’s bigotry and racism (claiming they support this policies, not the person as if his policies aren’t themselves deeply and inherently racist) or fully support him as the Lord’s anointed, God’s chosen vessel to save America from the scourge of Marxism and socialism and whatever other boogeyman of the week Fox News has conjured up.
It’s not breaking news, but it’s no less repugnant or, as Trump would say, SAD!
Infuriating might be closer to the mark.
Or perhaps vomit inducing, although Jesus reserved that sort of reaction for lukewarm Christians and Trumpvangelicals are not a lukewarm lot. If anything, they’re red hot in their hate for anyone who isn’t a straight, white, English speaking, American born Christian.
Whatever the case and whatever adjective you choose to use, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s response to Clay Higgins’ unhinged racism yesterday wasn’t just eye roll inducing, it was a perfect snapshot of the sort of cheap grace that has been the gospel of evangelicalism for far too long. When asked for his response to Higgins’ wildly racist tweet, Speaker of the House and self-branded Christian Mike Johnson had this to say…
“Look, he was approached on the floor by colleagues who said that was offensive. He went to the back – I just talked to him about it – he said he went to the back, and he prayed about it and he regretted it, and he pulled the post down. That’s what you want the gentleman to do. I’m sure he probably regrets some of the language he used. But you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption around here.”
It’s a response that’s as hilarious and absurd and it is disgustingly disingenuous, but it also perfectly captures the sort of cheap grace that evangelicals, particularly evangelical leaders like Johnson, but also the people who defend them, have employed for generations to white wash, cover up, and even justify a multiple of sins, abuse, and corruption.
The formula is quite simple: someone, whether it be a politician or a pastor, says or does something indefensible that would in any other setting get them fired or arrested and never allowed in a position of authority again is given a free pass, a get-out-accountability-free card if they simply say they prayed about it and asked God for forgiveness as if they good news of the gospel is “Jesus died so you never have to face consequences for you actions.”
It’s a toxic, abuse enabling, evil empowering theology the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once described as cheap grace.
Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?...
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Bonhoeffer was a theologian and pastor who lived, preached, and wrote in Germany during the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. While many of his fellow German Christians saw Hitler as God’s vessel through whom Germany would be made great again, Bonhoeffer saw Hitler and the Nazis for who they truly were. While many of his fellow German Christians found ways to justify and even sanctify the words and actions of Adolph Hitler, Bonhoeffer courageously held Hitler to account publicly, defiantly denouncing the evil of the Nazis in the pulpit and with his pen.
Bonhoeffer understood the cost of grace, not as a reciprocal transaction between him and his Creator for saving his soul from hell, but the personal, sacrificial cost of actually and authentically loving your neighbor, the kind of cost that comes with following the way of a crucified Christ, the cost of putting others before yourself.
He wrote…
“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'Ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”
When offered a chance to flee Nazi Germany for the safety of the United States, Bonhoeffer famously chose to stay, declaring “I shall have no right to take part in the restoration of Christian life in Germany after the war unless I share the trials of this time with my people.”
In April 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison. On April 9, 1945 Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazi regime.
Grace may not cost all of us our lives, but it’s hard to look at the grace Mike Johnson afforded Clay Higgins yesterday as anything but cheap. Not because it didn’t cost anyone their life, but because it didn’t cost anyone anything at all. It was purely transactional.
Higgins went through the spiritual motions and *POOF* it was as if nothing happened.
And lest you fall for the tried and true evangelical manipulation of “we don’t know what was in his heart” Higgins went out of his way to make it clear that we do know what was in his heart and not just because we already knew because, as Jesus once said, “What comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It's from the heart that we vomit up evil.”
We know because Higgins himself doubled down on his racist bile.
When a reporter followed up with Higgins after Speaker Johnson claimed Higgins regretted what he posted, this was Higgins' response…
“It’s all true. I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to.“I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I’ll say what I want. It’s not a big deal to me. It’s like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life.”
Part of me would be curious to hear Speaker Johnson’s response to Higgins doubling down on his racism, but Johnson has made it clear time and again that he’ll simply spin reality to fit his needs without a second thought because he’s a man wholly bereft of integrity.
Though, to be fair, Speaker Johnson doesn’t need integrity.
He’s also got plenty of cheap grace to toss around whenever it’s politically convenient.
But Johnson is far from the only purveyor of cheap grace today. He may be a politician, but as a self-professed follower of Jesus he’s also a great example of how cheap grace has become an epidemic in the Church, ready to be doled out whenever someone in leadership or simply popular does something unsavory that would tarnish the Church’s carefully crafted veneer of perfection, making people in the pews feel uncomfortable and forcing both leadership and laity alike to do the hard work of accountability and justice.
Cheap grace is much easier.
And why shouldn’t it be? After all, we’re told we’re saved by faith alone! Say the magic words at an altar and not only does God have to forgive you, but everyone else will have to pretend the harm you caused never happened because your sin has been forgotten and you’ve been instantly washed white as snow!
Cheap grace is why so much abuse gets covered up in the Church.
It’s easier to declare someone forgiven for their sins against other people and go on with our own lives as if nothing has happened than it is to admit our pastors could be guilty of doing the very things they condemn others to hell for. Hypocrisy exposes our weakness and being deceived leaves us feeling ashamed. Without the authority that comes with sinless perfection of the righteousness of always being right who will fill our pews and pay our bills?
Cheap grace is also why so many abusive pastors continue to pastor even after their abuse is exposed.
It’s easier to restore a fallen idol than admit our idolatry. Restoring abusive leaders lets us go back to living in our fantasies of the past as if nothing ever happened and the good old days are back again. Sure, there may be victims still hurting, but all has been forgiven and anyone who speaks up or complains is guilty of the much graver sins of stirring up discord and causing disunity.
And cheap grace is why 80% of evangelicals can so easily throw their support behind a conman who by his own admission has ever asked for forgiveness. Losing your place of privilege in society is hard and having to watch people you know are sinners be accepted and treated as equals is simply too much to bear. So when a savior comes along promising to make things right, promising to restore your God given power while enacting revenge against your enemies, it’s easier to extend him cheap grace than it is to pause and consider the possibility that in gaining the whole world you might just end up forfeiting your soul.
Cheap grace is easy and seductive.
Costly grace is hard and sometimes painful.
Costly grace means having hard conversations we’d rather avoid.
Costly grace means holding our leaders accountable when we’d rather maintain the status quo.
Costly grace means standing up for victims even when it requires standing up to people we love and admire.
Costly grace means admitting when we’re wrong even when it’s humiliating.
Costly grace means sacrificing our own comfort for the sake of others’ needs.
Costly grace means incarnating the love of Jesus every day instead of just singing about it on Sunday mornings.
We may have a hard time seeing it from the comfort of our pews, but the gospel of cheap grace is a bad joke that leaves everyone on the outside of the Church wondering how covering up abuse, justifying racists and bigots, and letting abusers off the hook is good news to anyone other than the unaccountable.
Costly grace may be painful at times, it may make us uncomfortable, embarrassed and ashamed, it may even sever relationships and cost us everything we hold dear.
But if the Church continues to practice the gospel of cheap grace, then those outside the walls of the Church will continue to turn a deaf ear to the good news we claim to preach and in the end cheap grace will cost us everything.
Thank you. You and Bonhoeffer are so wise and so right. Bonhoeffer is an exemplar of what every true Christian in America should be doing-NOW. Thank you. The complete moral degeneration and absolute bankruptcy of the evangelical church today is just about complete. As a 71 year old Texas evangelical, and yes fellow Baptist of our “distinguished”and “courageous” Speaker Mike Johnson, I am appalled and disgusted and revolted. God help us, when we call evil, good and wrong, right, we are lost…..
Than k you again. I wish this could be read in every pulpit in America on Sunday.
Thank you, Z! You absolutely hit the nail on the head, once again. I’m going to share this with some lifelong friends - “Christians” who, despite their intelligence and higher educations, cannot see the forest for the trees on this subject. It’s maddening, it’s heartbreaking and it’s true. True.