I’ve been thinking and writing about how political power corrupts the message of Jesus since at least 2019.

In 2025, I’m thinking about it a lot more.

Since 2016, I’ve been mourning how quickly the tradition that raised me has seemed to throw out the words of Christ in defense of a man who embodies the opposite of Jesus most of the time.

“Means justify the ends. He’s helping us become a Christian nation again. Christians will no longer be persecuted under Trump. He may be rough around the edges, but he’s looking out for us!”

These are the refrains I hear from the very people who told me to trust God above all else. Suddenly it’s felt like the message morphed to “Trust God and Trump.” And I have type a lot of words onto the internet about not trusting the government to do God’s work as a result.

But here’s a disturbing realization I have noticed in myself…

If you are in the social media world much, you may have seen a viral tweet talking about the “sin of empathy” floating around in response to Bishop Budde’s plea for mercy in January. This is riding in on the heels of a different book published last year claiming that some empathy is toxic. These views are flowing from staunch Christian Nationalists who believe in the intermingling of their narrow beliefs and political power.

All of this talk has honest people who are trying to grow in their faith wondering if their kind regard for other humans will accidentally send them to hell.

Well I say, to hell with that.