I was already somewhat familiar with the alt-right, but my first contact with it came in mid-November. I retweeted a post on Twitter from Robert George -- McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University and a stalwart defender of the sanctity of human life, marriage and religious freedom. George tweeted a comment from an alt-right advocate to demonstrate the mentality represented in the movement.
The tweet was from "Henry Smith @FoundersRace," who said in a comment responding to criticism by George of alt-right ideology: "If we don't make America more White, you'll never get your way on abortion. Supporting White Nationalism is your only hope."
I retweeted George, and soon thereafter someone identified as Levi Hennessy tweeted at George and me: "Alt-Right Christianity is rising, and it will restore true Christian theology." Several of his fellow alt-right travelers liked or retweeted him. I replied to Hennessy, writing: "Love you, Levi. Glad at Jesus' throne will be those 'from every nation and all tribes and peoples' (Rev. 7:9)."
In his tweet, Hennessy included a link to the website "Christianity and Race." In its "About" section, the website provided this view of Christianity or "Identitarian Faith," as it described it:
In recent decades Christianity has become a suicide cult. Theological leaders have reinterpreted the Bible into a document of ethnic and religious sadomasochism. Everywhere, Christians of European descent are being told by their church leaders and faith organizations to open their countries to Third World invaders, transracially adopt children, hand their country’s political authority over to less civilized minorities, tolerate and accept Islamic warfare against them, displace their children’s inherited privilege, bankrupt themselves giving “aid” to disparate corners of the globe, encourage their children to marry outside their ethnic group, and denounce their own ancestors as evil “racists” unworthy of commemoration or respect. In short, Euroethnic Christians are being commanded to erase their own existence.As you might guess, the alt-right advocates fail to handle Scripture accurately in defending a view of Christianity that divides humanity by ethnicity. Without responding to each of their unfaithful interpretations, here are four big-picture truths in the Bible that stand against such a view of humanity:
1. Every human being -- regardless of skin color or ethnicity -- is made in the image of God.
2. Every human being -- regardless of skin color or ethnicity -- is a descendant of the first man, Adam.
3. Every human being -- regardless of skin color or ethnicity -- is a sinner because of his fallenness in Adam.
4. Every human being -- regardless of skin color or ethnicity -- is a member of a people group that includes those who will gather around the throne of God by virtue of the blood of Christ.
God the Son did not come to prop up humanity's divisions by skin color and ethnicity. He came not to reinforce walls but to wreck them. He lived and died as the perfect man to save a people whose most important identity would result from union with Him, not from any natural marks such as skin color. Jesus died for people of all ethnicities to make us into "a chosen race" (I Peter 2:9).
It appears the alt-right movement is a small one, and hopefully it will remain that way. Its members need the gospel of Jesus just like all the rest of us sinners. But their anti-scriptural, anti-gospel message is dangerous and evil. We should refute it with truth and grace just as we reach out to its devotees righteously and compassionately. We also should defend those whom the alt-right demeans.
As followers of Jesus, we must accept the challenge of this moment. We must not let those with loud and angry voices intimidate us into silence. We must speak the truth with love for all of our fellow image bearers, regardless of our difference in pigmentation or heritage.
Photo credit: Paul Taylor
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