Theology in a Post-Truth Age

The Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has always had a particular concern about what he has termed "relativism" in the world, one in which all religions and all moral systems are acceptable because they all issue forth from different contexts and epistemological foundations.  As much as I respect the Pope Emeritus, here I think he has conflated relativism with contextuality.  His concerns on relativism is very justified, but I think it must not be confused with contextuality.  It is perhaps one of the greatest hallmarks of the church that the gospel can indeed be contextualized and, together, add to the beauty and goodness of this Good News.  But today I think it's time we revisited "relativism."

I have spent the past few weeks mourning over the United States.  What disappointments me is not so much President Donald Trump.  He has won the election based on a electoral system that the people of the United States did not question, so like it or not, he is our president.  Additionally, I suspect that Donald Trump himself will be more of an international embarrassment than someone like Adolf Hitler, the latter of whom was particularly strategic and a master of engineering public opinion and the like.  Trump, fortunately, is perhaps better analogized with Silvio Berlusconi than any other world leader in history.  But what disappointments me are his supporters, quite a few who are white supremacist and some of whom, if they were to ascend to power, may well be like Adolf Hitler.  In the wake of the elections, we have predominately witnessed incidents of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-Latin@ and anti-Black hatred.  To say "we're better than this" misses the point.  No - America has always had an underground Nazist and fascist sentimentality that has found a public outlet through Donald Trump.  No, we're not better than this.  The sooner we accept this, we can work towards being "better than this."

I am reminded in this time of Stephen Colbert's word "truthiness."  If anything, we do live in an age of truthiness in which truth is ultimately and purely subjective, and not subject to any critique from beyond the self.  Truth, for me, is what I like to be truth, even if it were completely wrong.  Or, to put it crassly, there is no such thing as "wrong" except as I deem it so.  I would prefer to think of it as liberalism gone way wrong.  And this is not merely a Republican problem.  Hard-left Democrats suffered from the same problem in trying to ensure a perfect candidate runs on the platform, despite the underlying whiteness and nebulousness of the Sanders platform.  Political donatism is both a universal problem.

Let me interrupt my thoughts for a clarificatory statement.  We like to think we know what "conservative" and "liberal" are, but in America, I think we've really mixed the two up.  What passes often for conservative politics is really liberal.  Liberal thought prioritizes the choices of the individual, and is what underpins capitalism.  When I go purchase an iPhone, the government did not force me to do so.  I went to a Verizon store (I could've gone to AT&T or Sprint) and I decided to buy an iPhone over the Samsung Galaxy.  The government did not require me to purchase the former.  That is liberalism - it prioritizes my agency in making decisions on my own.  It is what Pope Benedict XVI was concerned about too - that in prioritizing our agency over decision-making, we prioritize the ability to lay aside fundamental and objective truths.  But whether he likes it or not, it is what grounds contemporary society.  What this means is that American politics, regardless of party, is liberal.  Hence, I find it sensible that the party of conservative and traditional values (GOP) would choose someone like Donald Trump, who pretty much runs against the grain of any ideal Republican family-values candidate.  When "tradition" meets "liberalism", liberalism always wins.  Which also explains why so many "Evangelicals" voted for Trump and, in doing so, gave up their souls for the world.  The City of Man is always more attractive than the City of God.

Theology has always required a truth to operate on.  Without truth, it might as well become a sociological study of religions.  Every theologian that does theology does it with the understanding that one day, this truth may consume him or her, demanding his/her very life.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer and other similar Christians understood this principle.  But every theologian also is aware that the ways of God is not necessarily the ways of the world.  Truth always eludes us because sin is ever close to us.  What we need is not more purity, but to own our impurity, and in owning our own impurity, we can lament to God and in humility, we find conversion and salvation, one in with the truth shall set us free.

While 81% of white Evangelicals may have supported Trump, they nonetheless are part of the church, and the church will need to have hard conversations about true discipleship in the 21st century, steeled with a grace and mercy that only transcends human understanding.  Yes - Pope Francis is right - the world right now needs more mercy, not more judgment.  Few of the 81% may be outright KKK-racists (if so, their salvation is already in question) but for those who aren't, legitimate fears may be the reason they traded in their souls for the world.  The church needs to be this healing hospital where they can trade in the world for their souls again, and we don't do it by excluding them.  We invite them, listen to them, and hear their fears, and address them with a Christlike love.  Their sin in enabling, at the very least, racial hatred and Christian, Muslim, and Jewish persecution is a sin that can only be forgiven by God.  But if the church does not have a space open for repentance, where else shall they turn?

That, perhaps, is the greatest truth we can offer in an Age of Truthiness.  Truthiness ultimately turns to tyranny, but truth turns to mercy.  In this time where tyranny may well reign, and the reign of evil may consume the hearts of many, the church needs to steel up against this by being a place where truth reigns, and where those sullied by evil can be cleansed.  Theology in a post-truth age is a theology, ultimately, of wholeness, of healing.  Our work has only just begun.