This isn’t about R versus D. We must reconnect cause and effect in the post-Trump era
It feels increasingly possible that we are standing on the cusp of the next major human transformation. Five hundred years ago, the Enlightenment began an era of human scientific exploration that has transformed our planet. Advances in transportation, communication, philosophy, medicine, education, agriculture, religion, manufacturing, warfare, governance and virtually everything else have done more to change the human condition — for good or for ill — than the previous thousands of years combined.
In just the last 100 years, we have gone from horse and buggy to the moon, and from a global population of 2 billion to 7.3 billion while nearly doubling our life expectancy — at least for the wealthy. We have brought ourselves to the exhilarating and terrifying brink of an increasingly unknown future.
This human transformation has been driven by the scientific method of thinking, which connects cause and effect, with the results of those connections driving the next discovery. If a boat sinks, we figure out why and build a better one. If a cancer treatment fails, we figure out why and create another one.
Notably, the scientific method has always been under attack, especially from religion. When the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in 1514 postulated (correctly) that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa, the church lashed out. Astronomer Galileo Galilei confirmed the work of Copernicus 100 years later and was convicted of heresy.
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” — Galileo
Perhaps the most explosive scientific theory ever came from Charles Darwin and his groundbreaking work in 1859, “On the Origin of Species.” The notion that Earth is ancient, and humans evolved from animals over a very long period of time was considered anti-biblical and blasphemous. All scientific evidence since has only confirmed this thinking.
Following Darwin, the late 1800s in the United States saw the birth of a reactive, fundamentalist Christianity that outwardly rejects the scientific enterprise. People will selectively breed cats, cows and corn for a desired outcome, but go to church on Sunday and pray down “worldly beliefs.” People will accept the scientific understanding of the human body that makes their heart and diabetes medications work but deny the same scientific method that says human sexuality is nonbinary. People will accept the cause and effect of smoking and lung cancer and reject the same cause and effect of burning fossil fuels and degrading the environment.
To go a step further, any social science that shows the negative impact of poverty on education is “liberal.” Any quantitative data that show the increase in suicides and homicides correlating directly with gun sales is “un-American.” Any discussion of systemic racism, despite mountains of empirical evidence, is “fake news.” In other words, to be a “conservative Christian” in this country means to only accept the cause and effect that benefits you and nothing that makes you uncomfortable.
Donald Trump is the American champion of “alternative facts” and nowhere is his support stronger than among those who call themselves evangelical Christians. Once you suspend cause and effect, you can have the biggest inauguration crowd ever. You can have audio tape of him boasting of grabbing women “by the p****,” and blame the fallout on the media. You can hear the audio recording of him telling a reporter about the dangers of COVID-19 in the very early days of the pandemic and then watch the video of him lying to the public on television. You can hear Democratic and Republican election officials in all 50 states say the election was secure and yet claim fraud. You can watch the video of Trump embracing and encouraging white extremists for four years and make excuses for the mob raiding the U.S. Capitol and killing a police officer.
Trump stood on the campus of an evangelical Christian University and proclaimed that he could literally stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose their support. He was right. Up is down. Left is right. Truth is lie. Famed evangelical Franklin Graham recently compared the betrayal of Trump by some Republicans to the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas. Donald Trump, who is neither conservative nor Christian, is the messiah for conservative Christians who deny truth.
“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” — Anne Lamott
This is dangerous. Once you disconnect cause and effect you can have any crazy conspiracy theory you want because evidence and proof are not necessary. You can deny the Holocaust. You can say Sandy Hook never happened. You can rail against a “deep state.”
You can worship Q. You can deny the efficacy of vaccines. You can politicize wearing a mask to stop a virus. You can deny that the virus exists. You can say poor people are lazy. You can call Democrats baby-eating pedophiles. You can say immigrants are rapists. Little lies lead to big lies and big lies lead to death — and death not only of actual humans, but death of the human enterprise itself. Just ask Germany: Lies are an existential threat to humanity.
Following in Trump’s footsteps comes the next wave of toxic haters and liars, led by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who embraces QAnon, denies Sandy Hook and agrees with social media posts calling for the assassination of Democratic leaders. Right on cue, only muted grumbling by Republican leaders.
This is what the Republican Party has become: a toxic blend of haters and pathetic quibblers who just want to get reelected. Zero leadership. Zero moral authority.
We must reconnect cause and effect. If we are going to heal as a nation, we must die on the hill of telling the truth. We must confront lies, big and small. We must pull together around a common set of facts that have been derived from actual thinking people who are more committed to the truth than to politics or religion or cable news ratings. If science makes your religion seem stupid, then your god is too small. My God can handle science.
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” — Jesus Christ
The next major human transformation can come when we reconnect cause and effect. While the rapid progress of technological advancement continues to inspire awe and fear we must come together as a people. I renew my call to repentance for everyone who voted for Trump and his lingering culture of lies. You see the ongoing impact of his lies and now is the time to repudiate them.
This is not about being a Democrat or a Republican. This is not about being a Christian or an atheist. This is about being human. We are all in this together and it is time we start acting like it. Healing does not come by everyone telling you that voting for Trump is just your benign, political choice, no more than healing can come by a doctor telling you there is no cancer when there is. We will not heal as a nation with 40% of the population still drunk on cancerous lies that are metastasizing from sea to shining sea. Repent.
The Rev. Mark R. Holland is a United Methodist pastor and the former mayor of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.