The inevitable insurrection occurred on January 6, 2021 when America witnessed the first attack on the U.S. Capitol since the British did it in 1814, during the War of 1812. It was the first, organized insider attack against our nation since cannons fired on Fort Sumter to begin the American Civil War in 1861. Many believe president Trump, along with other, prominent politicians and religious figures were responsible. An impeachment trial will likely not punish the most guilty. No doubt the members of the mob who are identified will have their day in court, but those most responsible will slink back into the shadows.

A Senate trial is, by definition, a toothless, political sideshow, especially now, given the fear GOP politicians have of the former president’s supporters. In fact, the vote to call the process unconstitutional was their cowardly way of avoiding responsibility and guilt by association. They would rather debate the process than adopt a moral position. The party of Lincoln has proven to be more like the party of Nixon, except that GOP finally had enough. Certainly, we cannot expect them to take their Senate juror oath any more seriously than they have their oaths of office. You’d be wrong to conclude Republicans fear the former president. They do not fear Donald Trump. They fear the mob behind him. And that is the Presidents most potent weapon.

Homeland Security issued a national domestic terror alert this week because the threat persists. And it persists because the lies and cover-up persist. House leader McCarthy tried to blame all Americans for the insurrection, but that is simply a smoke screen intended to conceal his party’s culpability. If we conservative Christians share any responsibility at all, it is our lack of outrage and silence in the aftermath of the insurrection.

That mob has been conditioned from both the bully pulpit and the church pulpit to believe they are doing the right thing, indeed, the will of God. Sociologists refer to the unholy view of Christianity that so obviously perverts the teaching of Jesus, Christian Nationalism. Some folks, who call themselves followers of Jesus, have taken their eyes off him and placed their trust in politics and politicians. It is up to us to lovingly guide our brothers and sisters back into a Church that practices, not just praises, the teaching of Jesus.

Admittedly, I was angry as I watched people carrying Bibles and the banner of Jesus while yelling obscenities and making murderous threats against elected officials, including the vice-president. This is what I wish our ex-president and the weak-kneed GOP members of Congress would hear from the Church. You do not have the privilege of encouraging others to kick down our door, attack our family, bust up our furniture, steal our tv and then blame us. Yet, that is exactly what representative Kevin McCarthy did. Nor do they have the standing to tell us to forgive, forget and move on as many Trump-supporting politicians have done. I suspect most of us have already forgiven, but I doubt we will ever forget. It was a knife to the heart of our nation akin to 9/11.

Genuine followers of Jesus are not the ones pouring gas on the fire intemperate words and actions ignited. But the fire is still raging and GOP elected officials pretend not to see anything—just as they pretended not to see the ex-president’s immoral  actions. Until he, and others who perpetuated the stolen election lies admit responsibility and take public action to restore confidence in our electoral process, the rift in our nation will remain an open wound.

It is time to teach your sons to man up. I’m not talking about making them macho, just responsible, contributors to society. The manly man focus introduced through Wild at Heart by John Eldridge, in my opinion, has done almost as much damage to Christian young men as Purity Culture has done to young women. The difference is there may also be a link to Christian Nationilism resulting from the Eldridge work.

Poor, delicate, little snowflakes. America, we have created a generation of helpless children that might look like adults, but lack the basic skills necessary to survive without mommy and daddy hovering over and protecting them. I recently listened for a second time to a podcast by Dr. Jeff Iorg, President of Gateway Seminary in Ontario, California that he called, “Man Card.”

Iorg encouraged parents, specifically Christians, to focus to making their children, especially their sons, responsible adults no matter how difficult it may be for all concerned.​ He lamented the ‘prolonged adolescence’ resulting from overprotective parents.

To make his point he described a new course offered by the University of California at Berkeley. Before continuing, consider this. California, along with a number of other states, allows 16 year-olds to register or pre-register to vote. And yet, college-aged young adults, at least in California, apparently need a class to know how to function in the grown-up world.

The course, Psychology 198, was called ‘Adulting.’ A grade of pass/no pass was awarded. (Apparently failure is not a part of the Berkeley adulting world). Perhaps that is why it filled up so quickly. Seems sort of like a trophy for participation, but that’s what many have come to expect.

Regardless, the course description used these words to describe the need for it. “The school system does not require a class for students to learn how to live in the real world and function as an adult. We often enter college unprepared to take care of ourselves.” Wow! Old enough to vote, buy a car, obtain a credit card and register to be drafted into military service, but unable to take care of themselves?

Is it any wonder politicians who resemble indulgent parents appeal to that demographic. It may also be why some parents must obtain a court order to remove adult children from the family home? I concur with UC Berkeley about schools not creating responsible adults.

Even more, I concur with Dr. Iorg that schools never had that responsibility. Parents do! It is time parents quit coddling their children, especially their sons. Learning to navigate the ‘real world’ should begin in elementary school not college or graduate school. 

I am outraged! If you are not outraged over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery and other minority group members killed by police or vigilantes you have no heart. If you do not demand police accountability when investigation into their actions warrants, you have no soul. If you condemn every police officer or the thousands who peacefully protest because of the criminal acts of a few, you have no brain.

It is a mistake to attempt to solve complex problems with simple solutions or use tragedy for political gain. Yet there is no shortage of folks trying to do just that. When it comes to interactions between black Americans and police, too often the encounters that end in tragedy begin with unlawful behavior. Yet, that fact is often omitted in demands to abolish or defund the police.

The evidence does not support claims that biased police are systematically killing black Americans. But statistics do show minorities ar disproportionally killed by police. In a July 3, 2020 USA Today opinion piece, Heather MacDonald, asserted, “The African American community tends to be policed more heavily because that is where people are disproportionally hurt by violent street crime. . .  In New York City in 2018, 73% of shooting victims were Black, though Black residents comprise only 24% of the city’s population.”

According to the National Institute of Justice report by Anthony A. Braga and Rod K. Brunson, published in 2015, “resulting from a history of exclusion from important economic and social opportunities, residents of disadvantaged urban neighborhoods are primarily minorities and often black. Research has long documented that most violence occurs within racial groups and that black Americans, often victimized by black offenders, experience disproportionately high levels of violent crime.”

Sadly, bad black people are killing each other along with innocent black people. The most egregious example is Chicago, which epitomizes the failure of politics to resolve social problems. We are only six months into the year and there have already been 329 people killed, up 34% over last year. People demand changes in laws when what is needed is changes of hearts. Politics are not the answer. The Democrates claim to be the party of the black voter. Chicago is led by black Democrats. It has a black mayor, black police chief and 40 percent black aldermen. The last Republican mayor left office in 1931 and there are currently no Republicans among the city’s 50 aldermen.

The hypocracy is not confined to Democrats. How can Republicans denounce China for human rights violations while justifying perpetrating violence against peaceful protestors to afford our president a photo-op in front of a church? As outraged as I am by how George Floyd died, I am equally outraged by the state funeral spectacle played and replayed on the evening news.

Mr. Floyd is a dead black man who should not have died, but his death certainly did not warrant the sort of coverage suitable for the likes of Elijah Cummings, Damon Keith, Edith Irby Jones or Toni Morrison, to name only a few. Nor should what happened justify emasculating a police force and ceding a police station, along with several city blocks, to a leaderless mob like we witnessed in Seattle.

Where are the voices of outrage over black on black violence? Where are the voices of outrage over rogue police officers like those who took Floyd’s life? Where are the voices of outrage opposing abortion, but not the supporting women forced to carry babies they cannot afford to feed? Where are the voices of ourage demanding men of all races, who father children out of wedlock, accept responsibility for raising them, or at least, supporting them and instilling sound moral values in them?

Where were the protestors when the government was removing children from parents whose only crime was wanting a better or safer life for them? We all stand guilty. Conservatives demand individual accountability for sin while progressives write laws intended to correct our society’s sins. Nothing really changes. It is all talk, ill-conceived over-reaction, acceptance of moral failure and/or lack of personal accountability. Jesus is the answer, but both sides are yelling so loudly that no one can hear what the Prince of Peace has to say.