It’s impolite. It’s in bad taste. And it’s downright disturbing. Not to mention wrong. That you, a white “Christian pastor,” would call me, a Jewish descent Christian woman a fascist because you don’t like that I stand against Trump’s racist actions and hate crimes is more than just insulting. You accused me of seeing only one side of the senseless attack on the Episcopalian church the other day and then you asserted that I was believing and becoming a fascist.
Do you understand what that is?
What is your definition of fascism, Mr. white pastor?
According to Miriam-Webster, fascism is: “a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.”
I neither believe it is Christlike to hold to the view that one race is more valuable than another nor do I believe that fascism as a political philosophy is loving and Biblical. And I’m a Jewish woman whose family fled Eastern Europe to avoid the hatred they saw coming for them at the turn of the 20th Century.
Do you know who was a fascist in Eastern Europe? Hitler. The Nazis. And you saying that a man who in complete abandon has made racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic statements publicly throughout his career and lifetime, is not a racist is incorrect. And I cannot begin to tell you how your complete lack of knowledge and compassion makes me feel.
Well, maybe I can a little.
For the first time today, I felt anti-Semitic sentiment directed at me. I felt the sting of racism turned my way by a pastor.
I have experienced misogyny many times. I’ve been told by both men and women that while I was single, I was not as important to ministry and God because I was a woman. I was told that I couldn’t be as effective in ministry as a single or married man, despite the history of our faith showing that single women are actually more effective than single men as missionaries. I was told that I was at fault for the abuse I experienced in a dating relationship.
Trump is encouraging white supremacy. Folks in this camp are called Neo-Nazis. And yet you accused me of aligning myself with them. And insulted my intelligence as if I were too stupid and too naïve to have a greater understanding of the world than a young, impassioned teenager. As if I am the one who does not know what a fascist is and cannot recognize the languages and tendencies of one.
You told me to “look it up.” Well, buddy, listen to your own preaching. You told me that Trump has never said anything racist. Have you even bothered to Google that since I pointed it out to you?
Getting angry with a Facebook post that aligns my allegiance with Jesus instead of a politician is confusing. Why are you angry about me standing with a church who was victimized by tear gas, rubber bullets, and concussion grenades (weapons of war) so that this “leader” could snap some photos with a Bible in hand at a church sign?
You say you follow Christ. So, doesn’t that mean you should be angry with people being harmed for no good reason? You brought up an officer who was killed during a robbery, trying to prevent someone from stealing a television. You brought up property damage. Yet you said nothing of the man whose murder started all of this.
Oh, and you brought abortion into it as your reason to vote for Trump and stand with this man who has told the public that he has the right to grab women by their genitals, that others are “too ugly to rape” and that he is a church-going man yet he golfs instead of attending church services. He’s desired to build a wall to keep out “the Mexicans.” He’s promised to cut funding to WHO amid a world-wide pandemic, not only removing assistance from the rest of the world but removing medical assistance from AMERICANS, whom he claims he is “for.”
Why are you angry that I, a woman who follows Christ, is unwilling to align myself with a man who calls for violence?
It’s no wonder so many of my non-Christian friends say they want nothing to do with Jesus. When this is the response, they think He hates them, too.
