In the fall of 2001, after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a ministerial association in which I was active held a community worship service. I had previously worked hard in our community to build bridges between various Christian congregations in our community. I was active in the organization even when some of the more fundamentalist church leaders pushed ideas and interpretations of scripture with which I disagreed. I served as secretary for a term and then as vice president. I worked to invite leaders of other faith groups to participate. The community service was planned as a show of unity and an expression of grief over the attacks. At the service, one of the fundamentalist preachers used the invitation to lead a prayer to deliver an attack against gay and lesbian members of society, saying that New York had been attacked because of its acceptance of gay and lesbian persons. After the service, I spoke privately to my colleague, saying that I felt his words were out of place. I suggested that he might not have been aware that gay and lesbian members of our community had attended the service and would be hurt by his words. He said almost nothing in response to my comments.

At the group's next meeting, there was an election of new officers. I expected to be elected chair of the organization, a position for which I believed I was running unopposed. However, another person, a pastor of a fundamentalist congregation, was nominated from the floor and elected, gaining more votes than I. I didn’t worry about it. I was busy, and I didn’t need another job. However, a couple of meetings later, a resolution was passed at a meeting that changed the group's name to Rapid City Christian Minister’s Association and required all who wished to belong to the group to sign the Apostle’s Creed. I declined to sign for two reasons. I knew that it was put forward to exclude Unitarian, Bahai, and Jewish participation, and I felt called to stand with those religious leaders if they were being targeted. In addition, our church clearly states that we accept creeds as testaments of faith and not tests of faith. We would never require someone to sign a specific creed to belong to our church.

I quietly moved on from the situation in a busy life with many obligations. I made a conscious decision not to make any public criticism of the behavior of other Christian ministers. I did, however, tell the story of the events to some of my colleagues in our church. One colleague who had grown up in the Evangelical side of our denomination, however, cautioned me. He told of how some of the leaders of our church found themselves in positions that compromised their beliefs in Germany during the rise of Hitler. They also chose not to speak out against other Christians during that tumultuous time. Later, when the Nazi regime engaged in atrocities including the attempted genocide of all Jews, killing over six million, they found themselves estranged from many Christian leaders who continued to back the regime. He told me that many sons of Christian ministers served as SS troopers in Germany and that in those circumstances, it became necessary to publicly name the murder of innocents as being in direct opposition to Christian values. Those who spoke out against Hitler and the Nazis were often persecuted themselves. Some died in concentration camps. Others were forced to leave Germany. Estrangement within families occurred. A high price was paid for the opposition, but in my colleague's eyes, it was necessary. “Sometimes you have to speak up for Christian values. Some will claim to be Christian and oppose Christian values.”

I listened politely and agreed that in extreme circumstances, it might become necessary to be more vocal in opposition to those who preach versions of Christianity that oppose biblical teaching and Christian values. I did not think, however, that what happened to Christians under the Nazi regime could every happen again.

Now, I find myself in a much darker place in history. My country is being run by White Christian Nationalists who claim the name Christian but who seem to be opposed to the actions of Jesus in the Gospel. There will be preachers today who will laud the actions of President Trump and Vice President Vance, who set up a meeting this week with Ukrainian President Zelensky as an opportunity to try to force submission to the aggression of Moscow in exchange for a deal for the US to gain access to minerals in Ukraine. When Zelensky refused to bow and praise the US President and to accept the claim that he had started the war, after he had been called a dictator and been publicly berated, he was ushered out of the White House.

It is essential to be straightforward about the truth in the face of so many lies coming directly from the White House and being repeated by Christian ministers from the pulpit. Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. Over 12,000 Ukrainians have been killed in the war, many of them innocent civilian victims of relentless bombing and drone attacks. Estimates range from a low of 20,000 to as many as 700,000 Ukrainian children have been seized and removed from their families. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, have been indicted by the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants for both over the deportation of Ukrainian children.

The President and Vice President of the United States, backed by virtually all Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate, have publicly switched sides in the war. He has embraced Putin and is following Putin’s bidding. Our leaders have joined what President Bush called “the Axis of Evil.”

Firing dedicated employees, and freezing aid to foreign countries that Congress authorized. Allowing vaccination programs to be halted, denying food assistance to starving people, dismissing leaders who have worked for the inclusion of all Americans in the military and government, deporting immigrants who entered the country legally but have expired visas, cutting benefits for veterans, slashing medicaid, and dividing families are not Christian behaviors.

Enriching the most wealthy at the expense of the most vulnerable is not Christian. Issuing over $30 billion in no-bid contracts to companies controlled by the richest man in the world is not efficient, despite the name of the agency he heads, a position for which he did not have to be elected or confirmed by Congress. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).

Destroying American democracy is not Christian. Too many of those who claim the name Christian are acting in ways that are in direct opposition to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The time for silence is ended. It is time for faithful Christians to name hypocrisy, racism, and bigotry for what they are. Not everyone who claims the name Christian is a Christian.