An Open Letter from a Presidential Candidate

I received this in my email this morning (9/13/2020) and I share it with you. God bless us all!

An Open Letter from Brian Carroll:

 The earliest sermon to which I remember having a deep response occurred when I was about twelve, in one of the Methodist churches we attended as my family moved around. Our minister was discussing Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian who opposed Hitler. For that, Bonhoeffer spent a year-and-half in prison. Then, as one of der Führer’s final acts before his own suicide, Hitler ordered Bonhoeffer hung. The question—not original to our minister—was asked, “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” 

 My spirit refuted the implication. I remember thinking, “How horrible, to live your life as something and leave no proof of it!” I inwardly committed myself to supplying evidence enough to convict me. Spiritual growth is often two steps forward and one step back, and I did not actually put my faith in Jesus Christ until I was 22, but as a 12-year-old agnostic, I knew that if God existed, he would take seriously the inner promises of even a pre-teen. 

 We are perilously close to a Bonhoeffer moment. For many Christians in my generation, we are watching our children walk away from the faith because we have not offered enough evidence to convict us in their eyes that we are Christians. For the most part, however, we have been good Republicans. While the Democrats were openly opposing Christianity, the Republicans were co-opting us, seducing us with promised goodies and terrifying us with sometimes-accurate assessments of the Democrats. From Reagan to Romney, I voted Republican, but each year with less conviction. Conviction requires evidence, and I could no longer see it. That was even before the rise of Donald Trump. 

Trump presented me with a new dilemma. Any misguided President could embarrass the nation, but only a self-described Christian could embarrass the faith. As much as I love my country, when 2016 elevated two candidates who threatened the well-being of our country, I could not support my party’s nominee whom I feared would also discredit my faith community.

 Let me be clear on two things: First, I do not believe the United States should ever be a theocracy. One problem in the American Church, going back at least to when I first saw Dominionism in the 1970s, is a heresy that expects God’s rule on Earth to be accomplished through the reins of political power. The God I believe in and worship does not need to be elected to the White House. The God of the Bible does use individual leaders to accomplish His purposes, but not all the lessons of the Hebrew scriptures transfer automatically to 21st Century America. We are not a homogeneous people like the Hebrews. We were not brought together out of an Egyptian or Babylonian captivity. While God was fashioning Israel to be a unique people, cut off from their neighbors, God has worked to make the United States just the opposite, a nation composed out of every other nation on Earth. 

 Second, I am well aware of the dangers inherent in an electoral victory by the Democratic ticket. Kamala Harris, especially, has made a career of bullying people of faith. In Senate confirmation hearings over judicial nominees, she inferred that membership in the Knights of Columbus should disqualify a nominee. In the United States, this Catholic fraternal order has included such members as 1928 Democratic Presidential Nominee Al Smith, President John F. Kennedy, his brother Ted, and their brother-in-law and 1972 Vice Presidential nominee Sargent Shriver. On the GOP side, we see Justice Samuel Alito, House Speaker John Boehner, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Outside of politics, the list includes Vince Lombardi, Floyd Patterson, and Babe Ruth. Yet Sen. Harris operates as if such membership makes one both un-American and disqualified for office. Our Constitution states explicitly (Article VI, Clause 3) that, “…no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” This is just one blind spot in Harris’s understanding of the Constitution. 

 Even before her Senate career, Kamala Harris conspired with leaders of Planned Parenthood to persecute undercover journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for the videos that document the extensive-but-illegal sale of fetal body-parts. The American notion of protection for journalists goes back to the 1735 case of John Peter Zenger, charged with defaming the reputation of New York’s governor. The jury took only ten minutes to decide that truth was a sufficient defense against charges of libel. Daleiden’s innocence against charges of damaging the reputation of Planned Parenthood must be based on the fact that the information in his expose is true. Thus, in the kangaroo trials that Harris set in motion as Attorney General of California, juries have not been allowed to see the videos that Daleiden produced. Our freedoms last only as long as our laws protect ordinary people from persecution by those in power, making Daleiden both the Zenger and Bonhoeffer of our day. In contrast, Sen. Harris has suggested she would expand the number of Supreme Court Justices so she could pack it with those who would support free-rein for her policies and persecutions. 

 So, Christian voters are again between a rock and a hard place. Neither duopoly ticket respects the U.S. Constitution. Our democracy is threatened by candidates on either side. Yet I do not believe that God has abandoned the United States. He is testing His people. I spent a year praying about whether or not to run this year as a candidate. The door was open, and I believe God directed me to pass through it. I do not know how far the open doors will lead. I do know this, believing Christians are on trial, and a watching jury is looking for evidence. What follows is an account of the similar spiritual journey of another believer, first written in 2017. It is worth reading prayerfully. 

https://eerdword.com/2020/01/10/your-bonhoeffer-moment/?fbclid=IwAR08b7YeF77ES4D2MrtI-xVDKeDwz9Gv2hEljm-naDVQdvqsufxNXJtvTFw

 In Solidarity, Brian Carroll ASP Candidate for President