Unholy Sh+t *SPECIAL EDITION*: breaking down the theology of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s rebuke of Donald Trump

Donald Trump enjoyed inauguration day with very little pushback. Former presidents, members of Congress, and giants of industry all gathered around him for his swearing-in, even though many of these folks had previously accused him of being a fascist and a threat to democracy. Instead of being met with protests from these folks who once warned of his impending dictatorship, they sat comfortably next to him, hiding behind the sacredness of “tradition” to justify calmly and passively handing over the country to a man who, his now current Vice President once described as, “America’s Hitler.”

Religious leaders from multiple denominations showered Trump with praise. Franklin Graham, son of Billy “rolling over in his grave at the audacity of his offspring” Graham, lauded the 47th President of the United States during his invocation. Even when Trump arrogantly claimed that God protected him from harm so that he could “Make America Great Again,” no religious leader around him questioned this theological statement from the President. I guess the other folks killed and wounded in the assassination attempt against Trump were just divine oopsy-poopsies, celestial collateral damage, if you will.

No one said anything. Instead, Biden magically pardoned his entire family while sitting there watching a dictator rise. The rest of the country be damned, but he made sure there was enough room in the raft for his kin as the Titanic slowly sinks.

Even the media had a more muted tone, rarely fact-checking the statements made by Trump and his associates, shrugging off the blatant Nazi salute by broligarch Elon Musk, and then, there it was, the thunderous applause that Senator Amidala warned us about.

The following day, as the pomp, circumstance, and letting them eat cake continued, Trump arrived at Washington National Cathedral for another tradition: a prayer service. Flanked by his family, members of his administration, and doting donors, they watched on as the service continued, as most things had since he arrived back in Washington, with little friction while he ascended to his throne.

Then, in walked Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde to remind us of another sacred tradition: speaking truth to power.

Unholy Sh+t

SPECIAL EDITION

The Theology of the Trump Rebuke

In the immediate aftermath of Bishop Budde publicly pleading with the President to his face to show mercy, many armchair theologians across such notable scholarly publications as Facebook and Twitter comment sections began to blast the hierarch for her commentary. Accusations against her included blasphemy, heresy, and being generally un-Christian for choosing to call the Philander-in-Chief on the carpet.

Well, if you think it is antithetical to the scriptures for religious leaders to call out political leaders, well, you’ve probably never actually read a Bible that was highlighted. The scriptures are chock-full of prophets rebuking the powerful. The entire book of Exodus is about Moses being raised up to confront Pharaoh and stage a liberation campaign. In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan confronted King David over his lust of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. The prophet Daniel rebukes King Belshazzar in his own court (Daniel 5). John the Baptist rebuked Herod in Luke 3:19-20 and was arrested for the act. Yet, most notably, Jesus himself said, “On my account, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you (Matthew 10:18-20).”

One could argue that what the bishop did was not only theologically sound but also a divine mandate, that when we are placed in positions to speak in the presence of political leaders, we are explicitly called to do exactly what Bishop Budde did that day. Jesus said, in no uncertain terms, that when we are placed in the presence of our political leaders, he would give us the words to say. The question becomes, not whether or not the bishop had the authority to do what she did, but was her admonishment also rooted in the types of words God would have traditionally called his prophets to say.

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If you missed what Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde actually said, here were her final remarks that roused the ire of the right-wing religious and political ideologues:

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives.

The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, and temples.

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”

The bishop was paraphrasing Exodus 22:21-24, which states, “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner; remember that you were foreigners in Egypt. Do not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do, I, the Lord, will answer them when they cry out to me for help, and I will become angry and kill you in war.” Listen, I am just saying God has way less chill than the Bishop did. She was like, “Please, Mr. President, have mercy.” Meanwhile, when God first said the words, which she quoted from, he was like, “Do this, or I will literally have you slaughtered on the battlefield.” Honestly, in the realm of rebukes of biblical proportions, the bishop’s was relatively tame by comparison.

However, having compassion for our neighbors is a pretty central focus in the scriptures from the Old Testament to the New. Though the story of Sodom and Gomorrah has erroneously become associated with homosexuality, it is clear in Ezekiel 16:49-50 that the actual reason that destruction befell this community was their lack of compassion for those in need, “Now, this was the sin of Soddom: They were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor or needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did way with them as you have seen.”

The moment that sealed the deal for the deduction of Sodom and Gomorrah wasn’t homosexuality; it was that they rejected and assaulted the foreigners (who happened to be angels… oops). The reason that Lot and his family were spared is because they showed the foreigners compassion and hospitality. Lot was waiting at the city gate to greet them so their family could provide them shelter and food. Meanwhile, the people of the town attempted to assault them. For a deeper dive into this topic, you can read my essay The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Had Nothing to do with Homosexuality.

The bishop was placed in a unique position of power, like the prophets of old, where a political leader is about to bring about pain and destruction on groups of people by way of persecution based upon their identity and mass deportation of foreigners who have sought safety in our land. Every word of her statement was dripping with the anointed words of God. I’ll admit, they aren’t the comfortable parts of the Bible. No one wants to be on the receiving end of a public rebuke. However, nothing she said was antithetical to the gospel, quite the opposite. She was living out the courageous act of doing the most difficult, and often forgotten work of those called into ministry: to scream from the mountaintop that the emperor has no clothes on.

Trump squirming in the pews, and the look of shock on JD Vance’s face, are probably the closest we will ever get to what it must have looked like when Pharaoh first heard Moses say, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let my people go!’” I am sure that every king, tsar, and president who has ever been called out by the clergy has equally felt discomfort, anger, and wrath. John the Baptist paid the price of his calling out of Herod by losing his head.

I don’t think the bishop believed that these words were going to suddenly soften the heart of Trump, as they certainly didn’t do with Pharaoh back when Moses tried, but that doesn’t make the rebuke any less powerful. When Saint Stephen rebuked leadership in his community, he was killed for his actions. The leaders didn’t listen. Instead, they attempted to silence him in the most profound way possible, ending his life. The scriptures actually tell us that instead of heading the words of Stephen, they literally covered their ears and began yelling at the top of their lungs to drown out his words (sound familiar). Then, they rushed him, dragging him out of the city, and stoned him to death. However, even though they were not listening, they refused to humble themselves at the rebuke; there was a man in the crowd named Saul who observed all these things. Soon, in part because of what he witnessed that day, he would have a change of heart. He left the ranks of those doing the persecuting and instead joined with the persecuted, also becoming one who offered rebukes to leaders (Acts 7:41-60). He even went so far as to change his name to Paul, something that the religious people of today would refuse to accept.

We have no idea who did hear these words, what hearts and minds might begin to change due to the bravery of what Bishop Budde chose to do. What we do know, and was clear after yesterday, is that she created a guidepost to resistance. She became a General Organa, ready to lead the charge into the uncertainty of this future that lays ahead of all of us. Finally, where all our other leaders failed by holding fast to “tradition” instead of holding feet to the fire, Bishop Budde said, “I am held to a higher tradition: to set the captives free.”

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Following the public condemnation from the bishop, Trump quickly ran to his own bully pulpit to chastise her by stating, “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”

Anyone who has studied history should be shaken by this statement. It is quite possible that Trump has violated the constitutional rights of the bishop with this statement. Many lawsuits have been fought and won whenever political leaders say things that can have a “chilling effect” on the target of their statement.

It is remarkably absurd to hold a prayer service for the incoming administration at a cathedral and then bemoan that it was “political” when the sermon calls for the President to be merciful to his constituents. Funny that the myriad of of religious leaders who exalted Trump at his inauguration, some of which made far more political (and substantially less theological) statements of praise for Trump, were not “being political.” No, they were just stepping in line like good little soldiers. They have stopped following the King of Kings and instead have sold their soul to the twice-impeached president of a political party whose ideology is more akin to Sodom and Gomorrah than any pride parade could ever wish to be. Mostly because many pride parades help support charities in their communities to help the destitute, while the modern Republican Party is more concerned with creating wealth for the most powerful folks in our nation while standing on the throats of the oppressed.

The President making the statement that she is a “so-called Bishop” is absolutely a political statement, and a very disturbing one. This could likely be seen as the state stepping into the business of religion. According to the dictionary, so-called is used to denote that a person or thing is “falsely or improperly named.” However, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde does not receive her faculties, title, or appointments from the United States Government but from the Episcopal Church, which ordained her a priest and elevated her to the rank of Bishop in Apostolic Succession, linking her authority back to the original twelve apostles. Her authority comes from her God, not from the institution of the Federal Government. The President of the United States has no authority or right to question the legitimacy of her vocation and, by doing so, has also likely violated her rights yet again.

As much as we should commend the bishop for her courage, we must also remain vigilant that she is not silenced for her actions. That neither our government, nor the Episcopal Church, allows her to be made an example of. While this will be a headline that fades as new tirades spew from the Tyrannical Toddler, we must keep a keen eye on what is happening here. The good bishop doesn’t need “thoughts and prayers” from well-wishers but that we are all committed to standing behind her as she faces the wrath of Herod.