Don’t Let Your Beliefs Make You Violent
“My complaint is that they are spiritual warmongers, constantly expanding the arena of spiritual warfare, mapping it onto geographical territory and divisive politics in a deeply destabilizing and antidemocratic manner.”
– Matthew D. Taylor
Like many of us, I’ve been puzzled the past few years with what is happening between religion and politics in America. It has become more intertwined than I remember seeing in my lifetime. And not in a good way.
That’s one reason I wanted to read Matthew D. Taylor’s new book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy. Taylor is a religious studies scholar and an expert on Christian nationalism. In this book he lays out his meticulous research on the subject.
Why This Book Matters
Taylor takes us back 30 years to explain the origins of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a branch of Christianity that he says is currently involved in the reshaping of religion and politics in the U.S. today. Detailing it through history, Taylor helps clarify how Donald Trump was able to galvanize such strong evangelical support from NAR.
Taylor also details information about the Seven Mountains Mandate and the Cyrus Anointing. In his analysis, he connects some of the people in some of these movements to far-right political activism. He illustrates how this has seeped into several churches, turning select worship services into political rallies that can encourage justification for real-world violence.
Key Insights
One of the most compelling aspects of the book to me is Taylor’s examination of how NAR ideologies in some circles may have contributed to the January 6th Capitol riot. He connects dots between spiritual rhetoric and physical violence and, in his opinion, warns that such events are just the visible tip of the iceberg. He says that what lies underneath will continue to threaten democracy.
“Democracy is jeopardized by people so locked into the narratives of their own righteousness, their own certainty that they know what God wants, that they march right past the deadly conflagration they helped to instigate and never pause to consider the consequences.”
But Taylor’s specific advice is to other Christians. He says, “The best people to defang extremist Christianity are Christians.” If they see toxic Christian ideologies that don’t represent their faith, he says it is their responsibility to speak up. As is evident in other times in history, silence in the face of extremism is complicity.
Why You Should Read This Book
Taylor’s expertise and analysis can come across as scholarly, but this book is not for academics only; it’s for anyone concerned about the state of American democracy.
He wants this book to serve as a wake-up call for Christians and non-Christians alike, urging readers to recognize the iceberg lurking beneath the waters of American Christianity.
But politics and faith aside, all of us must aim to stop dehumanizing others, even if they are dehumanizing us. We can watch what we say, treat others respectfully, and avoid categorizing individuals as demonic or evil or even dumb, based on who they vote for or whether they do or do not worship a deity.
“As we saw on January 6, this rhetoric of spiritual violence stokes real-world violence. You can only proclaim that a group of people or a political party is filled with demons for so long before someone decides that those demonic vessels must actually be physically attacked.”
Final Thoughts
If you’re like me and want to safeguard the future of democracy and each other, The Violent Take It by Force is a book to challenge you. It’s not an easy read—it took me a couple of months to get through it—but it is an important one. We each are responsible for where we go from here. Let’s rise to the challenge in humane ways.
Be an ethical and peaceful person. Keep an open mind, a compassionate heart, and extend helping hands toward your neighbors.
And please, don’t let your beliefs make you violent.
Share your thoughts in the comments.
My thanks to NetGalley for
the review copy of this book
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As Christians, we should never even entertain the idea of being violent against anyone who doesn’t see the world the way we do. It is just plain wrong. May we, instead, remember the Jesus came for all of us and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Blessings, Lisa!
I so appreciate your perspective, Martha. I think that the majority of people still feel this way, too, that violence is wrong. May it continue to be so. Hope you have a great weekend!
Lisa, this sounds like a timely read. As you know, I own forty-million books, but I’ll see if the library carries it. I’ve been composing our Christmas newsletter, and it’s taken a really different turn. I’ve never written anything like this and am calling it the “every tribes and nation edition.” I don’t blog, as you know, and I’ve found reasoning on FB to be fruitless, meaning it ends it arguments. That is not fitting for Christians, and while I have my opinions and it’s really been an exercise in self-control to keep my mouth shut, I feel badly not using my writing gifts (I say that not arrogantly, but understanding how whatever I do comes from God),… not using that gift to glorify Him by writing truth. So I will be writing about how it is wrong ever to dehumanize others. It is frankly unChristian and unbiblical. Thank you for all you do to help us see and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers and not warmongers. The violent insurrection on J6 was wrong by every stretch of the imagination, and that Christians (at least that is what many call themselves) were involved and some violent is unconscionable. And they say they believe in the rule of law; so if they are in jail, then that is where the law landed them and were they belong till they serve their sentences. Alas, I AM pontificating, aren’t I?! Thank you for the book recommendation and for all you do.
xo
Lynn
I love hearing what you’re thinking, Lynn. Thank you for sharing your words in all the places you do. I love reading them wherever I can find them. 🙂 This has definitely been a difficult time to understand. Maybe one day it will make sense to us. I thought about you often when I was reading this book. It was a little different from some of the other books I’ve read about our country’s divisions; this one focuses a lot on the history of key spiritual leaders that might have played a direct and/or indirect role in J6. I could probably reread it again next week and be surprised at how much I missed on the first go-round.
I know violence is wrong, but I have been in states myself where I was overwhelmed by anger and fear and I lashed out, even against my loved ones. I knew I had to do something about it – it took a long time and much help from many sources, but I did get better. And I was able to apologize and rebuild relationships with some people, but not everyone. Those unhealed wounds remain a deep source of regret.
I can only imagine that some people feel they have nowhere else to turn other than to violent action. It isn’t true, but those are the wiles of the Deceiver keeping them from knowing the voice of the true Shepherd. I don’t know what to do other than to keep following him. I hope he will show us a way to reach even the violent, who are desperate for the very love that they are denying and pushing away.
I think we all have had times where we’ve felt like you mention, Lory. Anger is definitely an emotion that we all are familiar with. How we respond in those moments may be as much a factor of circumstances and opportunities as opposed to how much willpower or self-discipline we have. It should be a caution to us to not judge others too quickly.
I don’t have the answers for solving the deep angst that people feel regarding some of the political and religious shifts in the world. I can just try to keep my eyes and ears open to others’ stories, and stay aware of my own thoughts and experiences. Thanks for sharing your wisdom here today.