The Real Dangles

There is something deeply unsettling happening inside parts of American Christianity. And if we are honest, it did not start with Donald Trump. But it has become impossible to ignore in the Trump era. A recent piece in The Atlantic from Peter Wehner, a former speechwriter for the administrations of three Republican U.S. presidents, captures this tension well. It argues that for many believers, politics is no longer shaped by faith. Increasingly, it is replacing it. Christianity was never meant to be about power. It was meant to be about transformation. Jesus did not call His followers to win culture wars. He called them to carry a cross. He did not say, “Defeat your enemies.” He said, “Love your enemies.” He did not say, “Protect your tribe at all costs.” He said, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it.” And yet, what we increasingly see in some corners of modern Christianity looks very different. We see anger reframed as righteousness. We see cruelty justified as strength. We see loyalty to political figures elevated to something dangerously close to devotion. What we are witnessing is a substitution of faith with politics, transformation with power. When faith becomes shallow, something else fills the vacuum. And politics is very good at doing that. Politics offers identity. It offers purpose. It offers belonging. It offers a clear line between “us” and “them.” In many ways, it offers everything religion offers — except transformation. And that is the danger. Because when politics becomes a substitute for faith, it does not make people more Christ-like. It makes them more tribal. It teaches them to win, not to love. To dominate, not to serve. To justify, not to repent. And over time, something subtle but profound happens: Jesus is no longer the center. He becomes a symbol — used to defend something else. To be clear, this is not about left vs right. It is not about whether Christians should engage in politics. They should. But engagement is not the same as surrender. Christians are called to influence the world. Not be conformed by it. And when the language, tone, and spirit of politics begin to override the teachings of Christ, something has gone wrong. Deeply wrong. But here is the hopeful part. This is not the end of the story. Throughout history, Christianity has gone through seasons where it drifted toward power, toward institutions, toward political alignment. And each time, renewal came. Not through louder politics. But through deeper faith. Through people who returned to the core: humility, repentance, sacrifice, love. That path is still open. And maybe that is the real question for all of us: Are we following Jesus… or are we using His name to follow something else? Because those two paths may look similar at first. But they lead to very different destinations.