Week Three—Holding Faith in Divided Times: Wonderfully Made in God’s Own Image
What is the image of God?
This week’s discussion focused on Gen. 1:26-27, and the words: “So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” A verse that is central to much of this workshop.
We hear the term “image of God” a lot, but seldom stop to ask what it means. Turns out there are several theories:
1. a physical characteristic: the Bible speaks of the eye of God, the hand of God
2. some nonphysical characteristic: humanity’s unique intellect, moral reasoning or creativity
3. caretaking/dominion: because the passage contains the words “let them have dominion over... every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth” the image of God could be seen as humanity’s responsibility to be stewards of the earth.
4. through our gender: because "male and female" is emphasized in the text, some say you need both men and women together to be the image of God
5. something relational: the emphasis on men and women means more broadly that humans need intimate, vulnerable relationships. We need community.
The idea that the image of God has something to do with maleness and femaleness (#4) is found particularly in complementarian theology: the notion that men and women have different, divinely appointed roles. Men are designed to lead, women to follow. Departing from these divinely assigned roles is sinning. This is why we are seeing Christian nationalists promoting anti-trans laws and opposition to nonbinary folks. Complementarians will note that Adam was created first, and Eve later as his "helper.” But the Hebrew word for "helper" (kenegdo) used to describe Eve, is used more commonly in the Old Testament to describe God as the helper of the Hebrew people. So whatever Eve is, God is as well—the same sort of helper.
Complementarianism is a form of authoritarianism. People who favor authoritarian governments also tend to favor it in church structures, where the pastor is the authority; and in the home, where the husband is the boss. They tend to oppose LGBTQIA+ identities as a threat to this gender binary.
The other significant aspect of the image of God found in Gen.1 is “dominion,” which can be translated caretaker—like a gardener nurturing, or a shepherd caring for sheep and protecting them. But white Christian nationalists use dominion differently, suggesting that some people– Christians, possibly white Christians in particular– are to have dominion or authority over others. We’ll come back to this in week 5 when we look at the New Apostolic Reformation.
Project 2025
Most of our time was spent unpacking Project 2025. We drew on materials from a presentation by historian Heather Cox Richardson for the group Red, Wine, and Blue. The entire presentation can be downloaded from: https://redwine.blue/project2025/
Project 2025 Is a plan formed by The Heritage Foundation and 100 co-sponsors: politically powerful allies and supporters of Donald Trump. It is intended as a blueprint for a future administration, an extreme conservative and white Christian nationalist vision for the future of America. It is essentially a way to eliminate the checks and balances our government has in place so that they can successfully implement regressive policies without interference from Congress or federal agencies.
This is where things get a sticky so we remember our commitment to make this a safe place to wrestle with the content. We will not tell you how to vote, and will avoid as much as possible talking about particular candidates. But Project 2025 is a place where the overlap between the two gets messy.
Some ask for evidence that Trump endorses Project 2025. But that’s not the point. The point is: the Heritage Foundation and the authors of Project 2025 endorse Trump. They see him as key to achieving their goals. That is a real threat.
Project 2025 has four pillars:
1. Transition plans that would gut most of the agencies Americans rely on to keep our country functioning: the Dept. of Education, Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency, and an independent Department of Justice. The plan would reclassify tens of thousands of current, non-political government employees, eliminating their employment protections and making them easier to fire.
2. A private database of far-right loyalists who want to work for Trump. Their goal is 20,000 loyalists screened and ready to fill federal appointments throughout the government.
3. A “Presidential Administration Academy” to train future appointees how to use the government to advance their agenda.
4. A 900+ page “Mandate for Leadership” that creates an agenda for a new administration, completely reforming how much of our government operates.
Project 2025 Goals:
1. Take away reproductive rights with legislation that places “personhood” at fertilization, not implantation.
2. End programs that address climate change: rejects regulations that reduce environmental harm, reduce or eliminate the EPA.
3. End public education: eliminate teachers’ ability to organize, overhaul curriculum to align with their views, and eliminate the Dept. of Education. The plan would divert public money to private and religious schools and roll back student debt relief.
4. Persecute LGBTQ+ Americans: The plan demonizes and potentially criminalizes transgender people and prevents them serving in the military. Removes federal protections for all LGBTQ+ people, allowing them to be fired for their sexual or gender identity. The federal government would maintain a “biblically based” definition of marriage and family: heterosexual, two-parent families only.
5. Encourage racial discrimination: would ban efforts in the federal government to increase diversity, racial equity, and inclusion. Potentially fire government workers who have participated in DEI training and bans its use in the military. Ends the Fair Housing Act.
6. Mass deportation and reduce immigration: suspends applications for legal immigration and reduces visas. It would reduce protections for immigrants seeking asylum to escape human trafficking and domestic or gang violence. Rescinds DACA and dismantles Homeland Security.
7. Insert Christian Nationalist ideology into the mainstream: aims to center their version of Christian ideology in government and society and turn it into federal laws.
8. Give unchecked power to the President: shifts US away from democracy and towards authoritarianism by giving the President and his administration more power. Ends current norms and policies that keep the Dept. of Justice and FBI independent from the White House, which would affect how election-related federal offenses are investigated.
How Project 2025 is already beginning to be implemented:
1. Chevron USA v. NRDC: overturned a 1984 decision, giving SCOTUS greater ability to rewrite environmental protection regulations to favor corporations
2. Trump vs US: gave the president immunity for official acts committed while in office
3. on the state level: abortion bans; denying access to contraception and health care for transgender youth. bans on diversity, equality and inclusion training.
A more lighthearted take on this serious issue can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvQhTbCY4xc
Living in a Diverse Culture
One of the goals for this workshop is for us as Christians to examine what it means to live in a diverse, pluralistic community. In the book of Jeremiah, the people of Israel face a similar challenge, as they have been exiled to a foreign land: Babylon. A place with different food, a different culture and language—and that worships pagan gods.
Jeremiah speaks to these exiles in Jer. 29:4-6:
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
Jeremiah's radical, unexpected word to these exiles, far from home is: settle down. Plant a garden, marry, have children. Build a home—and a life. Become a part of the community
Note that the community Jeremiah is calling them to be a part of– Babylon– is their oppressors, the enemy. Yet God is asking them to look for the good– for the beauty even– in that place.
As Christians, as much as we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, we also cannot divorce ourselves from the earthly community in which we live. God calls us to pray for our neighbors. To seek the good of this community. Which can be a struggle. There is much that is wrong– broken– in the world, our nation, and our communities. But Jeremiah calls us to look for what is good, what is beautiful. To pray for our enemies.
So perhaps the most important part of this workshop is our commitment to pray for our neighbors.
Abortion as a wedge issue:
We spent some time looking at the history of how abortion became a defining wedge issue for evangelicals. We drew from a Politico article by Randall Balmer found here: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/
The issue of abortion is drawn from the same verse we are centered on this week: Gen. 1:26-27: that every human life is formed in the image of God. And yet, a question to consider: Is the best way to change behavior promoting authoritarian laws—or through non-coercive influence? Which is more like the example of Jesus?
We might further ask: What is “success” in being pro-life? Is “success” overturning Roe and outlawing abortion as has happened in several states? Or is success reducing the actual number of abortions—which has been more successful in liberal states which provide good health care, free contraception, and sex education in public schools. Reducing the reasons why women seek abortion with anti-poverty measures and protections against domestic violence
The False White Gospel ch 3:
As we circled back to ch. 3 of Wallis’ book, we explored how the image of God relates to voter suppression. Wallis draws from yet another Politico article from 2022 which described the strategy of white Christian nationalists to “recruit, train, challenge, and overturn elections with legions of antidemocratic activists... to allege ‘fake fraud,’ aim for voter decertification, and swing elections by making it harder for the votes of people of color to be cast and counted.” Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry write: “the more likely someone identifies with Christian nationalism, the more likely they are to agree with the statement ‘We make it too easy to vote.’”
Civil rights pioneer John Lewis said, “To suppress a vote on the basis of skin color is indeed a throwing away of the image of God.” Sen. (and Rev.) Raphael Warnock said regarding voting rights, “I believe that it is sacred because, at root, the vote is about your voice, and your voice is about your human dignity.”
The work that we are doing in this workshop is holy work, because we are endeavoring to amplify marginalized voices, and to respect and honor the image of God that is in every human being.
Creator God, help us to see. There are people we love, where the image of God is so present, so visible to us. And there are people that it is harder for us to see. But all are created, beloved by you. All show us something of who you are. And so we pray for our hearts to be open. We pray for our community and our nation. Help us to see the things that are beautiful, and to work for the flourishing of all your people. Amen.
Preparing for next week
This week we will read together ch. 4 of The False White Gospel: Lies That Demand our Loyalty. We will pray and meditate on John 8:32: you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Our opening question will be: Where do you get your news? What sources do you read/listen to regularly? We will also be challenged to remember the powerful question posed by Rev. Rebecca Stringer: What is one healing or peacemaking action you can take this week?