By Pam Bloom

Dear Neighbor,

Over a decade ago, a young white boy came into the elementary library where I worked and asked if I could stay after school and talk to him about “what it was like back in the day.” An avid reader, he had discovered the history of civil rights through novels and non-fiction books. He was appalled that Jim Crow laws had existed in our country and that some of his friends would have been treated differently from him. This fifth grader saw no sense in separate but equal and came looking for a personal account and an explanation of how this had ever happened. He wanted to know what I had done to right this wrong. I looked him in the eye and answered honestly. I grew up thinking this was normal and when I, as a child asked “Why?” I was told it was just the way things were done. Because when my dad was a child and asked why he and his best friend couldn’t go to school together my granny answered, “It’s just the way it is.” And after years and years of people being quiet and accepting and children believing what their parents told them, finally some brave people stood up for what was right and our country changed.

I recently traveled to Huntersville with friends to watch “God and Country,” a documentary about the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States. Like my former student, I was appalled to realize how intent Christian nationalism is to once again separate us as a people. How can a religious movement based upon the teachings of Jesus become a political movement based upon “othering” anyone who doesn’t buy into the “God and savior” story being sold to buy power and votes and rule our United States?

As we traveled home discussing what we had just heard from the mouths of these believers and speculating what makes someone cross that line from a devout Christian to Christian nationalism, it occurred to me that we might be having the same conversations that Germans had in the 1930s as nationalism rose and their democratic form of government ended. Because if Christian nationalism wins, democracy ends.

Imagining a future theocratic authoritarian form of government, one friend suggested this scenario — “We are white. We could hide in plain sight by keeping our mouths shut and maintaining a low profile.” “Yeah,” I replied, “as long as I stop writing letters to the paper.” It sounds flip, however we would lose the freedoms we expect as Americans if we lose the basic tenets of our constitution — “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” — The First Amendment

Sobering, to say the least, if we remain quiet and let it just happen. Somewhat reminiscent of my Christian parents and grandparents keeping their mouths shut and accepting that Jim Crowe was just the way it was. At this pivotal moment in our United States, will real Christians remain silent as their faith and their Jesus is being hijacked for political power? Or will this Christian nationalist movement end democracy and form a new government that defies our constitution?

“Dear Neighbor” authors are united in a belief that civility and passion can coexist. We believe curiosity and conversation make us a better community.