Jamin Bradley

During Trump’s first presidency, I experienced something in the American people that I had not experienced to that extent before: a strong denial of evidence and truth.

If Trump said something demonstrably untrue, I could cite the evidence to show why it was false. In a normal conversation, this would result in someone replying, “Oh, I didn’t know that,” or “That’s a fair point.” But instead, I would be told that I was listening to “fake news.” Now I’m also told that there’s something wrong with my mind and that I have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” That is, I have become “fake news” because my personhood is now considered, “deranged.”

We are no longer discussing studies, facts, and figures that have long fueled the enlightened West—we are now discussing something almost spiritual. We have moved into a realm where the only thing that is right is “what I feel is right.” And anything that contradicts my feelings is wrong, fake, or deranged.

This seems to be a dynamic that accompanies politics in its most extreme moments. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for example, experienced it while attempting to awaken his fellow Germans from their “feelings” in the time of Hitler’s rule. He describes this “sociological problem” in a short letter he wrote.

“Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed—in such moments the … person even becomes critical—and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental.”

He goes on later to say that when you’re talking to such a person, it “feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the … person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”

So what’s the solution to dealing with this dynamic? Well, if the condition almost seems like a spiritual one, then I think we need something equally spiritual to help liberate people from such a haze.

In Scripture, Jesus presented truth in an interesting way. First, he recognized from the outset that not everyone he spoke to would accept his words, and he learned to deal with that. Secondly, he declared the truth anyway, even if he knew it would fall on deaf or angry ears. And thirdly, he shared parables with his crowds. This was an veiled form of spiritual teaching that ultimately left the ball in the Holy Spirit’s court. Not everyone was ready to come out of their spiritual haze and hear the truth, but everyone could still hear the parable. For those who were ready for the truth, the Spirit would help them understand the parable. Others might have to wait until the Spirit felt they were ready for such revelation. These parables set facts and figures aside and aimed for the heart, soul, and mind of the person.

Let us not be surprised when we encounter this sociological/political dynamic. Maybe we can even empathize, as we have all chosen our feelings over truth before. Let us not lose our minds over the fact that facts don’t work in such conversations. May we instead listen to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit as he helps us craft a dynamic of spiritual liberation wherever it is needed.