Lessons for Muslims from "Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation" by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

 

Kristin Kobes Du Mez provides answers in Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation to those who wondered why the vast majority of self-identified Christian evangelicals supported the publicly vulgar & openly sinful Donald Trump for President of the United States in the 2016 election cycle. Historians like Du Mez and Kevin Kruse claim that the answer to this apparent dilemma lies in decades of United States history. While Kevin Kruse emphasized oligarchs' fear of organized labor and social welfare programs and communism, Du Mez emphasized the misogynistic, white supremacist messaging in support of overseas imperialism and domestic patriarchy. I encourage readers to benefit from both books. I encourage Muslim readers to ponder the following questions:

1. Is your hatred of human rights for gays and lesbians and fear of atheists worth allying with people who are on the wrong side of issues such as environmental protection, labor rights, decolonization & restoration of the rights of the First Peoples of this continent, ending mass black incarceration, quality public education, just immigration policies towards non-European migrants, etc? I'm trying to imagine a world in which I would ever share platforms with people who cheered the occupations of Afghanistan & Iraq and ignore the existence of Palestinians. Do you think we should be adding our names in support of people who want to place Left Behind books and movies in public schools and remove books on evolution, cosmology, geology and history?

2. Read Chapter 16, "Evangelical Mulligans," and then tell me that we should dismiss contemporary Muslim calls for gender equity. Study materials from the Hurma Project. Ask people who work in domestic violence shelters specializing in helping Muslim women and children. Already, we Muslims in North America have had high profile "leaders" exposed as physically and sexually abusive. Do you think that the YouTube preachers railing against "feminism" are any different from the Christians Du Mez discusses in this chapter? It is reported that Allah's Messenger said:

لَتَتَّبِعُنَّ سَنَنَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ شِبْرًا بِشِبْرٍ وَذِرَاعًا بِذِرَاعٍ حَتَّى لَوْ دَخَلُوا فِي جُحْرِ ضَبٍّ لاَتَّبَعْتُمُوهُمْ قُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ آلْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَى قَالَ فَمَنْ

You will tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that, if they had entered into the hole of a lizard, you would follow them. We said: Allah's Messenger, "Jews and Christians?" He said: Who else?

Why do you suppose that we Muslims will be immune to the harms that these Christian misogynists spread among their followers? Cease supporting patriarchal preachers. Push organizations claiming to represent Muslims to have independent women in positions of leadership. Don't settle for unequal facilities in places of worship. Don't sweep sexual "indiscretions" and physical, financial and emotional abuse under the rug, either from lay Muslims or "scholars." Make sure Muslim girls have the same educational, recreational and career opportunities as boys.