How democracy survives through standing together

Lessons from Bishop Budde’s sermon on mercy

Since the November election, countless friends have asked me: “Who is going to really stand up to President Trump?”

National security officials stepped down. Members of the media sought to accommodate him. Businesses and tech companies sought to toe the president’s line on diversity initiatives, and billionaires literally lined up behind the president at his inauguration.

Who will stand up?

“I think it’s going to be the nuns,” I told them.

I was in the right ballpark — or, rather, Cathedral.

During an interfaith prayer vigil at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday morning, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde delivered a homily on unity and mercy.

Toward the end of the sermon, she spoke directly to the president:

Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives…

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.

It was immediately clear that Bishop Budde had created a moment at the National Cathedral. Her words became headline news and were trending on social media platforms as her sermon fed a hunger that so many people had been feeling for someone, anyone in a position of power to speak out.

What happened next is what quashing dissent looks like

Backlash from the president and his supporters was swift. President Trump said: “She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”

He referred to her as a “so-called Bishop” on social media and demanded that she apologize to the public.

As Jack Jenkins reported in Religion News Service, Representative Mike Collins suggested that Budde should be deported. Rev. Franklin Graham called her a “socialist activist” and suggested she should not have even been in the Cathedral for the prayer service. Representative Josh Brecheen has even introduced a resolution in the U.S. Congress to condemn Bishop Budde.

For her part, Bishop Budde has been focused on moving on and going about her business. The rest of us, though, should take a moment to reflect — and to express our support.

Quashing dissent is one of the central tactics of the Authoritarian Playbook. By demanding an apology — and even calling her ordination into question — the president is trying to send a message not only to Budde but to potential detractors well beyond her pulpit: Criticize me, and you’ll be sorry.

Read more: Authoritarianism, explained

This tactic is nothing new. For instance, during the first Trump Administration, the Department of Homeland Security violated the religious freedom of Pastor Kaji Douša by targeting and retaliating against her for her ministry with migrants. And multiple recent actions point toward the weaponization of the federal government against citizens perceived as disloyal.

The only way to defeat “anticipatory obedience” is to stand up together

The pattern of threats makes it even more important that Americans of all beliefs and ideologies stand up to defend Bishop Budde. Those of us who have theological or political disagreements with Bishop Budde (as I do!) have a particular obligation to speak out to defend her right to speak from her conscience in the Cathedral she oversees — and to do so free from harassment or intimidation.

Fortunately, there are plenty of examples of Americans coming to her defense. Over 40,000 people of faith (and counting) have signed a petition thanking her for her words. Episcopal denominational leaders expressed their support for her.

In the days since the prayer service, additional leaders have spoken out on similar issues to Bishop Budde. The heads of multiple national Catholic institutions (including those nuns, after all) released a statement that said Trump’s immigration executive order “strikes fear into the heart of our community, cynically layering a blanket of anxiety on families when they are worshiping God, seeking healthcare, and dropping off and picking up children at school.”

Houses of worship from various faith traditions are preparing to provide sanctuary to migrants.

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“Anticipatory obedience,” the instinct to obey in advance, is a dangerous cycle — one that has unfortunately come to define leaders across many sectors of our society at this moment.

But as Shanna Singh Hughey writes, there are ways that we can avoid this cycle — including speaking out and building a broad network of support.

Ultimately, the sermon at the Cathedral was not about Bishop Budde; those who put the focus on her do so in an effort to distract from the point, which was mercy for vulnerable people. Bishop Budde provided — for all of us — the first step in avoiding a dangerous cycle in which we willingly yield power to authoritarian behavior.

As the president has moved beyond rhetoric about immigration and has shifted into taking illegal actions, it is up to all of us to follow Bishop Budde’s lead in calling for mercy — and a unity that is indeed based in human dignity. And we must continue the work of building as broad a coalition as possible to speak out on behalf of vulnerable people.

In one of the lesser-noticed lines of Bishop Budde’s homily, she said: “For unity at times is sacrificial in the way that love is sacrificial — a giving of ourselves for the sake of another.”

The unity that our democracy requires right now is simple — as broad a coalition as possible, committing itself not only to defending Bishop Budde today but to defending others who have the courage to speak up in the future.

Our democracy’s survival will require sacrifice. We must be willing to do so with mercy, selflessness, and love.