A Pastoral Letter to Donald Trump

If you are earnest about your desire to get to heaven, we would be glad to meet with you to talk about it.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till - a horrific act of violence that exposed the spiritual rot at the heart of Jim Crow authoritarianism and, because of the courage of Till’s mother, who demanded an open casket funeral, gave birth to a moral movement to save the soul of America. Which is why this is also the 62nd anniversary of the March on Washington. One lesson we take from this history as pastors is that too many pastors were silent for too long as power was abused by people who were spiritually sick. In the tradition of nonviolent work for the transformation of individuals and society that we learned from veterans of the civil rights movement, we are sharing this pastoral letter to Donald J. Trump. We invite you to join our prayers for him and for this nation, and we encourage anyone who may have opportunity to offer him spiritual counsel to share this invitation with him.

Dear Donald,

We are pastors, addressing you here not by your title in the office of President of the United States, but by the name you bear as a sacred child of God.

We saw in the news last week that you said you “want to try to get to heaven if possible,” but that you are hearing you are “really at the bottom of the totem pole.” We’ve been pastors long enough to know that fear isn’t a sustaining motivation for spiritual growth, but it does get some people started – especially older people who’ve carefully avoided addressing their own mortality. We all die, and before we meet our Maker, we each have the opportunity to receive the free gift of grace that makes all things new. We want you to know that gift today – both for your sake and the sake of the whole world that is subject to the consequences of your actions.

We are aware that some people do not pray for anything but the wrath of God to come down upon you. It is not a charitable prayer, but it is understandable. You have targeted people with words and policies that have made their lives a living hell. Immigrants worry if they will be separated from their families. People in nursing homes worry if they will be put out in the street. People without homes worry that their possessions will be confiscated and the liberty taken away. Former political allies live in fear that you will turn a mob against them with a social media post. You have consistently named the majority of Americans and the global community that opposes your policies as enemies.

Though we are among those you demonize because we disagree with you, we do not join those who pray for your demise. We cannot. We serve a God who calls us to pray for our enemies, and we have taken vows that compel us to offer pastoral care to all people – especially to those who are captive to the powers of sin, death, and the devil.

When we say our prayers each morning, we ask God to set you free.

The truth is hard to find for anyone in your position, but it is especially difficult when your political position depends on a lie. Where would you be without the lie that you have convinced so many Republicans to repeat about the 2020 election being “stolen”? Where would you be without the lie about a “criminal invasion” that you used to build your initial campaign – the same lie you repeat today as a justification to militarize cities that did not request your protection? Where would you be without the racist lie about President Obama’s birth certificate that got you involved in national politics in the first place?

Where would you be without the lies about “waste, fraud and abuse” that Republicans in Congress used to strip healthcare from millions of Americans and food from the mouth of the hungry? Where would you be without the lies about crime that you’ve used to fill cities with armed troops on American soil? Where would you be without the lies about voter fraud that you repeat to justify voter suppression?

Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” To come to the end of this earthly life without any hope of freedom is a terrifying prospect. Through the centuries it has compelled people to sell their possessions and give them to the poor, to make amends with people they have harmed over the course of their lives, to give up vices cold turkey and devote themselves to service. As we said, a genuine fear of the Lord can be the beginning of knowledge.

But the freedom you seek is not possible until you let go of your dependence on lies. The most basic lie any person can believe is the lie that says they do not need any help – that they and they alone can be the master of their fate. To trust God for the gifts of heaven’s grace is to trust that God is also right about how we should live: with justice toward all people, with compassion for those who are vulnerable, with forgiveness toward our enemies, with charity toward those in need.

At the heart of the Christian faith is a call to repentance, which literally means to "rethink" how we live in light of Jesus. We have heard you say that you have not asked God for forgiveness but that you try to live in a way that you do not have to ask for forgiveness. But Scripture is true when it says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Saying we are sorry that we have sinned and doing the hard work of repairing the harm we have done to others is fundamental to the faith. When Zacchaeus met Jesus and confessed that he had stolen from the people, he committed to pay back everyone he had wronged four times what he’d stolen from them.

Salvation is not a deal we make with God, but a gift of God’s grace to us even though we do not earn or deserve it. It doesn’t require anything from us, but to accept it does require repentance. Peter said, “Repent, and ye shall be saved.”

Repentance opens us up to empowering grace that changes us. Which is why the Bible says we demonstrate our salvation by love and compassion to the most vulnerable. Matthew 25 is clear that we will give account for our lives based on how we treated the homeless, the hungry, those in need of healthcare, immigrants and refugees, the starving children of Gaza and the Sudan.

This salvation is deeply personal, but it is never private. And it always has social ramifications. This is why Isaiah 10 declares woe to those who legislate evil and Matthew 23:23 warns those who neglect the weightier matters of the law – love, justice, and mercy.

Which is why we write to you, Donald. You cannot serve two masters. When a person recognizes that they are a child of God’s creation, they either serve their Creator or they don’t. And if they serve God, their Creator, they recognize that their actions have an impact on others.

Have you come to this recognition, Donald? We are reaching out because we care about you, and we care about all the people your actions are hurting. We know it doesn’t have to be this way. One day you will have to face God’s judgement. By Scripture and by grace, we are bound to care about you.

We are not reaching out because we believe we have any unique power to persuade you. We write because we serve a God who insists that no one is beyond redemption. We reach out because we believe in God’s power to break through and either change or stop anybody. We do not have a heaven or hell to put anyone in, but we know the way that leads to life, and we know that anyone who is serious about discipling themselves to this Way can experience transformation.

That road is not easy, but it is a gift. And if you are earnest about your desire to get to heaven, we would be glad to meet with you to talk about it. If repentance is true, then freedom can begin whenever you’re willing to embrace the truth. This is why St. Catherine said, “All the way to heaven is heaven because Jesus said, ‘I am the Way.’”

With continued prayers for you,

Bishop William J. Barber, II
Repairers of the Breach

Rev. Dr. Hanna Broome
North Carolina Council of Churches

Shane Claiborne
Red Letter Christians

Bishop Yvette Flunder
The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries

Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Hale
Ray of Hope Christian Church

Rev. CeCe Jones-Davis
Black Church PAC

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis
Middle Church

Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Rev. Dr. Alvin O. Jackson
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), retired

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III
Trinity United Church of Christ

Rev. Dr. Della Owens-Barber
St James Christian Church

Min. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church