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Inauguration prayers, Bishop Budde, Bill Maher, and the future of the mainline church

Mainline Christianity’s role in politics is shifting — can we be a prophetic voice of compassion and critique rather than a court prophet to power, asks Chris Currie?

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde leads a prayer service attended by President Donald Trump at the Washington National Cathedral, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

On the morning of January 20, I found myself watching the inauguration and paying close attention to the assembled clergy’s prayers. I also noted the absence of mainline religious representation. No Methodists, no Lutherans, no Presbyterians (despite President Trump being baptized as a child at First Presbyterian Church in Queens and his parents being married at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church), no Baptists (maybe a ½ point to Franklin Graham), and no Episcopalians (though we’d hear from one the next day). Besides the prayer by Cardinal Dolan, whose words were gracious to the incoming and outgoing administrations, the inauguration’s litanies were unashamedly partisan, equating God’s blessing with President Trump’s election.

Do not misunderstand. I am aware this is not the first time religious figures have projected messianic expectations on the president of the United States. Bob Jones III said as much about the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. I also heard a share of my Presbyterian colleagues make similar claims about Barack Obama’s election in 2008.

As I listened to Franklin Graham describe the last four years as a time of darkness and then pivot to equate Trump’s inauguration as an act of God (the old trick of law first and then gospel), I reflected on our country’s founding. A lot of people died and fled to this country because of their steadfast refusal to accept the divine right of kings. Now we pretty much pray at every presidential inauguration as if it signaled a unique divine blessing and act like no other.

If offering religious cheerleading and prayers of blanket affirmation is what it looks like to be a court prophet, then maybe it is good that mainline Christianity is not riding shotgun to the seats of power for now.

If offering religious cheerleading and prayers of blanket affirmation is what it looks like to be a court prophet, then maybe it is good that mainline Christianity is not riding shotgun to the seats of power for now. Maybe proximity to power keeps us from noticing how flaccid and defanged it makes our Christian witness seem. Prayers without contrition or self-critical humility domesticate and diminish the Christian witness more lethally than the limits of our strengths ever could.

The US Capitol Building, decorated in preparation for the inauguration of President Obama.
The US Capitol Building decorated in preparation for the inauguration of President Obama. Photo by carterdayne.

Thankfully, on Tuesday, January 21, the president did have to endure a humble plea for compassion and mercy from Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde. She appealed directly to the president on behalf of the vulnerable and the scared, specifically mentioning people in this country who may not have documented immigration status and LGBTQIA+ persons who fear the legal rollback of their status and rights.

Interestingly, she did not plead for policy change or lobby for her own position. She just asked the president to act with compassion and mercy, seeing the dignity of those whose lives would be most affected. She reminded the president and the gathered community that the God we worship cares about all lives, including (if not especially) those who live on the margins.

For her pains, Bishop Budde has been trashed by MAGA followers as a radical leftist, a stupid person and a spewer of hate. Yet I have yet to encounter someone who has actually denounced the content of her plea for compassion and mercy. She has been called names and decried and condemned, but no one has exegeted the actual content of her plea. Perhaps Bishop Budde has offered us a glimpse of a path forward for the mainline Christian witness in this season. She did not lecture; she did not condescend; she did not finger wag. She pled for compassion.

Perhaps Bishop Budde has offered us a glimpse of a path forward for the mainline Christian witness in this season. She did not lecture; she did not condescend; she did not finger wag. She pled for compassion.

In his encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio, 39, Pope John Paul II, writes that “the Church addresses people with full respect for their freedom. Her mission does not restrict freedom but rather promotes it. The Church proposes; she imposes nothing. She respects individuals and cultures, and she honors the sanctuary of conscience.” The church proposes, the church invites, the church pleas, the church prays, the church hopes.

Reflection on these inauguration prayers and pleas and confrontations have tumbled together in a way that compels me to conclude that mainline churches are at a crossroads. But maybe this season is a liberating gift rather than a lament. So what does that mean for us?

Maybe our future is prophetic compassion and humility, like that exhibited by Bishop Budde — not just to the Donald Trumps of this world but also in the face of progressive purists. Perhaps we have the opportunity and stand in a tradition that has been at its best when it is critiquing all ideologies and powers in relation to the gospel. Court prophets don’t behave like this. They shill for only one party or ideology.

Maybe our future is prophetic compassion and humility, like that exhibited by Bishop Budde — not just to the Donald Trumps of this world but also in the face of progressive purists.

Liberated from the constraints of a preferred ideology, we can prophetically critique all who hold power. In the words of the satirist Bill Maher, “I don’t hold my tongue no matter who is in power or which side you are on.” I hope Bishop Budde would be just as ‘prophetic’ in an alternate universe and not simply project an inverse Franklin Graham if she had been preaching to Kamala Harris, but one can only speculate.

Biblical scholar Ellen Davis writes in Critical Traditioning that “a tradition earns its authority through long rumination on the past. A living tradition is a potentially courageous form of shared consciousness, because a tradition, in contrast to an ideology, preserves (in some form) our mistakes and atrocities, as well as our insights and moral victories.” Unfortunately, the seductive nature of political power can take our living tradition and turn it into an ideology on the right that only celebrates America’s victories. At the very same time, power in the hands of the progressive left risks turning our living tradition into an ideology that only sees our failures.

“A living tradition is a potentially courageous form of shared consciousness, because a tradition, in contrast to an ideology, preserves (in some form) our mistakes and atrocities, as well as our insights and moral victories.” — Ellen Davis

I admit I am writing as one member of a denomination on the progressive left where many can see no possible dangers as grave as the MAGA movement. But I have witnessed several cases in PC(USA) online forums, where those who asked questions or disagreed with some of our denomination’s reigning orthodoxies were denounced and depicted as people denying the full humanity of their fellow siblings in Christ. They were called names; told that their views were unacceptable; canceled. One colleague continues to be banned from an online forum with over 5,000 other members. This is purity cult behavior that would make MAGA sit up and take notes. Bishop Budde was called a radical leftist and a spewer of hate for her citation of the gospel, but we liberal Protestants mirror our own little purity cult when unchecked.

The church has an opportunity to be a prophetic critic of all who are in power while also clinging to the gospel, which establishes our true humanity even as it reveals our deepest flaws. I believe the mainline churches are well suited for this vocation.  At our best, our traditions have sought to love our country while maintaining some sense of independence and ideological critique. Most of our churches are purple churches, a mix of sinful people of various hues.

Bishop Budde was called a radical leftist and a spewer of hate for her citation of the gospel, but we liberal Protestants mirror our own little purity cult when unchecked.

Bill Maher. Photograph by Courtesy of HBO

So I wonder if this moment liberates the mainline church. Maybe we are called to be a church that is prophetically critical of all purity cults, in our own denomination and wherever we encounter them, in a way that holds grace and justice together. Bill Maher is not fond of religion, but I think we as a church have a lot to learn from his political satire which is willing to criticize all ideologies and resist a virtue signaling that sets our side up as a purity cult and those outside as heretics.

Maher also held a stand-up performance in Chicago in early 2025 and intentionally made sure that his audience was made up of people of diverse ideologies and political commitments. Since 2014, I have participated with 14 colleagues in our denomination in a gathering representing various ideologies and spectrums across our denomination’s struggle over contested issues. We do not share the same theological, biblical, and social interpretations. We continue to pray together, care for each other, and study together. We have not changed each other’s minds. But we are all committed to the unity and broadness of the church’s common witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in our world. More such intentional and ecclesial gatherings may be required at this time.

I wonder if this moment liberates the mainline church.

At its best, the church has been liberated to speak with humility and compassion, not intellectual or moral superiority. Christ’s church has always included followers of Jesus with differing views who believe it is possible for people of goodwill to disagree and still be church together. We have the unique opportunity in this time to create spaces where many voices are heard and are treated with respect and dignity, not contempt and venom. These spaces and conversations are not a given in this current climate, but now is the time to help make them happen.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, the beloved community, and the kingdom of God are much more inclusive, affirming and radical than generic calls for justice and boilerplate advocacy. In this season, may we once again discover the gift of being the church today. May we be gifted to offer our world – even our enemies, political and otherwise – a foretaste of the radical hospitality and inclusion of Jesus Christ that makes room for all the wrong people. Even us.

The Presbyterian Outlook is committed to fostering faithful conversations by publishing a diversity of voices. The opinions expressed are the author’s and may or may not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the Outlook’s editorial staff or the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation. With every submission, we consider clarity, accuracy and respect. We also consider if the position adds additional perspectives to the discussion. You join the conversation here

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