Keynoter: Bible is a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny

The Rev. Jennifer Butler did not mince words during her keynote address to the 35^th General Synod of the United Church of Christ, saying “these are terrifying times.”

But she also delivered a message of hope, declaring that the Bible is a “handbook for resisting tyranny.”

Butler, who founded the organization Faith in Public Life and is author of “Who Stole My Bible,” invited Synod delegates to go Into The Deep in a sacred journey through Scripture.

“I want us to know we are not alone,” she said. “We are walking with spiritual ancestors: people of the book, and people who came after them.”

Butler said she has always admired the United Church of Christ’s God Is Still Speaking catchphrase.

“I’ve talked to many a person who has returned to church because of your banners,” she said. “But the truth is that today, though God is still speaking, too many Christians are refusing to listen.”

Butler called out the current “dangerous Christian nationalist ideology,” and said there is a radical charismatic network of leaders “spreading a doctrine of white Christian dominion over every area of society: religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business.”

“Christian nationalism is an oxymoron,” she said, quoting UCC General Minister and President/CEO Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson’s address from the previous evening. “But it is not new, and it has been dangerous in its every iteration.”

“This is the ideology that justified genocide against indigenous people under the Vatican’s Doctrine of Discovery. It justified slave trade in the name of Jesus Christ. It burned crosses on lawns and unleashed terror to enforce segregation,” she said. “And today it is duping people into accepting ever more violent and authoritarian policies with twisted versions of Christian theology.”

She pointed to the February cover of Time Magazine, which said: “it is the nature of kings and conquerors to offer belonging and purpose in exchange for obedience. And it is in the nature of people to believe them.”

“Today, democracies rarely fall to military coups. They crumble slowly, eroded from within by autocrats who skillfully rally public support while dismantling democratic norms,” she said, adding that a recent survey of 500 political scientists found that the U.S. is rapidly moving toward authoritarianism.

“Christian nationalists have risen to the highest reaches of our government. They have proudly anointed their new king who sits in the Oval Office. They crafted Project 2025 as a blueprint for the U.S. – one that imposes their will on the rest of us by rolling back civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, deporting immigrant neighbors, funneling wealth to the top, vilifying DEI, censorship, and rewriting the rules of power so they can cling to power, all in the name of Jesus,” she said. “Christian nationalism is no longer fringe.”

Butler said Scripture warned us about this. She talked about the Israelites who were initially led by prophetic leaders, but who grew afraid, and asked for a king.

“God offered a sober warning. A king will take your sons. He will take your daughters, your land, your labor, until you yourselves become slaves. Six times that refrain repeats,” she said. “He will take.  We would do well to remember those words today.”

Butler said the current administration is literally taking food from the mouths of children, snatching parents form the streets, and working to dehumanize and breed fear of “the other.”

“Yes, this moment is dark and frightening. And it is also a summoning. We are being called to bear witness, called to reclaim faith as a force of good in public life,” she said.

Butler said the Bible is a “handbook for resisting tyranny,” and said “humanizing one another is a tool of resistance.”

As examples, she lifted up the actions of Pope Francis, who publicly reminded Vice President J.D. Vance of the story of the Good Samaritan, saying “Christian love does not stop at borders,” and Washington DC Bishop Mariann Budde, who spoke directly to President Trump at the National Cathedral, calling on him to show mercy.

“We Christians have a moral responsibility to reclaim our hijacked text as the liberative text it was meant to be,” she said.

Butler said that while the Christian right has tried to use the Book of Revelation as a horror story, it is actually a powerful guide to hope. It talks about the fall of Babylon, of empire.

“The lamb of God may look vulnerable and weak, but the lamb prevails because every act of justice, every refusal to bow, every choice to love rather than dominate is a sign that Babylon is falling,” she said.

“As Christians, we were made for this moment. We are not powerless. We can protect this world from the Pharaohs of our time,” she said. “This is our moment to reclaim faith, not as a weapon, but as a moral vision. Not to dominate, but to dignify. So, I ask you: do you know the power that you carry?”

“God is still speaking. Do you hear it?”

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