{"id":193778,"date":"2022-12-29T07:28:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T12:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=193778"},"modified":"2022-12-28T07:15:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T12:15:00","slug":"professors-challenge-christian-right-to-live-out-their-faith-with-humility-and-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/12\/professors-challenge-christian-right-to-live-out-their-faith-with-humility-and-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"Professors Challenge Christian Right to Live Out Their Faith with Humility and Compassion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Christmas season and turning of a calendar year might be a natural time for some to reflect on their faith and how it integrates with life, but Earl MacDonald<\/a> says he believes there are many like him who started the process years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think we\u2019re in a period of transition, hopefully in the country, but absolutely in Christian circles,\u201d MacDonald says. \u201cChurch attendance is declining, and I think many are starting to ask questions. People are diving deeper into their faith and asking questions they suppressed or were discouraged from asking all their lives. In that sense, I\u2019m hopeful. But I do think change is going to take some time and require more people to speak out and leave the institution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Headshot
Earl MacDonald (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MacDonald, UConn music<\/a> professor and director of jazz studies<\/a> who was named Jazz Artist of the Year during last month\u2019s 42nd Covenant Awards<\/a>, describes himself as an \u201cex-vangelical\u201d who grew up in the evangelical church but since has separated because of what he describes as political hijacking of the cross by Republicans who claim they represent Christian virtues but act to the contrary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019ve abandoned my faith, I have not. But I will not be associated with those denominations and that party,\u201d he says. \u201cThe callous act of chartering busloads of migrants north to send a political message should be cause enough for Christians to reconsider their party affiliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

His latest album, \u201cConsecrated,\u201d<\/a> released in September 2021, features 10 hymns reimagined in his signature jazz style, including \u201cBy Our Love,\u201d a reworking of the hymn \u201cThey Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love\u201d and MacDonald\u2019s effort to challenge the Christian right.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a song he was commissioned to write, but later revised after that first audience\u2019s reception included only polite applause \u2013 \u201cI wanted people to be offended by it and go home thinking. I did not accomplish that goal in any way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The next iteration added a visual component, one meant to stir listeners-turned-viewers to challenge, reflect, and consider their part in the politicization of religion.<\/p>\n

MacDonald enlisted UConn illustration<\/a> professor Cora Lynn Deibler<\/a> and together they engaged the help of students and Greenhouse Studios<\/a> to release a musical animation that shows circling schools of fish sometimes baring their teeth at one other \u2013 a metaphor for groups of people and a nod to the Greek ichthys, the symbolic Christian fish.<\/p>\n

The hymn\u2019s titular lyrics, \u201cThey will know we are Christians by our love,\u201d float across the screen.<\/p>\n

Micah 6:8 scrolls: \u201cWhat does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then follows Leviticus 19:33: \u201cWhen a foreigner resides among you in your land do not mistreat them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me,\u201d Matthew 25:42-43 notes.<\/p>\n

Deibler was raised Lutheran and says faith and the principles of love, compassion, and unity are part of her life today, even as she\u2019s turned off by white Christian nationalists and fundamentalists and their influence on the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sad that fundamentalists have taken over Christianity and made religion a bad thing,\u201d Deibler says. \u201cChristian fundamentalism is misguided and hurtful and dangerous. Fundamentalists in any major world religion make trouble, and I\u2019m disappointed they\u2019ve stolen the good things that faith practices can bring to societies.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacDonald is equally as upset: \u201cThe blinders were taken off during the 2016 election when I saw the church\u2019s alignment with the Republican Party and its harsh humanitarian policies across the board, whether it is their stance on immigration, whether it is the marginalization of LGBTQ folks, whether it is not supporting commonsense gun reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy Our Love\u201d<\/a> has been screened publicly a handful of times since its release in January 2021, including as part of the Dodd Human Rights Impact Encounters Series<\/a> that year and MacDonald\u2019s CD release performance at a church in Glastonbury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt got a standing ovation, people loved it,\u201d MacDonald says of that release with a sentiment of \u201cfinally\u201d in his voice.<\/p>\n

Since then, the project has drawn few views on YouTube<\/a> and its website<\/a>, concerning MacDonald and Deibler that it might be forgotten \u2013 especially as fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection continues and another presidential campaign gets way.<\/p>\n

During the fall campaign season, Deibler says she noticed one candidate\u2019s signage that used a Biblical verse about freedom that was taken out of context and twisted into political text. This is precisely why the questions raised by the project are even more relevant now than in previous years, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were white Christian nationalist candidates across the country who embody the things we are critiquing in the video,\u201d Deibler says. \u201cThose signs didn\u2019t encourage my vote. They said to me of those who posted them, \u2018I\u2019m bigoted, I\u2019m misogynistic, I\u2019m xenophobic, I\u2019m homophobic, and I\u2019m OK with that.\u2019 And a shockingly large number of people are ready to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they continue to promote \u201cBy Our Love\u201d in the face of an increasingly polarized society that is celebrating Christmas this month, MacDonald and Deibler point to the verses they chose for their project as something to consider this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn doing this project, we started with a lot of Bible passages that we felt reflected certain themes of caring for the Earth, caring for each other, welcoming the stranger, things we thought were important pillars of Christianity, guideposts of the way you should be and how you should treat others,\u201d Deibler says. \u201cWe had many verses that we pared down to just a handful that we featured in the animation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t think those passages were necessarily cherry-picked verses. Those are overriding themes throughout the Scriptures,\u201d MacDonald notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time of year, how about you really read them,\u201d Deibler suggests. \u201cHow about trying to live like that? I don\u2019t think you have to be religious to see the good in those passages. I think the good in those passages is obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘People are diving deeper into their faith and asking questions they suppressed or were discouraged from asking all their lives’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":193653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1711,1914,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2368],"class_list":["post-193778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-sfa","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 14:55:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193778"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193867,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193778\/revisions\/193867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/193653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193778"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=193778"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=193778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}