Tripp Fuller’s perspective on “MAGA and the Post-Christian America”
Tripp Fuller’s recent essay, “MAGA and the Post-Christian America,” raises questions that are deeply relevant to the work of Theology & Peace: What happens when Christianity becomes entangled with domination? How do we recognize the difference between the Way of the Cross and the way of coercive power? And what does faithful peacemaking require in a time when fear, rivalry, and scapegoating so often shape our public life?
Fuller’s reflection isn’t just about one political movement. At its heart, it’s a philosophical meditation on the power employed by empire and the vulnerability modeled by the crucified Christ. Fuller asks us to consider whether some forms of “Christian” public witness have quietly traded the scandal of the cross for the security of strength — and what that trade costs the church, the vulnerable, and the integrity of the gospel.
For those of us working with René Girard’s mimetic theory, these questions are especially urgent. Girard helps us see how easily the name of Jesus can be co-opted to sanctify violence. But the gospel calls us to a different way: a peace built not on exclusion, but on mercy, truth, and the refusal to create victims.
We offer this essay as an invitation to reflection. Read it slowly. Notice where it challenges you. Notice where it clarifies something you may already have sensed. Most of all, consider what it might mean to practice a peace that remains faithful to the crucified and risen Christ despite the violence of the world.
