Common Humanity

Can We Talk?

An Open Letter To My Conservative Christian Sisters and Brothers

It is commonly agreed that conservative Christian support has been one of the key reasons for President Trump's rise to power and remaining in power.

Can we talk? Literally. I'd like to meet with conservative Christians in your church and discuss this with you. I think your support for Donald Trump and all of the evil and madness that he is perpetuating on the world needs to end.

What will finally end his reign of selfishness and profound foolishness? A rise in the price of gasoline? I'd like to think that my conservative Christian friends could do more than that and think afresh about these issues and change their minds.

I am willing to travel within a reasonable distance to your church and participate in a public meeting of dialogue. I am based in New York City and I also spend time in Kansas. My focus would be the Middle East where I've worked and traveled regularly for the past 30 years. I'm a Mennonite Deacon and we Mennonites have often served as a bridge between the historic mainline Protestant denominations and the conservative Evangelicals and fundamentalists. I promise to be respectful and kind and gentle in my conversation with you. But I also promise to be fully honest: I think that the unquestioning conservative Christian support for Donald Trump is hurting the global Christian Church, hurting America, and hurting the world.

Can we talk? You can reach me at [email protected]. To see some of the sermons I've preached at my home Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship and Chelsea Community Church in New York City, visit Notes on the Journey: A Spiritual Journal at https://mellehman89.wixsite.com/mysite-2. For a look at the decades of Middle East peacemaking work I've done, visit CommonHumanity.org. And for a look at the tour I give at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City about Biblical artifacts in the museum, visit TheBibleAtTheMet.org.

Here's a photo of me visiting the Umayyad mosque in Damascus several years ago. I'm standing in front of a shrine which is said to contain the head of John the Baptist. Local Muslims in Damascus believe that when Jesus returns to earth, He will return to one of the mosque's minarets which is called the Jesus Minaret. And the other photo is me with Iraqi refugee artists, some of whom I've been very honored to work with for 20 years. The photo was taken at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Damascus about 20 years ago.

Can we talk?