Let Go and Let God

Let go and let god car sticker.

I used to see that phrase on a bumper sticker most days. It was on a truck parked on a street on my old run route. It’s Christian hakuna matata: don’t worry about it. Curious young minds in my CCD classes asked over and over again how we know god is real, how we can know god’s plan for us, how we can know the Bible is true, how can we believe without knowing. We spent our days in school learning about scientific experiments, facts, history, math, reality, and how to uncover the truth. Twice a week we’re expected to forget all that and just believe for no other reason than a book says to believe the impossible. The adults always told us that our puny human brains couldn’t possibly understand god’s plan and to just trust that he knows what he’s doing even when it seems like things couldn’t get worse. God is a mystery. Just believe.*

(*You can’t just slap a “believe” poster on a wall and manifest your way to victory. It worked on Ted Lasso because they tried. They thought that maybe victory was possible, and knew that if it was, it only was with teamwork and a shit ton of effort. You do need to believe that change is possible to work towards it (the influencers call this *manifesting*. If you think nothing can ever change no matter how hard you try or what you do, you’re less likely to try in the first place. There are powerful and well-coordinated people in government trying to make sure we don’t believe that change is possible so we’ll stop trying.)

I understand the appeal. When you believe that a higher power has everything all planned out since before you were born, knows exactly what’s going on at all times, and that everything that happens really does happen for a pre-determined reason and exactly as it’s supposed to, even if you don’t understand it, you don’t need to try. Trying is hard. You might try and fail and failure is bad. Instead, simply trust that this is the way it’s supposed to be!

On a small scale, it’s probably fine. Not everyone is a great thinker. Lots of otherwise decent people need a religious crutch to get through their days. It’s when you pair the “let go and let god” mentality with structural inequity that it becomes a massive problem. Because if things are they way they are for a divine and unknowable reason, then the way things are is the way things should be and we shouldn’t try to change them.

Gender pay gap? Women have children and spend fewer years in the workforce. Why shouldn’t the men get paid more to support their families?

Racial pay gap? Non-white people attend college at lower rates than white people. Why shouldn’t people with college degrees get paid more?

These extremely simple arguments allow people to stop thinking any harder about it. On the surface it makes sense and these are such big problems to solve, so maybe they aren’t problems at all.

Does god favor the United States? Does god favor white skin? Does god favor traditional gender roles? Yes, yes and yes, according to Christians, and not just historically. They will tell you that these aren’t racist or sexist beliefs, it’s just the way things are, the way things are intended to be. Which, funnily enough, sounds a lot to me like understanding god’s mysterious plan.

The root of this probably isn’t overt malice, at least not on an individual scale (though it one hundred percent is on the governmental scale). There’s probably loads of plain apathy mixed with selfishness and a lot of ignorance. If white, straight Christians have it pretty good, they aren’t exactly motivated to make things worse for themselves. And since we have a tendency to believe that making something better for one group means that it will be worse for another, if we’re the beneficiaries we’d like to stay that way. And if someone tells you that being the beneficiary is god’s plan? Well, who am I to refute that.

However, this falls apart when you read the Bible. Most Christians haven’t read it, at least not in its entirety. Or even all of the New Testament. (I was shocked to learn a few years ago that my most devoutly Christian friend hadn’t even read it all. I’ve done it twice, it’s not even that long a book.) If you just read the words Jesus said you’d have a hard time pairing modern Christianity with this person. But most don’t do this, they only listen to priests or pastors or influencers interpret the message. As if priests and pastors and influencers don’t pick and choose which parts of the Bible to preach, or don’t want to change the status quo, or don’t see racism and sexism in the world.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair

This more or less explains why white Christians are so reluctant to do the radical work that Jesus preached. Things are good for them. They don’t want to rock the boat lest they end up like the other racial groups who experience the structural inequality that white people “oh no” about but don’t dismantle. Loads of white Christians follow the prosperity gospel. Look at these riches — god must have smiled upon them! It is the way it is because it’s the way it’s supposed to be. Forget about the camel and the eye of the needle.

Women who believe in traditional values, even at their own expense and the expense of their daughters, kind of make sense in a way. Many of these women are raised with these values so it’s not a leap to adopt them in adulthood. Existing in this world and providing for yourself is hard enough as it is, letting a man do all that hard stuff and contribute by having sex and having kids is simple. And if this is the way it’s supposed to be anyway, especially if you want kids anyway, it’s a lot easier than doing all things. Except that religious folk love to talk about the gift that motherhood is while making it harder and harder to be one.

I have a harder time understanding non-white Christians. God is apparently not smiling upon them, yet their devotion is arguably stronger. Christians used to believe that dark skin was the mark of the devil, which justified slavery. People were torn from their homes and sold into slavery and then adopted the religion of their captors. Generations later, they strongly and genuinely believe. They also don’t want to rock the boat but for different reasons. Many still think that being polite and friendly and submissive and unthreatening will be good enough to spare their lives or earn them the same rights their white counterparts enjoy. Except that it’s been a century and that still hasn’t happened.

Anyone can use religion to justify anything. Because god’s plan is so unknowable. Influential people can claim god is on their side and millions will believe it. The most glaring recent example is JD Vance telling the fucking Pope to stay in his lane. Which is being the leader of all Catholicism, of nearly 1.3 billion Catholic souls (almost half of all Christians), and an international spiritual leader. The Pope, as you’d expect, is not a fan of the administration claiming religion in the war on Iran and said so. He called for peace. He said that plans to wipe out an entire civilization were abhorrent. Vance (who calls himself Catholic) said sftu, this doesn’t concern you. And honestly, that he and his team didn’t respond with more bite showed impressive restraint (or, just as likely, that they’re playing political games).

Regular people aren’t immune to this. The real work that Jesus did, and preached, is fucking hard. Our whole society looks down on this work so much that the prosperity gospel is thriving. Rich people are good! They must be. Billionaires donate money! And we’d all rather have riches than live in poverty so much that most Americans are more likely to believe they’re closer to making it than the reality, which is one medical emergency or lost job away from the streets. So Christians divorce themselves from the reality of who Jesus was and the political time he existed in by listening to their favorite interpreter and not reading the Good Book themselves, refusing to see parallels, and choosing to believe in a white destiny and that the US is a chosen land and people, as long as you’re white and Christian. Jesus was radical. He was threatening to the status quo. He was killed by political leaders following the law, and would certainly be killed again if he were in the US today.