Ep 91: The Resistance is Alive and Well w/Jesse Nickel

Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus

Episode Summary:

Today is June 14, 2025, a day that will live in infamy.

A sitting United States president is hosting a military-style parade in Washington D.C. that every crack-pot dictator from Adolf Hitler to Vladimir Putin would admire. Making matters worse, since re-gaining power in January, Trump’s regime has dismantled democracy, extended the power of the presidency, suspended habeas corpus, and unlawfully detained and deported thousands of immigrants. Trump’s manufactured chaos is designed to evoke a violent response. “Following the example of other authoritarians, Donald Trump wants us to burn cars. He wants us to throw rocks. He wants images of chaos — especially violence against police or National Guard troops — to flood the evening news,” writes In These Times. He wants blood in the streets. We can’t give it to him or he wins.

In response to Trump’s daily attack on democracy and his disgusting display of military might, a coalition of over 200 progressive organizations—including the ACLU, Indivisible, and the American Federation of Teachers—has organized a nationwide protest movement called “No Kings.” Millions of Americans are expected to turn out today at over 1,800 locations across the country, deliberately avoiding Washington, D.C., to emphasize grassroots, nonviolent resistance.

Speaking truth to power and resisting the principalities and rulers of this world is the faithful response to empire. As God’s people, resistance is in our DNA. According to pastor Robin Meyers in his book Spiritual Defiance, “Our Gospel was birthed in resistance to the brutal normalcy of the Roman Empire.” The more things change, the more they stay the same. Like the founder of our faith, we find ourselves living under the boot of an evil empire. How do we respond? What forms of resistance are available to us? Is violence ever justified?

Contrary to what many assume, nonviolent resistance isn’t meekness in the face of evil. It is the courageous and oftentimes creative task of disarmament. Nonviolent resistance is a way to fight against injustice without using violence. It is using the transformative force of love to resist oppression. The first Christians understood nonviolence to be the sin qua non of discipleship. So much so that there wasn’t even a word for pacifism during the first four centuries of Christianity. To call yourself Christian meant you were universally nonviolent. Following Jesus then and following Jesus now means we will find ourselves in opposition to empire.

In the following weeks and months, the need to confront Trump’s evil regime will continue. But how we resist is just as important as the resistance itself. As tempting as it will be, returning evil for evil will only result in greater oppression.

To help us better understand the transformative power of nonviolence, I’m joined on the show today by Dr. Jesse Nickel. Jesse gives a clear and convincing argument that the gospels present Jesus as a nonviolent revolutionary. What can we learn from the way Jesus resisted and confronting the empire of his day? Unlike his prophetic movement, will we return evil for evil? Will we fall into the imperial trap of fight or flight? Or, will we learn how to tap into the ancient model of nonviolent resistance to topple Trump’s regime?

As you go out today with courage to confront Trumpism, take this episode along with you. Listen to the plea for nonviolent resistance. Understand the power of taking on suffering rather than inflicting suffering. And rest in the peace and power that God has been dismantling empires for over 6,000 years.

Amen.

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Show notes:

http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/the-resistance-is-alive-and-well

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This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Gary Alan Taylor. Music is by Faith in Foxholes.