Mission Vocabulary & Propaganda

Propaganda comes in all forms, but using the Bible to promote hate is a vile version. Most recently, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has perversely used an Old Testament verse in Isaiah to promote a dark film showcasing immigrant detention centers. In the verse, the prophet Isaiah states: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me’” (6:8, King James Version).

Churches often use the verse as a hopeful, uplifting commission for missionaries and others who have chosen to commit their lives to spreading the loving word of God. Noem’s mission, however, is the inhumane agenda of placing people in cages, deporting them to foreign lands, and destroying lives indiscriminately.

How did we get to a place where we equate the Christian mission with delivering pain, torment, and sadness? Simple. Those who control the language control the society, and the Trump regime is working hard to pervert how Americans read, process, and understand the Christian Bible.

George Orwell addresses language and thought manipulation in his classic dystopian novel, 1984. In the story, the government creates a simplified language to control the masses called NEWSPEAK and uses brainwashing nonsense like: “‘War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.’"

Through ad nauseum repetition and complete censorship, the authoritarian government controls the language and the message. The result is forceful, unavoidable, and overpowering rhetoric meant to completely indoctrinate the society.

I unfortunately see Orwell’s chilling warning in today’s America. Heather Cox Richardson observed that Noem’s video “makes it clear Noem’s justification was cover for a violent Christian nationalist vision in which ICE and the Border Patrol are enforcing God’s commandments… The exchange is widely interpreted to show volunteers willing to do God’s work.”

The plan is working, as Trump's government seizes control of the scriptural narrative, turns it into powerful, hateful rhetoric that supports unthinkable atrocities.

Christian churches are at a crossroads. Recent court rulings now allow churches to challenge the rhetoric of the far right and the misuse of the Bible for political and societal maneuvering. I urge responsible religious leaders to name and condemn the hate-speech and violent language currently turning God’s words into Trump’s loathsome agenda.