The Day of Atonement, known as Yom Kippur, is the highest holy day of the Jewish calendar. It begins at sundown on Friday, October 11. It was the only day of the year when the high priest entered the holy of holies at the temple in Jerusalem. Atoning sacrifices were offered for the sins of the people — among them a young goat — which was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away people’s sins. This “scapegoat” was never to return.
While the religious ritual of releasing the scapegoat ended when the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in AD 70, and Yom Kippur became a day of repentance and fasting, the wider culture has not only absorbed the scapegoat practice, but has expanded it, if not feasted on it. Yet instead of it being a transfer of the sins of the people to the scapegoat, today the scapegoat, be it a person or a group, is regarded as being inherently sinful, threatening, toxic or alien – and must be removed or destroyed. The cruel reality about identifying scapegoats is that it always works, not in atoning for sins, but in reducing the anxiety level in those who are intent on identifying scapegoats.
It always works – for a while. And the anxiety ramps up again, which necessitates more punishment or banishment of the scapegoat. Or finding a new scapegoat to mistreat. It is a vengeful and venal anxiety reduction system that has proliferated over the years, no more so than this year’s run-up to the November election.
Donald Trump has become the sultan of scapegoating. Immigrants, Democrats, Transgendered people, people who he determines have abandoned proper loyalty – are targets of his vicious verbal attacks – not to mention his lies. His scapegoating strategy is working for millions of his supporters: “if he can put down ‘those people’, life will get easier for the rest of us”. It sells, in more hearts and neighborhoods than many of us want to acknowledge, and while this strategy may work to get elected, it has never worked over the long haul.
Trump’s denunciations are being supported, if not fed, but a developing religious phenomenon in America. It centers around the New Apostolic Reformation, an amalgam of Christian leaders and congregations that subscribe to the conviction that Donald Trump has been anointed by God to bring about a Christian dominant culture. I am a fervent Christian, but I am certain that my faith and religious practice would not fit NAR’s theology, and I suspect that I and people like me would be identified as non-believers or apostates, and would become scapegoat fodder. It has been documented that key leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation have claimed that Kamala Harris is a witch, which is a despicable display of scapegoating. The NAR quickly and eagerly identifies demons, and seeks to banish them so their version of Christianity can prevail.
I recently hosted a podcast with Matthew D. Taylor, the author of newly published book, The Violent Take It By Force: the Christian Movement that is Threatening our Democracy, an in-depth study of the history and reach of the New Apostolic Reformation, an extreme version of Christian Nationalism. Dr. Taylor points out that Donald Trump and the NAR have a perverse symbiotic relationship: he feeds them and they feed on his fame and favor.
My anxiety level continues to rise as we approach the election. As I absorb the pain and devastation of Hurricane Helene (and Milton soon to come), Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Sudan, I find myself feeling dis-membered; that the various parts of me are disconnected from each other, leaving me disoriented, depressed, and confused. Like many of us, I would welcome an initiative that would reduce my anxiety.
I write this post on October 7, the first anniversary of a brutal attack and a brutal response. We need to remember the date – yes, for what happened, but also to re- member – to try and put the disconnected pieces of the world, and our own souls, back together. Many of us feel an existential dis-memberment; a growing part of the world is facing physical dis-memberment, and the loss of nearly everything they hold dear.
We need healing — of all those broken and dis- membered parts. Scapegoating won’t do it. It just makes it all worse.
Jesus said, “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Those were his words to his disciples, on the night before he died, an instruction which much of the Christian world has ritualized in what has variously been referred to as Lord’s supper, Holy Communion, or the Holy Eucharist. In accepting death, Jesus’ intent was to bring people together – to re-member — not to drive them apart. Jesus was not a scapegoat. To the contrary, his witness, his sacrifice – was that there would be no more scapegoats. That we would somehow find a way to re-member — to put the pieces back together. Jesus insisted that everyone — yes everyone — is a child of God, that the dignity of humanity is bestowed on all people, which was – and still is – a threatening concept. Instead of demeaning one another, we need to engage in listening, honoring, as a beginning in healing of what has been dis-membered.
That practice can bring hope. That commitment can serve to seriously and honestly address anxiety. That is our work.
