The Rev. John M. Semmes urged political progressives to resist what he called growing cruelty and tribalism in American life and offered practical steps for doing so in a guest essay for Mississippi Today.
In the essay, Semmes listed examples he said have heightened public anxiety, including what he described as the killing of two protesters by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis, an “affordability” crisis, a president “obsessed with acquiring Greenland” and changes to childhood immunization schedules by the Centers for Disease Control, he wrote. He also criticized Christian nationalism and said his denomination defines it as “a political ideology that seeks to merge Christian identity with American civic life and national identity,” he wrote.
Semmes urged readers to resist by practicing daily kindness and empathy toward the weak and marginalized and by taking political action. “Attend a rally. Write your legislators. Give your money and time to causes that reflect your concerns. Vote,” he wrote, adding that people should “speak truth in love” and engage in respectful dialogue with those whose views they oppose.
He advised progressives to act locally, care for themselves and sustain hope. He recommended gratitude, prayer and holding fast to the medieval theologian Julian of Norwich’s words, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and every kind of thing shall be well,” he wrote. Semmes holds a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), served six congregations before retiring in 2023 and lives in Oxford.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
