Executed by the State
The Distorted Gospel of the “Good” Christians, cheering and mocking the murder of Renee Nicole Macklin Good.
On Jan 7, 2025, an ICE agent murdered Renee Nicole Good in front of her wife. In the days since, there have thankfully been numerous individuals and churches that have risen in protest against her senseless murder. But unfortunately, there have, of course, been several individuals justifying and defending Renee’s murder. And no doubt, quite a few of those defenders would view themselves as “good” Christians. Perhaps they faithfully attend church and are actively involved in ministry, or they volunteer at various nonprofit agencies and charitable organizations. Maybe they help their elderly neighbor with lawn care and assist people experiencing homelessness with food. I am sure they faithfully read their Bible every day and pray. They view themselves as God’s warriors, faithfully following what they believe to be God’s laws. And yet, too many are publicly cheering and mocking Renee’s murder. They justify her death because she was married to a woman; they claim she was arrested for child abuse. However, no evidence of that claim has surfaced, and they contradict the video evidence, where it is clear that she is trying to get away from the ICE Agent, who has enough time to use his phone to record and murder Renee. That doesn’t quite sound like the actions of someone fearing for their life and having to make a split-second decision.
Those “good” Christians justifying Renee’s death often use similar rhetoric that they lobby against unarmed black and brown people when they are murdered by law enforcement: “she should have complied. She shouldn’t have been harassing ICE agents.” When initial reports stated Renee was acting as a legal observer ICE (a claim that her mother has since contested), defenders of ICE would make statements, “Well, if she hadn’t been interfering with ICE she would be alive.” Though of course, many of these defenders also idolize Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed during the Jan 6, 2021, insurrection. Apparently, storming a Capitol building in an attempt to interfere with the democratic process is justifiable.
Regardless of whether Renee Good was a legal observer or not, she was murdered by an ICE agent. The very same agency that has been violently targeting immigrants, harassing American citizens who don’t look American, and attempting to squash dissent violently. And Renee Good is not the first person killed by ICE whether directly or by neglect in their horrific detention centers. And yet so many “good” Christians view the actions of ICE as commendable and justifiable. They see no contradiction between their faith and their support of cold-blooded murder.
There is a disconnect between the faith they claim to espouse and their political action and beliefs. And to be fair, this isn’t exactly surprising, nor is it entirely their fault. The theology of Evangelical Christianity fuses faith with far-right political ideology, asserting that to be a “good” Christian, one must be a good Republican. Moreover, Jesus’ death is understood as the plan of a wrathful, angry God whose thirst for “justice” can only be appeased by the incredibly violent death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The death of Jesus, instead of being understood in its historical and political context, is understood solely in spiritual terms: Jesus died because of sin and satan. But the reality is that God did not kill Jesus as part of some divine plan to erase humanity’s sin, nor is satan to blame, well, unless one wants to equate satan with Empire, which...valid. But Jesus was killed by Roman leaders, soldiers and religious leaders who viewed Jesus as a threat to the established order.
In fact, Rome, like any Empire, had no qualms about killing people. In addition to its many conquests, it punished and killed anyone who threatened the status quo, whether they did so violently or nonviolently. They also implemented policies that killed massive numbers of people indirectly. The majority of residents in the Empire lived in poverty, barely scraping by. They were also taxed an inordinate amount. The Roman Empire’s “Pax Romana” was anything but peaceful for those at the bottom of society and/or those in the sights of Roman imperial conquest. The Roman Empire was a violent and unjust system that would ensnare both resisters and those who complied in its web. And Jesus, whose message wasn’t about rescuing humanity from an afterlife and avoiding hell but ushering in the Kingdom of God, which would nonviolently overthrow the Roman Empire and bring forth equality and justice, was viewed as a threat to be eradicated. It didn’t matter that he was unarmed. It didn’t matter that he did not advocate for violence. But simply advocating for a different way of living was enough to get him killed. The state murdered Jesus. And while many “good” Christians would claim he did not deserve it, the Roman soldiers and leaders, as well as the religious leaders, would have begged to differ. “If only Jesus hadn’t been speaking about the Kingdom of God! If only he hadn’t critiqued how things were done. If only he had listened when told to stop preaching.” Jesus was a victim of state violence, and as such, he is representative of all those murdered by the state. Including Renee Nicole Macklin Good. Including those being deported to countries where their death is all but certain. Including those dying in the detention centers.
Renee Nicole Macklin Good should be alive. She should be with her wife and kids. She should be working on more poetry. She was killed because the American Empire has decreed that all those who disagree with its thirst for violence and destruction are enemies to be destroyed. And ICE Agents, both the ones who murdered Renee (and others) and those who are simply “doing their job,” are engaging in a system of cruelty and injustice. And unfortunately, too many “good” Christians find themselves on the side of the Empire. Instead of acting like Jesus and pushing back against a cruel, violent, and oppressive system, they embrace it and twist Christianity to justify the deaths of innocent people. Too many “good” Christians have decided that believing in Jesus (aka believing in a set of theological beliefs that did not arise until later centuries) matters more than living like Jesus (ie, standing up against unjust empires).
Both Jesus and Renee Nicole Macklin Good were murdered by the state forces of their day. You cannot claim to love and worship Jesus, who was murdered by the Roman Empire, while rejoicing over the death of Renee.
Image: Background image with an empty cross. Text: Both Jesus and Renee Nicole Macklin Good were murdered by the state forces of their day. You cannot claim to love and worship Jesus, who was murdered by the Roman Empire, while rejoicing over the death of Renee.