There are several questions that come up from folks new to our project, and I’m hoping to answer all of these questions here. Though I will add, I love the questions and by no means want them to stop, so please keep them coming!
“Craig, what are you doing? What is your reasoning behind The Bad Roman Project? What exactly is your goal? Why do you feel the need to express such an opinion to people who may not be on board? Are you concerned with alienating friends and family?”
The Bad Roman Project is pushing on two years old now. After a conversation I had with Michael Storm, on his show Toward Anarchy, and a series of articles written by Nathan Moon for our blog, I have been inspired to answer the above questions in this article.
Let’s turn the world’s thinking upside down…
“Craig what are you doing?”
In short, I’m just trying my best to love my neighbor. As many of you already know, I spent the majority of my time as an active neo-conservative voter. As my understanding of how Anarchism works, and how it aligned with my faith grew, it hit me like a punch to my throat. “Oh, peace is what Anarchism espouses?” Well, that idea really threw a wrench in my neo-con understanding of politics. Living peacefully among other individuals was something secular, so why were non-secular Anarchists talking about it?
In my neo-con days I already knew, but actively chose to ignore, that peace was what Jesus is about and what He calls us to. I was so entangled by statism that my thinking probably went a bit like this: “Peace...huh?! We will have none of that, we have to make the sand glow to promote freedom and liberty abroad...right? I mean if Ted Cruz says so it has to be the case, right?”
As I moved away from the political arena, I realized the consequences of my involvement, what I did was turn back to my Christian teachings and I realized very quickly in my journey to Christian-Anarchism just how wrong I was. The Bible is full of Jesus saying love your neighbor, how was I able to ignore that this whole time? These days I go by what Jesus says, not Ted Cruz, and Jesus says to love your neighbor. That is what I am doing.
“What is your reasoning behind The Bad Roman Project?”
This project was born out of my growing frustration with Christians, more specifically, their worship of Donald Trump in the 2016 election is the driving force behind why we started this project two years ago.
Do you remember when Obama was running for president? Do you remember the deity status he was given? I remember vividly because it was something I pointed out continuously while rooting for John McCain (God forgive me).
Why is this relevant? In the 2016 election, Trump was also made into a deity, this time by the right, and, in my opinion, the deification of Trump was and continues to be far worse. Obama will always be a deity to the Democrat party, but his following is minuscule relative to what I, and many others, saw with Trump. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing among “conservatives” and their support for Trump. Imagine a “conservative” presidential candidate saying “the constitution is not always relevant”.
Even more concerning, as a Christian and Conservative, was when Trump declared: “I’ve never had a reason to ask God for forgiveness,” and this statement was completely ignored by professing Christians! Their response instead: “Well he is the lesser of two evils” and “not Hillary” were the battle cries. I knew I could not be the only Christian who wanted a better solution than choosing between two evils, I wanted to follow Jesus and this is what the Bad Roman Project aims to explore.
“What exactly is your goal?”
This is very simple for me and everyone involved with the project: No king but Christ.
I have taken the absolute stance as a Christian that there is no king but Christ. Who is your king? Does your king have a letter by his or her name on a ballot? As a Christian, I realized I belong to a different kingdom and this is the ultimate goal of The Bad Roman Project, to be ambassadors for Christ within whatever nation-state we find ourselves in: No King but Christ.
“Why do you feel the need to express such an opinion to people who may not be on board?”
I know this will sound cliche, but I love people. I’m not one to claim to know everything, but if I am able, through this project, to help fellow Christians, who may be where I was politically, return to a Jesus centric way of living, or at least plant the seed for it then I will be content. That is it. We do this for people who are seeking conversations not being had in mainstream media and for those who have questions about how their faith aligns with their politics.
“Are you concerned with alienating friends and family?”
This question has been tough for me because it has happened. I didn’t set out to alienate anyone but it has become an unfortunate byproduct of starting this project. That being said, yes it concerns me and I have been, at times, been reserved in conversation on purpose to avoid further alienating folks. But, at the same time, I won’t reserve my comments to caudle feelings when asked my opinion. I don't think it is fair to anyone if I feather my answers to any question. Anyone who knows me knows I'm honest in what I believe and it has cost me some very important friendships. And you know what? I’m ok with that. The truth seriously sets you free. It's not popular but it's indisputable and consistent. My focus is always on Jesus, and he never promised things would be easy, or he would not have said “love your enemies.”
Turn the world upside down.
Love yall,
Craig Harguess