Dear Conservative Christianity,

I heard you warn me about “moral relativism” my entire life in your churches I grew up in and served in as a pastor.

You framed it as a dangerous threat that existed not in the church but in “the world.” You framed it as something we as individual Christians needed to guard ourselves against.

Yet as time went on, I witnessed you constantly move the moral goal posts in order to justify the character, decisions, and actions of your preferred politicians and wealthy elites.

For example, I heard you rage against Bill Clinton’s immoral behavior in the White House, demanding he be impeached over it, while declaring “character matters!” only to watch you turn and justify politicians over the last decade who have done things that make Bill Clinton’s behavior look mild in comparison.

I heard you rage against Hillary Clinton’s emails, even demanding that she be “locked up” and how it should disqualify her from political leadership, only to watch you shrug your shoulders over Pete Hegseth’s leaking war plans over a nonsecure app to a group chat that included a reporter from the Atlantic.

I heard you declare “they have to obey the law” when it came to immigrants and refugees, but make clear justifications for why your preferred politicians shouldn’t be held accountable to that same law, not even by a jury of their peers.

I heard you hold every ordinary person in our nation accountable to the most rigid interpretation of certain parts of the Bible, all while using other parts of the Bible to justify the worst character and behavior displayed by your preferred politicians and political pundits.

You told me to not give into “moral relativism,” yet I have witnessed first hand that your morality is clearly relative to the proximity of wealth and power.

You have deep convictions about politics and society, yet do you sincerely believe that tearing everything apart is the answer rather than working together towards the common good? If you are truly conservative, how is that tactic “conserving” anything at all?! Do you sincerely believe that anger, vengeance, and authoritarianism is the best way to confront the issues you care about? Are we not saved by grace through faith, rather than the law? So why are you acting like the harsh use of government law and power is the best way to “save” our country?

So many of us who were raised by you have been deeply betrayed by your lack of moral and theological integrity and your refusal to stand against even the most blatant contradictions to the Christian faith in your preferred political party, displaying more partisan loyalty than loyalty to loving God and our neighbors as Jesus commanded.

You taught me that true strength isn’t found in the amount of power and wealth you have over others. It is found in using any power you have to build others up rather than to tear them down. It is found in being a person of your word towards all people, friends and enemies alike. You taught me the importance of owning our mistakes and making things right. You taught me to make the gospel of Jesus the center of my life, yet I have watched you trade it in for the gospel of “the ends justify the means” and the gospel of “victory by any means necessary.” You taught me to “call out sin,” so will you listen when it is your sins being called out?

When will you reclaim that integrity you taught me? When will you stand for what’s right? When will you heed your own warnings against moral relativism and repent from all the ways you’ve given into moral relativism yourself?

Many of us have all but given up hope that you will stand against the ways our sacred faith has been hijacked for the sake of political control. You still can though. There is no better time than the present to choose integrity. Please do so.