Whitewashing History
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.” — Isaiah 5:20
Last week, the President of the United States issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,”1 targeting the Smithsonian and demanding the removal of narratives deemed “improper, divisive, or anti-American.”2 Among those targeted: exhibits that name systemic racism, center Indigenous voices, explore LGBTQ+ history, or examine America’s long entanglement with patriarchy and empire.3
It would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.
This isn’t about protecting truth—it’s about silencing it. It’s about narrowing the lens of history so tightly that only one myth fits in the frame. Like all empires in decline, this administration is grasping for control through erasure, nostalgia, and fear.
Let’s pause here. This moment is not new.
We’ve seen this before—in Pharaoh’s Egypt, in Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, in Rome under Caesar, in Putin’s Russia. Empire always demands singularity: one god, one story, one way. When people begin to remember what empire tried to forget—when they speak the names of the erased, when they tell the stories of stolen land and stolen labor—empire reacts. Not with dialogue, but with punishment. Not with repentance, but with repression.
Walter Brueggemann reminds us that in scripture “truth is not in the service of the empire; it is always in resistance to it.”4 Truth, in its biblical sense, is not data—it’s faithfulness. It’s covenantal memory. It’s the insistence that all people bear the image of God and that no one’s story is disposable.
When the President tries to legislate “sanity” by silencing entire lineages of history, what he’s really doing is weaponizing forgetfulness. And that’s not sanity. That’s spiritual amnesia.
But we remember.
We remember that Jesus told stories of Samaritans and tax collectors and widows—people the Roman Regime dismissed. We remember that the prophets called out kings who built power on exploitation. We remember that the Spirit hovered over the chaos before creation, not over tidy control.
So, we must ask: What is it about our history that frightens the powerful? Why is naming harm so often mistaken for causing division? How do we become stewards of the kind of truth that liberates, rather than the kind of lies that dominate?
Let us refuse the bait of false binaries. Let us refuse to pit “unity” against justice, “order” against honesty, “sanity” against truth. Our task is not to win an argument within MAGA’s logic—it is to tell a fuller story outside of it.
We do this by telling our histories without shame. By making space for discomfort. By learning from ancestors who carried truth even when it was dangerous. By trusting that God is never on the side of silencing the oppressed, but always on the side of those crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way.”
This moment will tempt us to shrink, to go silent, to play nice. Don’t.
Truth is not the enemy of peace. It is the path to it.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
When have you been tempted to shrink your story to make others comfortable?
What histories or truths have shaped you that the dominant culture would rather forget?
A Prayer for the Day
For the Stories They Tried to Erase
Holy One,
You are the keeper of all our stories—
the ones whispered in kitchens,
sung at gravesides,
etched in scars.
When power tries to bury the truth,
plant it in us like seed.
Let it rise in poems, in protests,
in museum halls and dinner tables,
in classrooms and arts centers.
Make us brave enough to speak
what power finds dangerous.
Not to dominate,
but to heal.
For every silenced voice,
let there be a chorus.
For every erased name,
a new lineage of remembrance.
Let truth be not just what we say—
but how we live.
Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Living the Archive
Today, choose one story that has been overlooked or erased in the broader telling of history—perhaps a family story, a local community truth, or a forgotten chapter in your spiritual tradition. Learn it. Write it down. Share it.
Then, find one embodied way to honor that story. Light a candle. Cook a meal. Plant a seed. Offer a prayer.
In doing so, you’re not just remembering—you’re resisting. You are tending to the sacred archive that empire fears most: a living, breathing, collective memory that refuses to die.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
May 19-22, 2025 - Preaching and Worship FREE Online Summit: From war to genocide to a global climate crisis to a nation that perpetuates racism, misogyny, transphobia, and more from the highest office in the land, how do we prepare a sermon, a liturgy, a song, a prayer? Learn from some of our best preachers. REGISTER HERE.
June 4, 2025, 12pm ET - Jeff Chu has written a new book on a topic close to my heart: Soil! The title is “Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand.” I am so pleased to be interviewing him. Together, we’ll explore what it means to cultivate “good soil” in our lives, our communities, and our spiritual practices. I hope you will register. Your registration includes a copy of his new book.
July 20-25, 2025 - The Art of Wilding: A 5-Day Expedition in Wyoming for Women Leaders. Click here to learn more. Only one spot left!
August 11, 2025, 2pm ET - Dr. Andrew Root and I will be hosting a 6 part series on Spirituality in the Secular Age based on his research. The dates are August 11, 18, September 8, 15, and October 6, 13. Mark your calendars! More on this soon.
September 4, 4:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/30/smithsonian-institution-trump-executive-order
https://apnews.com/article/trump-smithsonian-executive-order-improper-ideology-558ebfab722f603e94e02a1a4b06ed4d
https://apnews.com/article/trump-black-history-smithsonian-dei-687fd306dc9c6d7611300d74fe49b8aa
Walter Brueggemann, Truth Speaks to Power: The Countercultural Nature of Scripture
We are all in this together - thank you for all your wise words. ‘This’ extends to all the creation, all the ‘mind of God’, to all time and space, not least our own, here and now. Please 🙏 keep the lines of heart, Spirit, holy love open! The links to ‘all this’ are beyond counting; one that rises to mind is the plot of ‘Fahrenheit 451’. Ray Bradbury, like many others in the genre Jack Lewis called scientifiction, have been the mine canaries of humankind, giving early warning, like the Biblical prophets and persons like you and Layli Long Soldier and Walter Brueggemann. Again, we are all in this together. Gracias, grazie, grace to you!
Thank you Cameron. Between you and Heather Cox Richardson, I/we get facts and some hope. However, because of their bull in a china shop demeanour and the lack of any real opposition from anyone, America is dead. The only way that I can see forward is a revolution which will be bloody and more costly than can be imagined. As with Heather, I caution you to be careful!!!