The song “Amazing Grace,” the hymn written by Anglican priest John Newton in 1772—put to music in 1835 by William Walker—has in modern times been closely connected with the American abolitionist movement and our subsequent civil rights movement. And rightly so. John Newton was a former enslaver of Africans, bringing them to England in the 18th century and spending later years repenting as a Christian. The hymn has broad implications for faith and Judeo-Christians because of its clear conversion from wretchedness to grace.
And while it continues to have a broad appeal, it is important to note that, 34 years after leaving the slave trade and converting to Christianity, Newton’s widely circulated pamphlet, Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, provided the haunting moral regrets of the author:
“I hope it will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was, once, an active instrument, in a business at which my heart now shudders.”
Abolitionists in America took to the hymn and song, and, as a result, there are various versions, with added verses here and there. Every one of those verses speak to God’s grace and the deliverance from ignorance and cruelty that many people realize they have partaken in when they have been lost.
Like all things of beauty, the QAnon, Miachel Flynn, and Trump conspiracy confidence game-o-sphere are now trying to pull the hymn back into the wilderness of chaos it warns against.
Over the last weekend of January, Texas saw a “We Stand America” rally that was some sort of pro-law enforcement and people the state allows to carry weapons thing. The QAnoners were out in good form, with plans for the weekend’s “historic” gatherings to end with a “massive” group of fake-triots marching around one of the border walls. Convicted criminals like disgraced former military guy Michael Flynn were set to appear, and to promote their conspiracy theories that Bill Gates is using the COVID-19 pandemic, along with George Soros, to take control of the world and enslave white people.
That’s a real all-star cast. We’ve got libertarian sketchballs, Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo’s wife, and the usual folks that show up at Trump-adjacent events. On Sunday, a few dozen (maybe) QAnoners marched in a circle in front of a section of the border. Holding flags and signs, these MAGA marchers sang “Amazing Grace” with not a hint of irony or self-reflection that their presence is the reason the National Butterfly Center was forced to close down this weekend.
WARNING: This is some powerful cognitive dissonance.
Here are a few versions of the song that remember who and what grace is supposed to look like.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I’m found,
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.