Girard is helpful here too when he warns us not to turn the words of Jesus into some kind of empty rhetorical formula or some kind of sentimental exaggeration. “Persecutors think they are doing good; the right thing; they believe they are working for justice and truth; they believe they are saving the community.” In reality, however, they are suffering from an “insurmountable blindness.” It’s not that the don’t see or won’t see. It’s that they are incapable of seeing.

Rene Girard’s seminal work on scapegoating and the ritual of expulsion provide a solid framework for understanding the impeachment proceedings which took place over the past two weeks.

According to Girard, the ritual of expulsion was an ancient rite in which the transgressions of an entire community were transferred to a single victim. This collective transference was believed to restore order in the community and result in a temporary catharsis.

The rite of expulsion most familiar to those of us in the West is that of the scapegoat found in Leviticus 16:21. In this biblical ritual, the high priest would place his hands on the head of the goat symbolically transferring all the sins of the community to the animal. The goat was then driven into the wilderness. This ritual symbolized the cleansing of the community’s collective sin, and was practiced during the celebration of the atonement.

Of course, for Christians, Jesus is believed to be the ultimate scapegoat who took upon himself all the sins of the world cleansing and purifying his people. In Christianity, this is more than symbolic ritual; it is real and efficacious to all who believe. Christian’s refer to this as substitutionary atonement.

It is interesting that wherever Christianity has spread, the ritualized practice of scapegoating has virtually disappeared. This, according to Girard, is the direct result of the influence of Christianity. But while the religious ritual of scapegoating has diminished, the scapegoat phenomena still plays a role in our communities and on an individual level. In fact, we could argue that state sponsored scapegoating has now replaced the more archaic religious sanctioned form of expulsion.

What we have witnessed in the public impeachment hearings is essentially the state’s version of this ancient ritual. The high priests of the state are engaged in a rite of transference of what they perceive to be the sins of our nation onto one person—the President of the United States. They are thoroughly convinced of the guilt of their victim so they make their accusations with an ever-increasing ferocity and sincerity. They are equally persuaded of their own innocence, so they never tire of insisting that they are acting in good faith.

Like their religious counterparts, the new state priests, rigorously deny that they are scapegoating. Of course, their continual protesting of this point only proves that they are indeed scapegoating. One of the chief characteristics of the scapegoating ritual was the very denial of its existence. As Girard put it, “to have a scapegoat is to believe that one doesn’t have any.”

Another similarity between the religious and state versions of the rite of expulsion is that the perpetrators don’t actually know what they are doing. This phenomenon is what Girard calls the “persecutory unconscious.” That is, it’s not just that the persecutors don’t see what they are doing; it’s that they are incapable of seeing what they are doing. “Duping oneself,” says Girard, “is what characterizes the entire satanic process” of scapegoating.

Of course, those familiar with the gospel narratives recognize that the ultimate form of the persecutory unconscious is found in the words of Jesus when he prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Girard is helpful here too when he warns us not to turn the words of Jesus into some kind of empty rhetorical formula or some kind of sentimental exaggeration. “Persecutors think they are doing good; the right thing; they believe they are working for justice and truth; they believe they are saving the community.”

In reality, however, they are suffering from an “insurmountable blindness.” It’s not that the don’t see or won’t see. It’s that they are incapable of seeing.

In this case, though, blindness is not one way. Humility requires that we all admit to our blindness, and seek the only one who can open our eyes to the truth, namely, Christ Jesus. All scapegoats throughout history, save one, were actually guilty of something even if not the crime for which they were accused. Christ was the only innocent scapegoat in history. This fact demonstrates unequivocally the uniqueness of the gospel.

The priests of the state should beware of one last similarity between the religious and state rituals of expulsion: in nearly all myths the scapegoat victim was later deified and worshipped by the community from which he was expelled.

Therefore, the likely outcome of impeachment is to make the president more popular, and even more electable, than he is at present. If the high priests of the state are not careful, then they may be the unintentional victims of their own rite of expulsion.

Only insurmountable blindness, then, can explain their persistence.

Rev. Jim Fitzgerald is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and a staff member of Equipping Pastors International.