2 weeks Ago
Posing, like the British monarch, as Defender of the Faith, President Trump signed an executive order during his first weeks in office establishing a White House Faith Office. Among other things, it empowers Trump’s Domestic Policy Council to consult with faith communities to “better align them with the American values.” And soon thereafter the president signed another executive order establishing a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.
” But as Thomas Geoghegan has argued effectively in the journal Commonweal, Trump, in reality, has liberated his followers “from the Bible, or from biblical morality which is evidently too great a burden.” Among other things we now need not care about “welcoming the stranger.” Trump’s contempt for compassionate scriptural norms like that were on full display in his response to a sermon he attended given by Episcopal Bishop of Washington Mariann Edgar Budde immediately before his inauguration.
The bishop said the three necessary elements for national unity are dignity, honesty and humility. And then at the end of her remarks she called on Trump to “have mercy” on those in America, particularly immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community, who are currently afraid. People are also reading.
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Washington football program OU softball falls in Top 25 after series loss at Alabama, looks to regroup vs. Mississippi State State reps match Bible verses in 'Christ is King' resolution debate Ben Arbuckle’s personality a change from recent OU offensive coordinators | Berry Tramel’s ScissorTales Man who survived Nazi occupation tells anti-MAGA activists in Tulsa: 'Resist!' Adair man, 36, dies after head-on crash Tuesday in Mayes County Bill addressing tribal toll collections falls in House committee; governor reacts Bill Haisten: Vols’ debacle reminiscent of the OSU-Spencer Sanders divorce Why Timothy McVeigh picked April 19: The Waco-Oklahoma City bombing connection Timothy McVeigh's letters to Oklahoma journalist offer window into bomber's mind Grand jury charges Jimcy McGirt with failing to register as a sex offender Houligan's Corner opens in Broken Arrow State ends contracts for three large mental health services providers in Tulsa County In response the president-elect posted on Truth Social among other things that Budde was a “so-called bishop.” “She is not very good at her job!” “She and her church owe the public an apology.
” Perhaps the Bible that President Trump is selling omits the beatitude “Blessed are the Merciful.” The attacks by Trump and his associates on American religious leaders who are trying to carry out biblical mandates have continued during his presidency. In his first interview after taking office, Vice President JD Vance said that America’s Catholic officials took federal funds to help immigrants because they were “worried about their bottom line.
” Because Vance himself is a recent convert to Catholicism, those were strange comments about the leaders of his new faith, disparaging their motives for helping others. Along the same lines Vance has also said without evidence that the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops was taking millions of dollars in government aid to “resettle illegal immigrants.” But in fact the USCCB received the money to resettle only legally approved immigrants, and one leading cardinal called Vance’s statement “scurrilous.” Shortly after that Vance made a statement about the teachings of St.
Thomas Aquinas, who in Vance’s opinion believed that any concern for those outside our families and communities, apparently those on the margins of society, should be sharply limited. That drew a quick rebuke from Pope Francis, who said a true understanding of Aquinas’ views is found in a “love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” The pope cited the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, who took care of a wounded stranger.
Or as the Vincentian Fathers taught me in high school, the love advocated in the Gospels must be expansive and not rooted in self-interest. Along with cutting federal programs that aid the needy, Trump’s surrogate Elon Musk has shown disdain for religious groups that render such benevolent assistance. For instance, Musk has accused Lutheran agencies that receive government grants for housing or food assistance of “money laundering.
” And he has recently stated that “the fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy.” How can you square that with the teaching of Aquinas (whom Vance likes to quote) that the purpose of political organizations is to promote the common good, much less with the bedrock principle of all great religions that we should love our neighbors as ourselves? And at last report, a number of faith groups including Jewish, Baptist, Quaker and Sikh organizations that provide humanitarian assistance are suing the Trump administration over their halt of funding. Other legal actions by religious communities seek to stop Trump’s immigration police from raiding their houses of worship to make arrests.
Perhaps these actions of the Trump administration will fully test what remains of the true strength of our civilization, at least that which is rooted in our compassionate religious heritage..
