By Rudy Barnes, Jr.
There is a vast political and
cultural divide between a fearful and angry white middle-class tribe in America
known as WASPs (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants), who have long held political
power, and those who challenge their right to rule, including Millennials and numerous
minority groups in the Democrat Party. Donald
Trump successfully exploited the fears and anger of the WASPs, and they made him
the standard bearer of the Republican Party.
Christianity in America, leavened by
advances in knowledge and the reason of the Enlightenment, is the primary source
of those moral values that have shaped American politics. Donald Trump was an unlikely choice to lead a
GOP that has long championed traditional values; but he exploited the fear and
anger of WASPs with his celebrity status, personal wealth and a narcissistic
and bullish charisma to subdue his opponents.
Even if Clinton defeats Trump in November,
it will not bridge the political and cultural divide. It will take a politics of reconciliation to do
that, and while it does not require unanimity on issues, it does require a
willingness to compromise—something missing in a political duopoly mired in
gridlock. Even if Democrats are sincere
in seeking to unify America, they cannot do it by themselves. Reconciliation requires two or more parties that
can hold each other accountable.
South Carolina illustrates the
problem. It was a one-party state under
the Democrat Party until civil rights and the Republican Party gave S.C. voters
a choice in the 1960s. Today partisan
roles are reversed, with Republicans ruling the political roost. The majority of voters in S.C. are WASPs,
whose misguided concepts of Christianity supported a separate but equal culture under the Democrat Party until the 1960s;
and this year evangelical Christian WASPs voted to make Donald Trump—whose
values are decidedly not Christian—the GOP nominee for President.
Religion has always shaped the moral
standards that govern our political preferences, so that if religion has a part
in creating our political problems it must also be part of the solution. The
greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors as ourselves is a common word of faith for Jews,
Christians and Muslims alike. It is a
moral imperative of faith that can help alleviate contentious religious and
political differences and promote a politics of reconciliation.
God’s will is to reconcile and
redeem humanity, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer; but Satan does a
convincing imitation of God in the church, mosque and in politics. That is evident in how Donald Trump has used
fear and anger to exacerbate racial and religious differences in his campaign. If Trump is defeated in November, perhaps a new
and enlightened Republican Party can arise Phoenix-like from the ashes; but unless
that happens, issues of race and religion will require a third party to promote
a politics of reconciliation with Democrats.
An example of Trump’s belligerent
and divisive campaign style was his response to the criticism of Khizr and
Ghazala Khan at the Democrat convention.
Mr. Khan said that his son, a U.S. Army officer who was killed in Iraq,
made a greater sacrifice to his country than Trump, who has never served his
country. Trump responded that he has
served and sacrificed for his country by creating thousands of jobs, and then he
questioned why Mrs. Khan stood silently by Mr. Khan at the convention, implying
that her Muslim faith prohibited her from saying anything.
Trump has demonized all Muslims
based on the terrorism of radical Islamists, but we need to support moderate Muslims
who can challenge the legitimacy of radical Islamism among young Muslims. It doesn’t help that President Obama and
Democrats have denied that ISIS is related to Islam in deference to Muslims who
wish to disassociate their faith from it.
Before we can expect Muslims to challenge the legitimacy of the radical form
of political Islam (Islamism) that motivates ISIS terrorism, our policymakers must
recognize it as such.
Christianity provides a useful analogy. Christians don’t have to answer for modern
Crusades or Inquisitions, but they do need to counter the fundamentalist form
of Christianity that motivates the supporters of Donald Trump. Progressive Christians must challenge the
legitimacy of those evangelical Christians who have allowed fear and hate for
Muslims to shape their politics, just as Muslims should challenge radical forms
of fundamentalist Islamism within Islam.
It should be an embarrassment to
Christians that some of their tribe made Donald Trump the leader of the Republican
Party. Christians who seek to follow the greatest commandment to love God and
neighbor should disavow Trump and those who follow him, just as Muslims who
share that common word of faith should disavow radical Islamism with its
apostasy and blasphemy laws and discrimination against women and non-Muslims
under Shari’a.
To bridge the political and cultural
divide that threatens American democracy and promote libertarian democracy,
human rights and the secular rule of law in Islamic cultures, Christians and
Muslims must embrace the greatest
commandment as a common word of faith. It requires providing fundamental human
rights that begin with the freedoms of religion and speech, and balancing those
individual rights with providing for the common good.
Notes:
On the
evils of religious fundamentalism and how a politics of reconciliation can
counter them, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/05/religious-fundamentalism-and-politics.html.
On the need
for civil or human rights to provide liberty and justice for all, both in
America and around the world, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/06/a-politics-of-reconciliation-with.html.
On balancing
individual rights with collective responsibilities to provide for the common
good, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/08/balancing-individual-rights-with.html.
On the clash between Trump and the Khans as new
signs of a cultural and political divide, see
Paul
Krugman revealed his partisan bias in arguing that Trump is not a unique
political phenomenon but that he represents a long-standing lack of patriotism
on the part of Republicans compared to the patriotism and love of country of
Democrats. Krugman has also criticized
Republicans who urge that “…the president must use the phrase “Islamic
terrorism,” when actual experts on terrorism agree that this would actually
hurt national security, by helping to alienate peaceful Muslims?” Krugman argues “…that the alienation isn’t a
side effect they’re disregarding; it’s actually the point — it’s all about
drawing a line between us (white Christians) and them (everyone else), and national
security has nothing to do with it.” See
Professor
Gary Gutting has asserted that Islam is a factor in ISIS or ISIL terrorism, opposing
the view of President Obama and Krugman (above) who have denied any
relationship between them. Gutting related
religious violence in both Christianity and Islam to the intolerance of religious
exclusivism, and he urged Muslims, like Christians, to accept political
restraints in promoting their religion [such as providing the freedoms of
religion and speech]. See http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/opinion/how-religion-can-lead-to-violence.html?_r=0.
In
describing how to remain faithful amid an
election that distorts religion, Father Joshua Whitfield rejected the
argument that the evil of Hillary Clinton makes it a sin to vote for anyone
other than Trump, and advocated the “politics of love” (expressed in the
greatest commandment) as “the authentic alternative and the only viable third
candidacy” to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
See http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20160802-joshua-j.-whitfield-how-politics-distorts-religion.ece.
For
Christians who need scriptural authority to decide how to vote, see 10 reasons you can’t be a Christian and vote
for Donald Trump at http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20160229-pieper-and-henderson-10-reasons-you-cant-be-a-christian-and-vote-for-donald-trump.ece.
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