Rudy Barnes, Jr.
A politics of reconciliation is needed to
remedy the polarization of America’s partisan politics. But political reconciliation must be based on
shared moral values, and the election of Donald Trump indicates they are
lacking. Unless and until Americans can
find shared moral values, confrontation
trumps reconciliation.
America
is a religious nation, and Jews, Christians and Muslims share a unifying moral
principle of faith. It is the greatest commandment to love God and
our neighbors as we love ourselves. It
is derived from Mosaic Law, it was taught by Jesus as the greatest of all
commandments, and Muslim scholars consider it a common word of faith.
Who
are our neighbors? Jesus answered that
question in the story of the good
Samaritan. In it a Samaritan was depicted
as a good neighbor to a wounded Jew.
What made the story remarkable is that Samaritans were detested by Jews
of that day. Today the good neighbor
would be a Muslim helping a Christian or a Jew.
That is not the norm in our xenophobic times.
Globalization
has caused increased religious pluralism which has been exacerbated by Islamist
terrorism and the resulting refugee crisis.
Public fears and anger have been exploited by unprincipled populist
demagogues and religious charlatans who have threatened the moral underpinnings
of libertarian democracy, human rights and the secular rule of law.
Donald
Trump used an unholy alliance with evangelical Christians to exploit public
fears and win the presidency. He
achieved a measure of success in big business as a rude, crude and narcissistic
bully, and as president he has extended those personal characteristics to his
administration, undermining past policies that allowed the U.S. to be a
respected world leader.
Trump’s
nativist and oppressive policies represent an end to the libertarian values of
the Enlightenment that shaped our nation’s democracy, human rights and secular
rule of law. The domestic and foreign
policies of the Trump administration lack a moral basis for reconciliation. They demand confrontation in the realms of both
politics and religion.
Religion
is inextricably woven into our politics.
And while religion has been a cause of our political problems, it must also
be part of the solution. It was a
decadent form of Christianity that gave Trump his political power. The restoration of political legitimacy in
America requires a revived Christianity based on the altruistic moral teachings
of Jesus as shared national values.
Political legitimacy begins
with the freedoms of religion and speech.
They were given political primacy in the U.S. Bill of Rights, but were
not mentioned in Jewish, Christian or Islamic religious texts. Human rights were a product of the natural
law of the Enlightenment, not religion, but in libertarian democracies religions
have conformed their doctrines to human rights.
That
did not happen in Islamic cultures, where apostasy and blasphemy laws continue
to preclude the freedoms of religion and speech. They are a part of ancient Islamic laws known
as shari’a, which have created an unjustified fear that Muslims will use
shari’a to undermine secular law.
President Trump has exploited that fear in his discriminatory policies
toward Muslims.
While
Islamists have used shari’a to deny the freedoms of religion and speech in
Islamic nations, fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. have gone to the other
extreme. In addition to discriminating
against Muslims, they have asserted the right to exercise their religious
freedom to discriminate against homosexuals as sinners, denying them the equal
protection of the law.
Such
contentious religious and political issues defy easy reconciliation and produce
confrontation and division. God’s will
is for humankind to be reconciled and redeemed, while Satan’s will is to divide
and conquer. That means we should be
building bridges rather than walls between people; but division often comes
when walls are confronted.
Jesus told his disciples: “Do not
suppose that I have come to bring peace on earth, but a sword.” He knew that his teachings would be
considered radically subversive by Jewish leaders of his day and would divide
families (Matthew 10:34-36). And Jesus
confronted and condemned sanctimonious and hypocritical Jewish leaders as a brood of vipers (Matthew 23).
Confrontation and division are
unavoidable with today’s contentious religious and political issues. Unless and until Americans can love their
neighbors of other races and religions as they love themselves, libertarian
democracy, human rights and the secular rule of law will be at risk, and confrontation
will continue to trump reconciliation.
Notes
and related commentary:
On how U.S democracy has been
downgraded to a flawed democracy, see
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-economist-just-downgraded-the-us-from-a-full-democracy-to-a-flawed-democracy/.
On two contrasting views of Trump’s
travel ban on Muslims, see Michael Gerson’s criticism at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-half-baked-travel-ban-is-a-picture-of-american-shame/2017/01/30/1a0cd234-e6f4-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1, and a more favorably view of Syrian Christians living in
Pennsylvania at https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trump-is-right-in-a-way-to-do-what-hes-doing-christian-syrian-community-in-pa-supports-temporary-travel-ban/2017/01/30/9004dd38-e71c-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?utm_term=.dc5b56394f74&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
On how the “unalienable” natural
human rights in the Declaration of Independence relate to the Constitution in
considering Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch as a Supreme Court justice,
see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gorsuchs-chance-to-correct-scalia-on-the-constitution/2017/02/01/765d2980-e8b6-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1.
On President Trump considering
action on religious freedom that could lead to discrimination, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-considering-order-on-religious-freedom-that-critics-warn-could-lead-to-discrimination/2017/02/02/631ea41a-e8ee-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1.
On how Trump would corrupt the
pulpit and religious freedom by allowing churches to endorse candidates and
political parties, see https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/opinion/how-trump-would-corrupt-the-pulpit.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share.
On political issues with Pakistan’s
blasphemy law, see https://apnews.com/46292e5d926049e3821c9cf2b784ddbf/Pakistan's-blasphemy-law-exalts-killer,-threatens-bloggers?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=2fd23856ae-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-2fd23856ae-399971105; also http://religionnews.com/2017/01/26/pakistan-bans-famed-religious-tv-host-for-hurling-blasphemy-allegations/.
On how Christians rather than
Muslims may be bringing shari’a-style law to the U.S., see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sharia-law-may-be-coming-to-america-but-its-christians-who-are-bringing-it/2017/02/02/aa44fbe8-e98c-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1.
On faith and freedom, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2014/12/faith-and-freedom.html.
On the greatest commandment as a
common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/01/jesus-meets-muhammad-is-there-common.html.
On whether the greatest commandment is truly a common word of faith for Muslims, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/01/jesus-meets-muhammad-is-there-common.html.
On religion and human rights, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/02/religion-and-human-rights.html.
On a fundamental problem with religion, see http://www.jesusmeetsmuhammad.com/2015/05/a-fundamental-problem-with-religion.html.
On the freedoms of religion and speech: essentials of liberty in law,
see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/08/the-freedoms-of-religion-and-speech.html.
On the
evolution of religion and politics from oppression to freedom, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/09/the-evolution-of-religion-and-politics.html.
On religion,
liberty and justice at home and abroad, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/11/religion-liberty-and-justice-at-home.html.
On religion
and a politics of reconciliation based on shared values, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/11/religion-and-politics-of-reconciliation_19.html.
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