Musings on Who or What Is God? And Why That Matters

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., May 17, 2025

Many people of faith don’t believe in the vengeful God of the Hebrew Bible, but believe in a God of love and mercy exemplified by Jesus.  Many progressive Christians believe in a demiurge, or lesser man-created god; and many progressive Christians who believe that Jesus was the universal Word of God, or Logos, share that Gnostic belief in a dimiurge.

As an octogenarian retired United Methodist pastor, I’m a Maverick Methodist who believes in a universal God of love and mercy who sent Jesus as His Word to be followed, not worshipped as God’s human sacrifice and the only means of salvation.  I believe that the teachings of Jesus on altruistic love are God’s universal will for all humankind.

The moral teachings of Jesus are summed up in the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves.  It’s considered a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike; but its universalism is heretical to exclusivist Christian beliefs that Jesus never taught.

According to Jesus God’s will is that his universal and timeless teachings are relevant to both our social and political lives.  While Christians have neglected their stewardship of the moral teachings on sacrificial love, the church has promoted exclusivist doctrines that don’t  require a moral commitment to follow Jesus, only exclusivist belief in Jesus as God.

Jesus never taught that he was divine or that God preferred Christianity over other religions.  My commentaries have promoted the universal relevance of the teachings of Jesus to politics, with an emphasis on discerning the difference between good and evil.  Jesus never promoted church doctrines that asserted Christianity as the one true faith.

The Trump regime represents the worst of Christian nationalism and populism, with no assurance that America’s Constitutional government can be restored.  With a weak Democratic Party and Trump’s dominant Republican regime, the future of freedom and democracy in America remain uncertain until the 2026 midterm elections.

Jesus taught that 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 politics and the church.  The teachings of Jesus on sacrificial love have never been popular, but church doctrines based on belief in Jesus as God but never taught by Jesus remain a popular source of cheap grace.

What American Christians think of God is shaped by popular ideals in American politics and the church.  It should be obvious that it matters greatly to America’s future who or what Americans think of God.  In the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil our fate is shaped by our concepts of God.  It’s one battle that America cannot afford to lose.         

Notes:

It is not a new phenomenon that horrors have happened in the name of God. The Crusades were wars fought to convert the infidels; during the Inquisition, folks were tortured in the name of keeping Catholicism pure; smart, strong women were hunted and killed as witches both in Europe and in colonial Massachusetts. Africans were enslaved; Indigenous were slaughtered; land was stolen; theologies of Apartheid were created in South Africa and Jim Crow in the U.S.. Blacks were lynched and Jews were exterminated in the name of God. Queer and Trans people are banished and tortured in the name of God. Lies, deception, broken hearts, poverty, capitalism run amok, environmental raping and pillaging, all happen in the name of God.

In the name of God. Which God? Whose God? Does God want the death and destruction of people and planet?

Honestly, we don’t fully know who God is. God is mystery, that we can’t quite comprehend. Is there a God at all? I think so. I believe so. But to be honest, much of what many people call “god” is made up from the worst of our thoughts, fears and projections. In other words, though some Holy texts say God creates humans in God’s image, humans also create god in ours.

Too often that made-up god is a bully, hates all the people we hate, and will smite our enemies. That made-up god is on the side of the rich and powerful; the poor and disenfranchised be damned. In fact that made-up god wants us to believe that the tragedies of poverty and sickness are the fault of the poor and sick.

God is love, and God’s will is that we have peace, well-being, and an everlasting love. 

Notes:

Who is (Your) God? What we believe about God shapes how we treat our neighbor.  See 

 https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/who-is-your-god/

On the greatest commandment as a common word of faith and love over law:

(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html

(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/love-over-law-principle-at-heart-of.html

(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/who-is-my-neighbor.html

(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/the-politics-of-loving-our-neighbors-as.html

Other related commentary:

(3/31/18): Altruism: The Missing Ingredient in American Christianity and Democracy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/03/altruism-missing-ingredient-in-american.html.

(6/15/24): Musings Why Churches Ignore the Moral Teachings of Jesus https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/06/500-musings-on-why-most-churches-ignore.html 

(8/3/24): Musings on Popularity as the Measure of Success in the Church and Democracy 

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/08/musings-on-popularity-as-measure-of.html.

Musings on the Rule of Law: Is It Based on the Constitution or Trump?

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., May 10, 2025

When Trump took office as President he swore to support and defend the Constitution.  Now he’s not sure what that means for due process requirements for deported migrants.  Trump says that he has “excellent lawyers” to guide him on his Constitutional obligations; but the issue remains unresolved, with Trump remaining uncertain on what rule of law he must follow.

Trump’s actions deporting illegal immigrants have been considered unconstitutional, but if U.S. forces become directly involved in the Middle East war and/or in the Russian-Ukraine war, Trump would likely impose martial law and avoid peacetime Constitutional limits on his rule of law as commander in chief of U.S. forces in wartime.

If the U.S. military forces become involved in a war and Trump becomes a wartime commander in chief, he could arguably impose martial law and avoid accountability for peacetime due process.  Abraham Lincoln did that in the U.S. Civil War, and indications are that Trump would favor reducing Constitutional limitations on his power.

Trump may be evil; but he has been evil like a fox in avoiding Constitutional limits on his power.   He has so far avoided accountability for violations of Constitutional due process of those he has ordered deported, and it should be expected that Trump will continue to limit any restrictions on his executive powers.

So far the federal courts have been the only limits on Trump’s power to defy the rule of law, but the power of the courts to hold Trump accountable has been limited to contempt proceedings.  Impeachment seems to be the only real power to enforce the rule of law against a sitting President, and impeachment is not feasible until we have a new Congress.

America can hope that the 2026 midterm elections will produce a Congress that is not controlled by Trump, and keep Trump out of a war and hold him accountable for peacetime Constitutional standards of due process.  Otherwise Trump could commit  U.S. forces to a war such as that in Ukraine or Israel, and as a wartime commander in chief and impose martial law.

Don’t expect humility or respect for the Constitution fromTrump.  Based on his obsession with concentrating his power and his doubts as to whether he is subject to the Constitution and the checks and balances of Congress, he’s likely to favor a war that would enable him to impose martial law and restrict peacetime standards of due process. 

 Only a reinvigorated Congress can save the checks and balances in the Constitution.  Until then America will have to depend on its federal courts to define the limits of constitutional due process.  As a former elected official and an Army Officer I have had to swear to support and defend the Constitution, and I believe that Trump has the same obligations.      

      

Notes:

When asked if he needs to uphold the Constitution, Trump says: ‘I don’t know’

“I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said,” the president said.  He went on to say that “I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”   https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/04/i-dont-know-trump-constitution-00326040.

See also, “Trump says he doesn’t know if he backs constitutional due process rights in a new interview.”  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-he-doesnt-know-if-he-backs-constitutional-due-process-rights-in-new-interview.

Musings on the Inexpressible Evil of Trump

By Rudy Barnes,Jr, May 3, 2025. See Beyond the chaos of Trump's authoritarianism, taken from the article by Jeffrey Franz, published April 24, 2025 in Progressive Christianity at https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/the-inexpressible-evil-of-trump-2-0/. 

In a word, Trump is an evil force in U.S. Politics.  To understand the levels of evil and the unending darkness of Trump 2.0, it’s important to understand some of the background that explains Trump’s behavior.  We can begin with Roy Cohn, Trump’s mentor, who was abrasive, corrupt, and immoral to the core.

In 1973, Donald Trump and his father, Fred, were in trouble.  The U.S. Department of Justice had sued both father and son, along with their multi-million dollar business, alleging racial bias with their real estate dealings.  The government was able to get multiple employees to confess the wrong doing.  The advice of the Trump lawyers was to settle and move on, but Trump resisted doing this, seeking the counsel of Roy Cohn, the notorious attorney for Senator Joseph McCarthy during the “Red Scare” of the 1950s.  As it turns out, Trump developed his “playbook” for politics from the mentoring he received from Roy Cohn. 

When they first met, Roy told Trump, “You might be guilty; it doesn’t matter.  Go after the Justice Department.  Don’t ever admit guilt.”  Cohn advised him to “fight back” and countersue the federal government, which is what the Trump company ended up doing.  The lesson here for the young Donald Trump was clear: you can turn a situation around just by ignoring the facts and going after your attacker.  Early on, Cohn’s mantra to Trump was attack and counter-attack, attack and counter-attack.  Never admit any wrong-doing, and never apologize. 

In a recent documentary on Roy Cohn, he is described by people who knew him as “a snake,” “a scoundrel” and “a new strain of a son of a bitch.”  One of the questions the documentary seeks to unveil is how much of him and his “savage,” “abrasive” and “amoral” behavior is visible in the behavior of Donald Trump.  Over his career, Cohn had  been indicted for stock-swindling, obstructing justice, perjury, bribery, conspiracy, extortion, blackmail, and filing false reports.  Like Trump, Cohn was famous for winning cases by delaying, denying, and endlessly lying.

More evil than evil

“In trying to understand these times (the third decade of the 21st century), we should point out that we have never had a president who was remotely as evil and as corrupt as Donald Trump.  The depths and levels of his evil are seemingly endless.  We almost need a new word for something that is “more evil than evil” in order to capture the darkness of his spirit.  Even more amazing is that, assuming it was an honest election, the American people who elected him President of the United States share culpability for supporting his evil.”  

Let’s take a look at who we put back in the White House a few months ago: “A twice impeached, four-times indicted, convicted (on 34 counts) criminal. A convicted rapist (according to the judge in the case) and sexual predator. A man who was having sex with a porn star when his wife was nursing his new-born child at home. A man who openly ridicules and mocks disabled people. A man who calls veterans who served in our armed forces “suckers” and “losers.” A man who is an incurable, pathological liar and a malignant narcissist. A man who, unwilling to accept his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, inspired a treasonous insurrection at our nation’s capital seeking to overthrow the 2020 election results. 

Trump is a nasty narcissist, and he has never been reluctant to show his evil nature. “Trump took our country out of the Paris climate change accords, canceled the treaty with Iran to prohibit them from developing nuclear weapons; and is threatening to terminate our participation in NATO. He is weakening our national security through his sycophant support of Vladimir Putin in Russia, coupled with his bullying disrespect and lack of support of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, a democratic ally of ours in Europe; Trump only obeys court orders he agrees with, and just defied the 9-0 decision of the United States Supreme Court to mediate the return of Salvadoran Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was legally in the United States and then unlawfully deported to a notorious Salvadoran prison.”

Notes:

“By the grace of God, America, what were we thinking?

To this day, Trump will not hire anyone or allow anyone to work in his administration who is not an election denier.  In other words: someone who does not agree that he was grievously denied the presidency in the 2020 election.  Building on Trump’s incurable animus in all of this, his only clear policy positions thus far (first 100 days) are retaliation and retribution against all of his perceived enemies.  Directly, or indirectly, these dark motivations are what animates Trump.

So, what do we do?

In the illuminating light of Christian values, one hardly knows where to begin.  We do not have words that adequately the level of evil embodied by Donald Trump.  We need a new vocabulary to define his evil concept of political legitimacy.  Can we begin to imagine the sheer ugliness and hatred that stir in this man’s heart? 

In his excellent book, “The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness,” the great theologian Reinhold Niebuhr noted that “evil is always the assertion of some self-interest without regard to the whole.”  This is Trump to a “t.”  Niebuhr goes on to point out how evil leaders are evil precisely because they know no law beyond the self.  Such leadership becomes morally cynical in its declaration that “a strong nation need acknowledge no law beyond its own strength.”*  (*The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, pages 9-10)

In response to this evil, “we the people” must do everything we can to get organized and push back.  In recent weeks, protests are already wide spread across the country.  They are literally happening everywhere and with increasing numbers of protestors. It may come to the point where millions of Americans will have to storm our nation’s capitol and demand the return of the rule of law and the full-granting of our constitutional rights.

Throughout the Bible, the voices of social and economic justice sound out.  In the face of evil, again and again, prophetic voices have shouted out their truth.  Now is the time for these voices to ring out across our great country and for us to rise in protest until our nation is rid of this demonic presence.