"If Donald Trump wins we should shut down the churches," a Presbyterian minister said in his sermon this past Sunday, "because it would show what a terrible job we have done teaching Christian principles."
Maybe another cleric would offer an opposite view. But, it is hard for me to reconcile Trump's behavior with Christianity.
This is not about being Republican or Democrat or Independent. It is also not to say that Hillary Clinton is a saint. It is about the bullying, barbaric language of a demagogue like Trump on the one hand and the whole idea of civil & respectful discourse on the other.
In its ten year history The Journal of Sacred Work has remained steadfastly apolitical. That is because no candidate for President on either side has ever attacked the notion of God's love as the guidepost for our lives & our caregiving - until Donald Trump.
Consider just a brief list of some of Trump's offenses to date: He has serially criticized Vietnam POWs as "not heroes because they were captured," described eleven million illegal Mexican immigrants as "rapists & murderers," has called for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. simply because of their religion, has insulted candidate Carly Fiorina as ugly ("Just look at her,"), Senator Marco Rubio as "Little Marco," Senator Ted Cruz as "Lyin' Ted", Hillary Clinton as "Crooked Hillary" & every other opponent with name-calling typical of a schoolyard bully not a national leader.
Trump has described the Federal Judge in his Trump University fraud trial as unqualified because he is of Mexican descent, has said that women who seek abortions should be prosecuted &, in a particularly disgusting display, degraded a New York Times reporter afflicted with multiple sclerosis (on left in photo) by mocking the reporter's condition.
At least twenty men & women ran for President this year. Trump was the only one to race to the top of his party's ticket on a carpet woven almost entirely of insults & innuendo. He is the only one who, in the words of Republican Governor John Kasich, is "taking the low road to the highest office in the land."
I travel the country speaking about the need for Radical Loving Leadership in healthcare. Every principle I teach is love-based & grounded in the language of competence, compassion & respect for the dignity & worth of each person.
Trump's behavior teaches the opposite. He is long on insults & short on substance.
We know Jesus' teaching: To love one another, even our enemies. Trump's teaching appears to be "love only those who agree with you, humiliate those who don't & ridicule minorities & women whenever you can."
So is Trump "the Anti-Christ?" That title more properly fits dictators like Hitler & Mussolini & Stalin as well as demagogues like Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s.
But, over the last twelve months Trump has given many the impression that he is not running for Commander in Chief. He wants to be Hater in Chief.
Is that what we want in our President? Is that the model we should be asking America's healthcare leaders to follow not to mention the example we want for our children & grandchildren?
Can Donald Trump possibly unite his own party let alone the country? Is Donald Trump who we want as the keeper of our democracy & the leader of the free world?
Fortunately, Trump will never win the Presidency. The day after he loses we will see a phenomenon typical of the failed bully syndrome: He will be abandoned by millions. Those who supported him will feel like fools. And future generations will wonder, "How did such a hateful person con so many people into nominating him in the first place?"
The day of Trump's loss will be a good one for America, for Christians & for those of all faiths who believe that "God is love."
Now. Even if you have seen it already take 45 seconds to watch what a person looks like when he is expressing hatred:
Reverend Erie Chapman
