Sometimes, it feels like I am dreaming, or rather, I am living in a nightmare world, as I look out and see the insanity which seems to have taken over the world. Lewis Carroll gives us nothing equal to the madness found with Donald Trump and his followers. The Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts have nothing on Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk. When I wake up, not only do I wonder what Donald Trump said, but how his followers will explain and justify the unjustifiable. What is the world to think of the United States when it sees Donald Trump saying he desires to buy Greenland, take back the Panama Canal, and is thinking about making Canada the “51st state”? How should everyone react when Trump says if he does not get his way, he has not ruled out using the military to have his wishes fulfilled?
While many might say we should just not trust the ramblings of Donald Trump because he is often trolling the public, that is not a good response. No leader of the so-called free world should be acting in such an uncouth manner. Moreover, if Trump really is trolling us, what is the point of it, to distract us from something else he plans to do, something which he knows would be resisted and stopped if people paid attention? Likewise, we must keep in mind that Trump, and many of his associates like Musk, often change their plans, and what begins as a distraction eventually becomes the goal (thanks, in part, to the fanaticism of their followers who promote what they heard by treating it not only as true but a good idea). Perhaps there is no better example of this than the way Musk took over twitter; many thought he had no real interest in taking over the company, but once he declared an interest in buying it, he eventually had to do as he said because his followers (and perhaps many of his business associates) expected him to do so.
We must not ignore the madness before us; we must be ready to resist whatever Trump, and his associates (like Musk), says, even if it sounds crazy and something no sane person would ever do. That is because the more Trump speaks of an issue, the more be becomes obsessed with it, and the more his own insane rhetoric becomes what he wants. His rhetoric already proves the United States, and with it, the world at large, are in for a lot of trouble, as Trump thinks nothing about the rule of law is sacrosanct; he is willing to destroy the order of society in order to remain on top, and the more he finds himself in a dangerous situation, the more likely he will come up with a terrible solution. He has more than once shown a desire to abandon the Constitution. His threats are already causing the military to openly debate what it will do if it is ordered to take up arms against civilians within the United States because it is something which Trump has indicated he plans to do!
Where are the Christians in the midst of this madness? There are, to be sure, many speaking out, not only against Trump, not only against Putin, not only against Musk, and the way all three of them are using Christians as fodder for their plans, but against the greater delusion which seems to be taking control of the world, of which Trump, Putin and Musk only represent the greatest example. Nonetheless, there are far too many Christians believing the lie, as they are being told that Christians have not been treated unfairly, and that Trump, Putin and Musk are helping Christians take back what is properly theirs. This certainly has been the message which Putin has been giving, and it is the kind of message which Trump has picked up, and it is a message which even Musk is trying to promote (calling himself a cultural Christian as a way to explain why, even if he is not Christian, he really supports those Christians taking back the world and ruling it with an iron fist).
Putin must be pleased with the destabilization which is happening around the world. As his onslaught against the West goes forward, he continues to have many Christians, especially in America, support his campaign – not only against Ukraine, but against NATO and the free world as a whole because they believe the West has become immoral and deserves to be taken out. Trump, Putin, Musk, and many like them, are encouraging Christians to replace the secular state with an extreme form of Christian nationalism, that is, with the worst kinds of Christian integralism, a system which, despite the name and the way Christians use it, is fundamentally anti-Christian due to the way such a system undermines Christian social teaching (such as the way it rejects the principle of human dignity, and with it, basic human rights, such as religious liberty; the system is legalistic and enforces ideological preferences upon the people, punishing those who are deemed to be morally impure).
How have we come to this? While I have been seeing the general digression of the public representation of Christianity for decades, it has, in some ways, been a slow evolution. Originally most Christians saw through it and rejected it. But slowly, through politics, and the rich who have used their wealth to take over not only the media, but institutions of higher learning, Christians have been slowly indoctrinated with extreme right-wing ideologies, making those ideologies not only seem normal, but what Christianity wants. They have made sure Christians have not paid attention to the social doctrine represented in Scripture and the Christian tradition, because Christians who pay attention to that know that Scripture, and especially Christ, presents to us the need to establish the universal brother-and-sisterhood of humanity, working together to create a just society, one which helps the most vulnerable by putting a stop to the way the rich and powerful have exploited them. Christians have found themselves diverted from Christ and Christ’s teachings by the so-called culture war, where they have become convinced that minor concerns and issues are major ones and what should be understood as major concerns are those which society has no power to deal with and so should be ignored. Why else have so many of them become more concerned with sports, and the people playing in them, than they are in the fate of the poor, and the way the poor, women, foreigners, and the disabled continue to be marginalized by so-called Christians in positions of power? Why else are they more concerned about who bakes a cake than they are with hungry children who will no longer have food or health care if, once again, so-called Christians following Trump get their wish?
It’s a mad, mad world, and Christians have helped create the madness. Not every Christian is mad. Not every Christian has fallen for the deception. Those who have not must do two things: constantly state and restate what Christ expects from Christians, but also, act on those expectations, even if it puts them in danger. They must resist the present darkness which is spreading around the world. They need to embrace the preferential option for the poor and oppressed; they need to work to help refugees and other migrants being threatened by Trump and Trump’s allies; they need to work for the promotion of true peace, not the false peace of Trump and Putin; they need to listen to and hear all those suffering as a result of the darkness, which often includes people of different groups being manipulated to fight each other in brutal ways (as can be seen in the Middle East); they need to truly be salt of the earth because, engaging the acts of justice and charity which Christ expects from them. Christians need to repent for what they have done to make for the present situation, doing the penance which comes with such metanoia; until they do so, is there any surprise Christians will find non-Christians question them, seeing not only Christians have undermined the way of Christ, but such non-Christians often live out Christ’s expectations better than Christians? The world is becoming a mad nightmare; let us hope we can wake up from it before it is too late.
* This Is Part XXXVI Of My Personal Reflections And Speculations Series
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