{"id":40051,"date":"2018-07-30T18:44:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T22:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=40051"},"modified":"2018-07-30T18:44:37","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T22:44:37","slug":"the-mother-of-exiles-has-a-fistful-of-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2018\/07\/30\/the-mother-of-exiles-has-a-fistful-of-lightning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mother of Exiles has a fistful of lightning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2022 In the Narnia books, Aslan refers to the children from our world as \u201csons of Adam and daughters of Eve.\u201d That\u2019s lovely, evocative language, and since it comes from some of the few books that all white evangelicals are permitted to read, it often gets recited and recycled in other evangelical books, articles, and sermons.<\/p>\n

Oddly, though, no one ever seems to switch it up, saying, \u201cdaughters of Adam and sons of Eve,\u201d even though that formulation is necessarily just as true and meaningful as the original.\u00a0Even more oddly, the latter form seems to upset some of the same people who are most fond of C.S. Lewis\u2019 original phrase.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a whole universe of weirdly incoherent theologizing behind that discomfort. It shows how the so-called \u201ccomplementarian\u201d dudes on some level seem to believe that men are descended only<\/em> from Adam and women are descended only<\/em> from Eve. That\u2019s not how heredity works. It\u2019s not how parents work. It\u2019s incompatible with everything we know about both nature and nurture.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s worth exploring in greater depth, but for now just let me recommend saying \u201cdaughter of Adam\u201d or \u201cson of Eve\u201d around those folks just for the pleasure of watching them squirm.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Donald Trump today said that America \u201cis the laughing stock of the world<\/a>\u201d because of our immigration laws. And he said this in the context of arguing \u2014 in contradiction of his most-famous and most-repeated campaign promise \u2014 that American taxpayers should fund his proposed border wall. Trump doesn\u2019t quite seem to realize that \u201cMexico will pay for it\u201d is regarded as a hilarious punchline all over the world and that his delusional insistence on that is the cause of the global laughter he\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

But the deeper problem here is Trump\u2019s weird notion that welcoming immigrants and refugees makes America a \u201claughing stock.\u201d That\u2019s just \u2026 weird<\/em>. Especially for a guy from New York City.<\/p>\n

The classic articulation of everything that bewilders Trump (and his supporters) in that regard is Emma Lazarus\u2019 poem, \u201cThe New Colossus\u201d:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
\nWith conquering limbs astride from land to land;
\nHere at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
\nA mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
\nIs the imprisoned lightning, and her name
\nMother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
\nGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
\nThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
\n\u201cKeep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!\u201d cries she
\nWith silent lips. \u201cGive me your tired, your poor,
\nYour huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
\nThe wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
\nSend these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
\nI lift my lamp beside the golden door!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the most basic level, Trump just plain doesn\u2019t understand the appeal of that. It baffles him. He\u2019s still stuck on his envy of \u201cthe brazen giant of Greek fame.\u201d He\u2019s desperate for \u201cstoried pomp\u201d and for flamboyant symbols of might and conquest and subjugation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMother of Exiles\u201d just strikes him as a shameful insult. It repulses him. So do all those other, more famous words from Lazarus\u2019 poem: poor, masses, wretched refuse, homeless.<\/p>\n

He and his followers are simply unable to understand what you see, what most<\/em> people see \u2014 which is that Mother of Exiles is just about the most bad-ass, kick-ass title imaginable. The Mother of Exiles with a fist full of lightning \u2014 seriously, what could possibly be cooler<\/em> than that?<\/p>\n

But Trump, apparently, will never understand that.\u00a0Or maybe he just hates the Statue of Liberty because it\u2019s full of stairs<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Thayer Verschoor, appointed by Trump as executive director of intergovernmental affairs at the Veteran\u2019s Administration, is a promoter of racist \u201cbirther\u201d lies, believes that vaccines are \u201cpoison,\u201d and says there\u2019s a \u201cMuslim problem\u201d<\/a> in America.<\/p>\n

Any other president, governor, mayor, or school board chair who appointed someone this hateful and stupid to such an important post would be relentlessly hounded just for that<\/em>. This guy isn\u2019t even a Top 100 Worst Trump appointee.<\/p>\n

And Republicans won\u2019t do anything about it. What a cesspool that party has become.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Speaking of the cesspool formerly known as the Republican Party: Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan is making a bid to become the next GOP Speaker of the House<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I will grant that having a former wrestling coach who, for years, looked the other way as dozens of athletes were sexually abused by someone else is a marginal upgrade over the longest-serving Republican speaker, Denny Hastert, who was a former wrestling coach who was directly, personally responsible for sexually abusing athletes. Still, though, would it be too much to ask that Republicans maybe look for a congressional leader who isn\u2019t connected to the sexual abuse of wrestlers at all?<\/em><\/p>\n

(That\u2019s a rhetorical question because the answer, obviously, is yes, that would<\/em> be too much to ask of them. If he were still around, the GOP would absolutely be nominating John du Pont to serve as their next speaker. That\u2019s just how they do things now.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg offers a dense, fascinating Twitter thread on Sotah<\/a> \u2014 the trial by ordeal prescribed in Numbers 5 that bortionsmurder white Christians have collectively agreed to pretend doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written about Sotah here a few times previously, see:<\/p>\n