There was an interesting quotation on my Facebook page this morning that went something like this: I never saw this coming, but we now live in an age where Christians get upset when you quote Jesus and Republicans get upset when you quote Ronald Reagan.
MAGA Christians dont want to live next to someone black or brown, Asian, or God forbid, Mexican. So if you quote Jesus and tell them they should love their neighbor, it goes in one ear and out the other. And now when the voice of Ronald Reagan is heard on the air decrying tariffs, at the initiation and publication on the internet from Canada, Trump adds an additional 10% tariff on Canada as punishment.
Christian nationalists and MAGA Republicans, are increasingly moving this administration and all the rest of us, willingly or not, into war with the rest of the world. For instance, names matter. There is a difference between a Defense Department and a War Department. One is intent on defense and the other is prepared (and itching) for war. No longer are we promoting a belief that a good defense is the best offense. We are increasingly willing to be on offense, as those in the military who disagree on offensive military tactics are retired or fired.
We are on the offense in international waters. We have now destroyed 14 boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific departing from Venezuela since early September. All of the attacks have been condemned by the U.N. Human Rights office: These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats. Airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law.
Democratic members of Congress are asking questions about these attacks. Where is the evidence these are drug smugglers? Why not have the Coast Guard interdict the boats in our waters? Why not allow due process to play out as our laws and sense of morality require? Why are only Republicans invited to a meeting to discuss these issues? Is it perhaps because the president is threatening ground action in Venezuela and moving major forces off their coast, including 6,000 Marines? An aircraft carrier is in-route to the scene. In the meantime, President Maduro of Venezuela is asking President Putin for additional military aid.
Its quite possible that the War Department would open a second front for military action. The president is now threatening Nigeria for their persecution and killing of Christians. This past Saturday Trump condemned the mass slaughter of Christians in the country, and cut off all aid and assistance. Further he wrote, I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!
With Trump, its important to take into account the CAPITAL LETTERS. Thats the way you know how upset he is and whether he really means what he says.
Actually, the situation in Nigeria is quite complicated politically and religiously. The violence is sometimes based on communal and ethnic tensions, rather than for religious reasons. There are disputes between farmers and herders over limited resources. And both Muslims and Christians are dying from religious violence initiated by extremists. In a country like Nigeria, rather evenly divided between the two Christian and Moslem religious communities, it would be tragic for another country, increasingly responsive to Christian Nationalists, to intervene militarily and wage war against the Moslems.
The international moves of an authoritarian government are sometimes more difficult to learn about and understand than those on the home front, where those actions are staring us in the face. No longer. Now its becoming more difficult to know what is happening right here in Washington. For one thing, you need freedom of the press. To understand what is happening in the War Department, you need reporters present, not out on the streets. Almost 50 reporters left the War Department the other day because they refused to take vows of silence unless Secretary Hegseth gave them permission to report War Department news. Now, even senators cannot get a White House response to their questions.
And then we have the federal Army, the National Guard and that seemly cast of characters called ICE, all of them arrayed on our streets in their military garb (and masks for ICE), all in the interest of security. Somehow, they all seem focused against people of color, legally present in this country or not, and folks who object in protest to this administrations policies. The War Department is focusing not only on external enemies but internal enemies as well.
I am still convinced that the way of Jesus is about loving the neighbor, whatever the color, culture, country or religious persuasion. Its hard to believe in love as you prepare to kill in war. Id be delighted to hear from those Christians who support these War Department policies, as to how they understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
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