Hypocrisy reigns supreme in today’s world. Religion is a drug akin to skewed notions of patriotism.
When “faith” and “loyalty” are blinded to compassion and new information, there is no room for remorse or personal growth. All too frequently, patriotism is perverted to support bigotry, to justify an absurd military-based economy, and to perpetuate arrogance about our standing in the world.
Such delusional thinking is our undoing. Many world leaders have had enough of our superiority complex.
The bizarre support of religious leaders and followers who voted for and continue to support Donald Trump as president demonstrates that such “Christianity” has nothing to do with personal responsibility or consistent dogmatic practices. The Christian right is shamelessly opportunistic in their quest to legislate bigotry in the name of “religious freedom.” Apparently it does not matter who the leader is as long as they continue to erode the separation of church and state. Those “family values” are something else!
Vice President Mike Pence and press secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders claim their Christian faith is intact as they stand by their man. After all, no one is perfect, they say. Their desire for power overrides concerns for their souls and their sense of humanity as they actively support an unfit, hedonistic, multi-bigoted, incompetent, destructive power-monger. The rationalizations for supporting Trump are infinite. Who can keep track?
I am beyond weary regarding the constant discrepancies of religious and patriotic zealots. These pious bigots justify the unequal treatment of LGBT people, they perpetuate white supremacy and nationalism, they actually believe in religious and/or national “exceptionalism” (where’s the humility?), and they do not embrace shared power models of leadership. The religious right is destructive and immoral. Such is the nature of evil. It is disguised as devotion to God or nation.
When will we learn to embrace diversity? Does one have to fully understand “the other” in order to support principles of equality and dignity for each and every human being? I do not believe so, but it seems that humility, empathy and compassion are necessary qualities to engage when considering people unlike myself. The uncompromising patriotic and religious right folks do not value diversity as they push an agenda that says one has to be this way or that way in order to be a true patriot or a true Christian. Empathy is missing.
The leaders of the hate groups who organized protests in Virginia this past weekend now say they will make Charlottesville the middle of the universe as they will not go away. They are blaming the police for not protecting them. They want white power restored. Perpetrators who claim to be victims do not engage in empathy. They are deluded, dangerous thugs.
Borders of all kinds have been created by patriarchal rulers who have, throughout the ages, believed in self-protection, holding onto the planet’s resources as if we own them, and keeping “the other” out with suspicion of intention. That the United States calls itself the greatest country on Earth while simultaneously kicking people when they are down is the most shameful hypocrisy imaginable.
The established right-wing leaders do not believe in health care and housing for all of its residents as fundamental rights. They promote the notion that refugees are criminals. What would it be like to leave the home and culture you have always known, to do so after seeing family members and friends murdered, to have no money, to be afraid … only to have people condemning you rather than helping you? Such American “patriotism” is contemptible.
The so-called religious right and patriotic right have this in common: They play on fear, ignorance and laziness to validate absolutist positions. They tell their followers the world is unsafe because of people unlike themselves. Their crusades are heartless. They create division and violence. Remind me, who is making the world unsafe? Hmm.
What would happen if all of the political and religious leaders promoted an agenda of cooperation and kindness without judgment? Imagine being curious about others instead of rushing to generalization. Imagine a day where we look back on this time and shake our heads regarding the foolishness and dangerous mind-sets of the bullies of the world? Imagine peace. Kindness. Love.
Imagining keeps me alive and wanting to help.
J.M. Sorrell, of Haydenville, is a feminist activist and health care advocate.