These are weird and scary times. We have an extremely unpopular president who is systematically undermining our Constitution and everything our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) thought America should be… and even though we all see it happening, he’s still likely to get reelected. Part of that has to do with a very racist and anti-poor Electoral College, but it also has to do with the apathy of non-voters (I have a theory that apathy is a lack of passion, and therefore compassion, which is why I tie it into this article). However, the biggest reason the Antichrist might get reelected is the Scribes and Pharisees of our day: a.k.a.—Evangelicals. Those who call themselves spokesmen for “God.”
Technically, what’s happening isn’t new, though it looks new. We’ve had some scary presidential candidates before, but we’ve never elected them… until now. And we’ve certainly never given them this much power and allowed them to get away with this much corruption.
As we anticipate our next election, I can’t help but ask myself, “is 2020 an anomaly, or a precursor of things to come?” One of those answers scares me to death. The nineteenth century was one of the most violent in earth’s history, but is it just child’s play to what the twenty-first century is about to bring us? And this time it’s America: a country billed as the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” When I turn on the news, America looks like a country taken over by the angry, vitriolic, frightened, bigoted, violent conspiracy theorists. You’d think that in our scientific and “enlightened” society there would be less of them, and they wouldn’t hold so much power.
It’s ironic. Our president compares himself to Lincoln but would be tweeting that Lincoln wasn’t American and that he was fostering “reverse racism.” Evangelicals brandish the name of Jesus yet despise everything Jesus stood for: love and compassion. They speak of a Kingdom of Heaven, and yet they persecute the very people Jesus invited to share that kingdom. They claim God made this world, and yet they go out of their way to destroy it.
The election of the Evangelical’s golden boy (pun recognized) has release a storm of ’fire and fury’ throughout the world that brings into question the very idea as to whether or not we as a species have evolved at all. Yes, we have a conscious, but so few choose to use it.
Our citizens of color are being gunned down in the streets and those who do the shooting are lionized by the president and Evangelicals. We are bombarded with attacks against peaceful protesters. Fully armed militia storm capitol buildings and verbally and physically threaten the lives of those around them. Antagonists walk into public places in the midst of a pandemic not wearing a mask and looking to pick a fight—and possibly spread a virus.
Millennia ago, a young rabbi looked into the universe and saw “God.” His God was not just “God,” but a “Father.” Not just a “Father,” but “Abba—daddy.” He saw a god who loved his children, who took part in their lives, who cared about their sufferings, and most of all, who didn’t play favorites. He redefined both God and love to those around him, giving generations a deeper insight into what love must look like.
It has been said since we developed language that “Love conquers all.” Rabbi Jesus seemed to believe that (though thousands before and after Jesus have also believed that).
It’s a lovely platitude, and it makes for some great rock and pop tunes, but is it true? We can see throughout history that love (at least as we understand it) is indeed powerful. We’ve seen it change lives, alter the course of history, and bring some of the most disparate people together. But those changes don’t penetrate the heinous, and they don’t tend to be permanent. Fear always seems to creep back in, and love is abandoned for self-protection.
Those who choose to live from love will often find themselves overwhelmed by fear and loathing, as we saw in the example of Jesus. The more he talked about love, the more enemies he created. Those who live from fear will go to great lengths to stop love, using any means necessary to silence those who speak of love.
Every day since Trump took over America, I have been astounded at how low humankind can sink, and how gleeful they are about that descent. Looking back to our last election, we never dreamed that a group of people so devoid of intelligence, of human compassion… would hold so much power over us. Yet here we are.
So many of us ask, “If there is compassion, may we find it… and soon—before it’s too late?” But as we’ve seen through the lives of great men and women: MLK, Jesus, the Buddha, Anne Frank, Corrie Ten Boom… compassion is a difficult road to walk. It must be chosen—every moment, and those who choose it are likely to encounter an assortment of anger, fear, and acriony.
Maybe that’s why so few of us embrace it.
The title of this article asks, “Will America ever find Compassion?” Yet, if the premise of the piece is true, then it could be that Americans ARE finding compassion and the overwhelming hatred playing out on the streets, on the steps of capitol buildings, in Evangelical churches, in the White House, in grocery stores… is a response to that. The same response Jesus got when he started encourage compassion in God’s Kingdom.
Of course, it’s anecdotal and we don’t have a lot of data on love. Still, the question is important. Will America find compassion, and can we fight the acrimony and hostility that it seems to stimulate? Notice it’s not “can we...” Of course we can. But “will” we?