President Donald Trump’s faith in God seems to have taken a leap forward after surviving two assassination attempts during the election campaign. The one at an election rally in Pennsylvania was a close shave. It prompted people, even clergyman, to say it was a miracle that Trump’s ear, not brain, was hit, and that God had saved him for a reason. Trump himself was incredulous. Talking about it at a rally a few days later, Trump said he did not believe in miracles, but “It may have been one.”
The second assassination attempt against Trump at the golf course in his Florida home, was again a close call. It gave a boost to the belief that God was on Trump’s side in the election. In a pubic session of blessing Trump, a pastor even said, Trump was the “chosen one.”
The experience of a narrow escape from death twice over and such lofty attributions can energise anyone, and give them new insights about the purpose of life. Trump is no exception. He has mellowed in the wake of those close brushes with death and has come around to the idea that it is a sign from God to put his presidency to good use. He said as much in his inauguration speech on Monday, January 20, 2025.
“Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed my life. Just a few months ago, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear, but I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Just a day later, speaking during the inaugural prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Bishop Mariann Budde told Trump to walk the talk– and how. Budde’s 15-minute-long address, which had the hallmark of a great actor, must have looked like a leaf straight out of the Democratic Party’s book to Trump. Budde dwelt at length on the two main issues on which the election was fought: Illegal migrants and transgender rights.
Trump has already set in motion the process of deportation of illegal migrants and has declared the de-recognition of transgender people, along with it, their rights. That, Budde reminded Trump, was not in tune with the teachings of Jesus Christ.
“Jesus went out of his way to welcome those whom his society deemed as outcasts….God is never impressed with prayers when actions are not informed by them, nor does God spare us from the consequences of our deeds which always, in the end, matter more than the words we pray.
“Those of us gathered here are not naïve about the realities of politics when power and wealth and competing interests are at stake.”
However, beyond victory and defeat, beyond political priorities and the channelisation of economic resources, lies a world of hopes and dreams that can be addressed even without material wherewithal, Budde said.
“The ideals of the United States of America expressed in the Declaration of Independence, with its assertion of innate human equality and dignity” can be met, she said, “Only if we are ourselves willing to tend to the foundations upon which unity depends–like Jesus’s analogy of building a house of faith on the rock of his teachings as opposed to building a house on sand.”
“Drawing from our sacred tradition, there are three foundations of unity: Honouring the inherent dignity of every human being, which is as all faiths represented here affirm, is the birth right of all people as children of our one God. Honouring each other’s dignity means refusing to mock or discount or demonize those with whom we differ. Dignity demands that we remain true to our convictions without contempt for those who hold convictions of their own.”
The second foundation of unity, Budde continued, “is honesty, both in private and public discourse” and the third is “humility, which we all need because we are fallible human beings, we all have our blind spots and our biases.”
The next couple of lines must have come like a big shock to Trump. “ We are most dangerous to ourselves when we believe we are absolutely right and someone else is absolutely wrong. ..Unity that incorporates diversity and transcends disagreement is the only solid unity.”
In the end, Budde, addressing Trump directly, said, “You have felt, you told the nation yesterday, the providential hand of a loving God. I ask you, Mr. President, to have mercy upon the people who are scared, now there are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families. Some who fear for their lives.
“And there are the people who pick our crops, clean our offices, who labour in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals.
“They may not be citizens or have proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals, they pay taxes and are good neighbours, they are faithful members of our churches, mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras and temples.
“ I ask you to have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger for we were all strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human.”
Trump, who sat bored and disinterested through the sermon, as did vice president J.D. Vance, was later asked what he thought of it.
“Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t like it, I didn’t think it was a good sermon, they could have done much better.”
Coming from Trump, and considering the loaded sermon, which was almost an instruction to him to change his politics from right to left, the president’s reaction was mild. That itself is an indication that Trump has tempered down. Whether the sermon will have an impact on Trump’s actions vis a vis transgender people and illegal immigrants remains to be seen.
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