Then Jesus said, “Put up again thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword,” Book of Matthew, 26:52.
I am not the most religious person, but I go to church semi-regularly and this was quote was part of Palm Sunday Mass. It felt particularly pointed considering where we find ourselves as a society. Whether it’s bombing boats in the Caribbean Sea, starting a war with Iran to district from the Epstein files, threatening all the U.S.‘s historical allies, or allowing ICE to terrorize communities across the country, our government has, both literally and metaphorically, chosen violence to advance their agenda (and protect pedophiles and grifters.)
The U.S Secretary of Defense, I refuse to call him the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has framed the war he and Trump started in Iran as a “holy war” and Hegseth continues to pray publicly that “every bullet meets its aim.” That’s a disgusting perversion of both prayer and religion. Despite what some may think, war is inherently unholy. The quote above, as well as the Ten Commandments, make that very clear, especially commandments three and six. Three says, “Do not take the name of the Lord in vain,” and six proclaims, “though shall not murder.” Declaring actions that kill innocent, or even non-innocent people, and doing it under the guise of holiness and religion violate both those commandments.
We cannot talk about violence or murder without talking about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.) ICE now has a budget larger than the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons, combined. They have, and continue to do, irreparable harm to our country and our citizens. ICE “detainment centers” are rife with reports of physical violence, sexual assault, denial of life-threatening medical care, and inhumane living conditions. ICE agents, most of whom are improperly trained, have murdered conscientious objectors, and terrorized communities. They do this with impunity and without consequences.
There are many other commandments that pertain to this administration as well. I’m using the Christian Bible as a reference here because the Trump administration uses it as a cudgel and as cover for their reprehensible decisions. Let’s find another commandment that pertains to any and all of the incidents mentioned two paragraphs above. Let’s go with nine, “Though shall not bear false witness.” It basically means people shouldn’t lie. So far, in just this second presidency, there are so many provable lies told by Trump and his minions that to list them all here would take days. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi lied every time she failed to produce unredacted Epstein files to Congress. Kash Patel does the same. DOGE lied about their intentions and actions, failing to uncover real waste, spending far more than they actually cut from the federal budget, and stole citizens’ private data.
Physical violence is just part of the problem. The constant stream of lies, invective, war and bigotry highlight reels created to look like movie trailers, and the abdication of power by the ruling Republican majority in Congress (though this might better be described as institutional self-harm) are their own form violence. It may not be physical, but it is violence. Psychological abuse is violence.
While the Bible makes it clear that violence is not Christian, there are plenty of stories of violence, of all kinds, to be found within those pages. World history also tells a different story. Whether its the Crusades, the Holocaust, the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Bloody Sunday, or any of the other violent actions taken in the name of God, our global society has endlessly proven that if we want to do something badly enough, we will find a way to justify it. But, just because it’s happened before doesn’t mean we should continue doing it when we know it’s wrong, when we know that the ten most important laws in the Bible make it clear that this is a sin.
Those are just some of the most egregious un-Christian acts the Trump administration has perpetrated against our citizenry. As we move towards the end of this Holy Week, we might do well to remember the story told in the Passion of the Lord. The crowd, despite knowing full well that Barabas was a criminal, chose to ignore it in favor of crucifying Jesus. Those, both politicians and regular citizens, who continue to ignore the crimes of Donald Trump, are the crowd in that story. They are choosing to uphold a criminal for their own, selfish reasons, while sacrificing our fragile republic.
katyferrywrites.com 