‘Religious Wars’ making  a return under Trump

January 8, 2020, 7:19 pm

Among other things, the tempestuous Trump presidency will be long remembered among democratic opinion the world over for the unprecedented featuring of religion in the public discourse of the US in what would come to be called the Trump years. Those prone to seeing the US as a secular democracy are bound to be hugely disappointed by President Trump’s open championing of Evangelical Christianity.

At an Evangelical Christian gathering in Florida recently, which is seen as a launching event of his re-election bid for the presidency, President Trump was reported as saying, among other things, that, ‘God is on our side.’ He said he was heading for ‘Another monumental victory for faith and family, God and country, flag and freedom.’ In short, his victory, if it happens, would be a triumph for religion and not public policy, which latter is what makes democracy tick.

At the outset it must be said that religion, correctly conceived and practised, does humanity immense good. The world would be in worse shape if not for the earnest inculcation by a few people among us of the essential, core values of religion. The latter term is used here in a collective sense to denote all the foremost religions of the world, including, of course, Christianity.

However, religion is best kept out of the public domain in societies claiming to be democratic. Governments and political leaders in states projecting themselves as democratic would do well to treat religion as something that relates to the personal lives of citizens and ensure that their Constitutions erect a firm separation wall, so to speak, between the affairs of the state and religion. The advisability of adopting this approach to religion and the state ought to be plain to see because if the state takes up the cause or the espousal of this or that religion, it would be playing the role of a great divider among its citizenry and not that of a unifier, which is what is expected of a democratic state. The majority of states in South Asia need to take note.

Democracy, correctly conceived, is by its very nature secular. This is mainly because a democracy, in the true sense, treats all its citizens as equals but the intrusion of religion into the affairs of the state could have the impact of dividing the relevant citizenry on religious lines and result in the state preferring and favouring one religious group over the others. The latter state of affairs, however, is typical of a theocracy where religion and the state are intertwined. But when the state takes on a religious role it sows the seeds of division among its citizenry and ceases to be a democracy; if this is how it sees itself.

Traditionally, the US has been a secular democracy. That is, religion and the state have been kept in separate water-tight compartments and been seen as incompatible. This is how the founding fathers of modern America visualized their state. In fact, theologians were seen as having no role in the state, since religion related to only the personal lives of citizens.

However, by identifying entirely with Evangelical Christianity, which is Christian fundamentalism by another name, President Trump is turning the founding ideals of the modern American state on their head. In his religious crusading zeal he is likening himself to the Islamic fundamentalists of the Middle East and outside, with whom the US is currently doing battle.

However, what the US needs to remember is that these religious fundamentalisms feed off each other and are mutually-reinforcing. To the extent to which the US state espouses religious fundamentalism, to the same degree would religious fundamentalisms be intensified among those states and non-state entities that are taking up arms against the US. That is, enemy action against the US is bound to intensify to the extent to which the US loses its secular identity. ‘Religious Wars’ are here again, it seems.

A tendency on the part of religious fundamentalists in the US to ‘demonize’ those seen as the their enemies is bound to compound these challenges faced by the US state. Recently, leading US Evangelical Paula White, seen as the spiritual guru of Trump, was quoted as saying with regard to Trump’s opponents that, ‘Every demonic altar that has been raised against him will be torn down.’

Needless to say, such intolerant attitudes could only aggravate opposition to the US state. One could be certain that the majority of persons bemoaning the loss of Commander Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force are expressing like sentiments against those seen as responsible for his killing.

It is up to the US citizenry to decide on the merits and demerits of their political leaders and cast their votes accordingly. However, it ought to be plain to see that the US would not be doing itself any good by involving itself in conflicts and wars that could be characterized by its opponents as being of a religious nature. Whereas, world opinion generally would expect the US to lead from the front in making the world a safer place to live in, President Trump’s policies could lead the world in the opposite direction.

However, there is an abundance of short and medium term gains for Trump from his current drive to play-up to the Evangelist lobby. Not surprisingly, surveys reveal that 77 percent of Evangelical Republicans approve of Trump. Besides, 98 percent of this section opposes his removal from the presidency via the impeachment initiative of Congress. This is almost the entirety of US conservative opinion and they constitute a considerable chunk of US voters.

However, those seeing themselves as Christians need to pause awhile if they are prone to ‘demonizing’ the ‘Other’. Through the latter process they are only aiding abetting in triggering and perpetuating war and conflict. Needless to say, only human suffering results from these tendencies. This is not what he who they regard as their leader expects of them.