Thank you for your thoughtful responses. I am trying to get my mind around what a “compassionate call out culture” would look like.
I reacted to your story in part because of the way you were using the words of Jesus to support your claims. If we look at Jesus’ final words on the cross, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” we see Jesus praying for compassion and mercy for his own executioners and the mobs that egged them on.
One of the issues of the Trump years and many twentieth century disasters is that it fed off a malignant tribalism. Prior to the Gulf War foreign policy experts used to refer to Saddam Hussein by saying, “He may be a SOB, but he is our SOB.” I think that is what a lot of Republican voters think about Trump. They believe they are living in a world where the media, the public schools, and universities, the cultural elites, and now many business elites are out to get them. Calling Trump or his supporters “evil” only further locks them into their preexisting world view.
I think of Jesus’ teaching about having blindspots in our eyes. We all need to get rid of them to see clearly. He also said, In Matthew 6, 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
All of us need to be able to learn to “see” with other people’s eyes to identify the darkness within our selves, and then try to live in such ways that inspire others to grow. I know that seems impossible right now, but according to many of the saints and sages over the years that is the only way that growth and healing can happen.
If you are curious in some of my longer pieces that address these topics they are linked below.
Best,
