PLEASE!

I have a friend Chuck Fluharty who founded the Rural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri.  Among his many insightful observations was the reason for the lack of political support for programs which would support the viability of rural communities.  Simple!  Politicians follow the Willie Sutton rule .  Except, instead of going where the money is, you go where the voters are.  And as rural populations declined, the needs of those left behind received less and less attention.

Chuck also had a solution, a coalition between primarily white rural residents and their mostly minority counterparts in urban centers.  As Tevye would say, “Sounds crazy?  No?”  To sell this concept, Chuck pointed out these two diverse segments of American society had a lot in common.  Residents paid more for goods and services than suburbanites because big box and discount stores preferred to locate in proximity to dense, affluent neighborhoods.  The landscapes in rural and urban America were both littered with abandoned, shuttered and deteriorating residential and commercial structures.  Less health care and higher mortality rates.  Increased drug use.  An exodus of younger residents.

I thought about Chuck this morning on the occasion of the relocation of the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.  Donald Trump has employed Fluharty-like logic to sell today’s transfer of the seat of U.S. diplomacy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Surely, Trump’s Jewish donors such as gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus believe they made a good investment.  But so have televangelists such as Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

Want proof?  I guess there were no available rabbis in Israel to give the opening prayer at the dedication of the embassy; so Trump turned to his friend and supporter Pastor Jeffress, who in 2012 declared that the only litmus test for voting was whether the candidate was “a Christian.”  (I do wish Jeffress would spend as much time reading the Constitution as he does the Bible.)  Even if you believe Trump when he says taking the issue of the embassy off the table will help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is hard to imagine Jeffress’ teachings can promote reconciliation.  Take his own words, PLEASE.

Not only do religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism–not only do they lead people away from God, they lead people to an eternity of separation from God in Hell. (2010 lecture series)

Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from that cult-like, pagan religion. (Rally in Houston, Texas, October 2011)

And here is the deep, dark, dirty secret of Islam: It is a religion that promotes pedophilia – sex with children. (Ask the Pastor, September 2010)

As if that was not enough of a slap in the face, the benediction will be given by Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel.  Yes, the same John Hagee, who suggested in a 1990 sermon, Hitler was only fulfilling the biblical prophecy by facilitating the return of Jews to Israel, a precursor to the Second Coming.

God says in Jeremiah 16: ‘Behold, I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave to their fathers. … Behold, I will send for many fishers, and after will I send for many hunters.  And they the hunters shall hunt them.’ That would be the Jews. … Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.

The selection of Jeffress and Hagee sends a clear message.  Relocation of the embassy is less about solidifying Jewish support for his 2020 re-election bid and more about Trump’s willingness to cater to evangelical hopes for the end of times and the rapture.  Remember what I said about politicians being like bank robbers.  In 2016, white evangelical Protestants who make up 20 percent of the voting population supported Trump by a margin of 66-17 percent.  In contrast, Jewish voters favored Hillary Clinton 69-27 and total less than six percent of all voters.  You do the math.

To be fair, Trump and his evangelical followers are not the only ones raising eyebrows.  Is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so weak or so beholden to Trump he could not have said, “You know, maybe we should have a rabbi give the opening prayer at the dedication of a new embassy for the JEWISH state?” Where is the voice of reason?  Maybe, the Mormons are right.  On this day, we turn to Salt Lake City for a truly inspirational moment.

Robert Jeffress says “you can’t be saved by being a Jew,“ and “Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.” He’s said the same about Islam. Such a religious bigot should not be giving the prayer that opens the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.  (Tweet, @MittRomney, May 14, 2018)

Thanks, Mitt.  Hopefully, you will keep this in mind if and when you become the junior senator from Utah.

POSTSCRIPT:  Just in case you’re wondering exactly when to expect the apocalypse, I’m betting on June 8, 2018, the release date for the sixth entry in the Jurassic Park franchise.  Fore, as it is told in the prophecies, on that date we shall all bear witness to the VelociRapture.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

As someone who enjoys writing and is always searching for ways to hone my skills, I often read commentaries how successful authors approach projects.  For example, in his book Danse Macabre, Stephan King taught me the difference between “word processing” and “idea processing.”  His message?  Great concepts emerge before you know the context in which they will be most effective.  So hang on to that thought and when the muse strikes, cut and paste it into place.

For the past couple of days, I have been listening to James Comey defend some of the criticism of his newly released autobiography A Higher Loyalty.   In particular, he responded to reviewers who thought his descriptions of Donald Trump’s physical characteristics seemed petty and unnecessary.  Comey’s retort?  He admitted he was not a writer and sought advice from others as he began drafting the book.  And he was struck by one mentor’s guidance that he needed to “bring the reader into the room.”  To do that, writers need to share exactly what they see and experience.

Today I want to take you into a room, the playroom in the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  For those not familiar with this facility, it has two purposes.  First, it provides lodging for relatives of children who are being treated at the NIH clinical center.  More importantly, it is a place where children can get away from the sights and sounds of a hospital environment, a brief respite from the alien world of monitors and tubes to which they would otherwise be confined.  I became familiar with the Children’s Inn because one of our grand nieces was admitted to NIH due to a not as yet fully diagnosed condition.

After having been subjected to an afternoon of poking and prodding, this little girl was allowed to go with her mother and grandmother to the Children’s Inn.  Upon arriving at the Inn, she immediately wanted to go to the playroom.  Although the room is cluttered with every toy and activity a young person could imagine, the first thing I noticed were two other adults with their own children.  No words were exchanged, only a knowing nod of the head as if to say, “I understand.  You are worried and wish you were not here.”

As my wife and daughter were entertaining our grand niece with what can only be called “monster Legos,” two more people entered the room.  One was an African-American, perhaps 10 to 12 years old, who was using a red and white cane.  The other was a Caucasian women who led the child through the playroom to the outside door leading to the gardens and playscape.  At first I thought the child was a boy.  But a few minutes later, an African-American woman with a cell phone entered the room.  She told the person at the other end of the call, “She is outside, taking a a walk.”  It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.  The young girl’s malady and treatment had robbed her of her hair and other physical traits one would normally associate with her gender.

I watched as the mother caught up with her daughter and the other person.  I don’t know whether that third person was a nurse, therapist, doctor or specialist in some other field.  That was not important.  What was paramount in my mind was the effort this woman exerted to give the patient a meaningful experience.  In a scene straight out of The Miracle Worker, the companion took the child’s hand, touched an object with it and then signed against the inside of the girl’s open hand.

Which brings me to the title of today’s post.  It is obviously a play on the television series “Touched by an Angel,” which ran for nine years on CBS.  The premise was simple.  An angel (played by Roma Downey) reaches out to people at some crossroads in their lives.  What I observed on Monday was hardly divine intervention.  Just the opposite.  One of the reasons I remain a devout agnostic is the fact I cannot accept a supposedly compassionate deity who indiscriminately inflicts innocent children with disease, harm and death.  The children at NIH are only one example.  Where was the divine intervention in the town of Douma, Syria several days ago? Or when Jennifer and Sarah Hart chose to drive their GMC Yukon over a cliff with their six adopted children?  Or at New Town and Parkland?

Despite these many senseless tragedies, of one thing I am sure.  When I watched the mother of a seriously ill young lady look at the companion who used her skills to help a child experience a world she would not otherwise know, we were both in the presence of a “human angel.”  For all I know, the caretaker may have deep religious beliefs which give her the strength to do what she does.  And that is fine.  As Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural address, “The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”  I seldom question the wisdom of #16, but in this case, I put my faith in “the better humanity within our nature.”

In other words, do not confuse denial of a supreme being with lack of faith.  Last Monday, my faith in people was affirmed.  When called upon, there will always be men and women who will step forward when others are dealt a bad hand in life.  Their motivation comes from many sources.  And if there was a job description for these kind of people, the qualifications would include the phrase, “DIVINE BELIEF OPTIONAL.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP