"And yet I remain astonished that my most ostentatious of Christian friends are devoted to lawlessness, contemptuous of the intelligibility of Creation that Christ, the Logos, embodies." I think its helpful to move beyond our (mutual) astonishment, into intense curiosity, and then on to ways we can each help rescue our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I do think it is something we need to look at and consider. While the leaders may be mostly corrupt grifters, many Americans are true believers in Trumpism. Why? Is it because its chaos is not a problem but an advantage? Is it because destroying an unjust order via disorder is more important to them, and seems more just, that the current unjust order? If so, why is that for many Christians? Why do they feel and believe that?
The tendency in public statements regarding American imperial foreign policy is that all of our enemies are insane, crazy people who, inexplicitly, oppose the benevolent American order. I doubt it. Even our enemies are acting for apparent intelligible goods. And of course, our State Department and intelligence agencies have numerous professionals who are extremely focused and curious about the reasons and motivations of our enemies.
So too should we be in understanding how so many of our fellow Americans, who are more importantly our brothers and sisters in Christ, ended up where they are.
"And yet I remain astonished that my most ostentatious of Christian friends are devoted to lawlessness, contemptuous of the intelligibility of Creation that Christ, the Logos, embodies." I think its helpful to move beyond our (mutual) astonishment, into intense curiosity, and then on to ways we can each help rescue our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Leah Libreresco Sargent, in a quite different context, investigates why someone might prefer chaos to order and intelligibility: https://otherfeminisms.substack.com/p/earthsea-the-power-of-perturbation
I do think it is something we need to look at and consider. While the leaders may be mostly corrupt grifters, many Americans are true believers in Trumpism. Why? Is it because its chaos is not a problem but an advantage? Is it because destroying an unjust order via disorder is more important to them, and seems more just, that the current unjust order? If so, why is that for many Christians? Why do they feel and believe that?
The tendency in public statements regarding American imperial foreign policy is that all of our enemies are insane, crazy people who, inexplicitly, oppose the benevolent American order. I doubt it. Even our enemies are acting for apparent intelligible goods. And of course, our State Department and intelligence agencies have numerous professionals who are extremely focused and curious about the reasons and motivations of our enemies.
So too should we be in understanding how so many of our fellow Americans, who are more importantly our brothers and sisters in Christ, ended up where they are.