One World House – Mark Davies

Anytime I hear traditionalists say that everyone in the United Methodist Church is being harmed by our divisions over the acceptance and affirmation of persons who are LGBTQIA+, I have to ask:

How many United Methodists have been bullied for their heterosexuality or for being cisgender?

How many cisgender heterosexual United Methodists are homeless because their parents have rejected them because of their sexual or gender orientation?

How many cisgender heterosexual United Methodists have been denied marriage and ordination in their church because of their sexual or gender orientation?

How many cisgender heterosexual United Methodists have harmed themselves or taken their own lives because they have been rejected by their families, peers, and a church they thought loved them because of their sexual and gender orientation?

How many cisgender heterosexual United Methodist ministers have been put on trial by their church because of their sexual and gender orientation?

If we United Methodists really take seriously that we are to do no harm, at the very least we must stop equating the harm that cisgender heterosexual traditionalist United Methodists think that they are experiencing with the immense harm and death experienced by our LGBTQIA+ siblings because of the United Methodist Church’s refusal to fully include and affirm all persons.

Let’s be clear, persons who are LGBTQIA+ do not commit suicide at a higher rate because they are LGBTQIA+. They commit suicide at a higher rate because they are bullied, mistreated, and rejected by persons who they hoped would love them but whose words and actions are anything but loving. Persons who are LGBTQIA+ are not homeless at a higher rate because they are LGBTQIA+. They are homeless at a higher rate because they have been kicked out of their families’ homes and not welcomed and affirmed in their church homes. LGBTQ+ suicide rates and homelessness rates are not owing to any sin by persons who are LGBTQIA+, they are caused by the sins of those who are treating them like shit rather than welcoming them as family and as full members of the Beloved Community.

Imagine if a person were being investigated for possible crimes, and he had the power to pardon all of his associates who were being investigated with him.

Imagine if this same person being investigated could make public statements and write daily tweets about the investigation, about persons who are doing the investigation, and about his associates being investigated.

Imagine the person being investigated has a vast array of media organizations who are willing to coordinate with him to repeat his criticisms and argue for his criticisms on a daily basis.

Imagine if he could repeatedly and publicly float the idea of pardoning his associates.

Imagine if the person being investigated had the power to publicly berate and eventually fire the person who recused himself of leading the investigation process owing to a clear conflict of interest.

Imagine that the person being investigated fires this person and replaces him with a person who has been publicly critical of the investigation and who has vowed not to recuse himself even though he also has a glaring conflict of interest.

Imagine this new person overseeing the investigation process gets to be the first person to see a report of the investigation and is the one who is authorized to write the summary of its findings for the public to see.

Imagine the leader of the United States Senate, whose wife is serving in a cabinet level position appointed by the person being investigated, coordinating an effort to keep the public from seeing anything but a four page summary of the report of the investigation written by the person appointed by the person being investigated.

Imagine a world in which roughly 42% of the people in a society think all of this is a fair and appropriate process.

Imagine losing the integrity of a republic.

Welcome to America.

The Mueller Report Process (I say process since we really know almost nothing about the actual report), confirms that the current president was surrounded by and assisted by a number of criminals in his 2016 Campaign. It apparently also confirms that there was a significant effort by Russia to influence the election, and although there were numerous contacts with members of the Trump Campaign and Russians, Mueller did not find enough evidence to show that there was a conspiracy. The process apparently also shows that in Mueller’s estimation the evidence does not exonerate the current president in the area of obstruction of justice.

In the Mueller investigation process, 34 persons have been indicted, 5 Trump associates have been convicted, and one (Stone) is awaiting trial. As with any crime family, it is often difficult to convict the leader of the crime family as they usually have others do the direct criminal activity for them.

I write all of this simply to note that the spin on the yet to be released Mueller Report (it really has not been released despite what people say – Have you seen it? Has Congress seen it?) is typical of the spin one would hear from the lawyers of a crime family boss, and that is because what we are dealing with is a crime family boss.

The existential danger of our current situation is that almost an entire political party and tens upon tens of millions of persons in our country are cheering the boss on and enabling, even encouraging, his activities. Now and in the days ahead, the current president and his associates will be calling for retribution and payback (punishing their enemies). Their calls are not about justice. They are about intimidation and revenge, which is also typical of organized crime families.

That we have come to a moment when the elected leader of the most powerful country on earth is such a person at a time when the world needed visionary leadership to address multiple and significant global challenges, represents the deepest of failures of our country, our institutions, and our people. It is unclear if our country, our institutions, and our people are up to the challenge of rectifying the damage we have done by electing such a person for such a time as this, but the well-being of the entire world depends on us continuing to try.

As Winston Churchill once said, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense” (Winston Churchill, Speech at Harrow School, 1941).

For now not giving in means we must demand with all of our being that the actual Mueller Report be released to Congress and that the public be given the opportunity to see all portions of the report that do not compromise national security or the safety of persons. At the moment the Mueller Report has not yet been released. It has simply been captured by the Attorney General, who of course was appointed by the president for such a time as this.

With hard work and sacrifice, may goodness and justice prevail. Never give in, never, never, never, never.

There are at least four things about which our current president is quite consistent:

1. He is anti-immigrant and anti-refugee in relation to non-white immigrants.

2. He is anti-Islam, except in the case of Saudi Arabia and its allies.

3. He supports Christian Fundamentalism.

4. He supports the fossil fuel industry.

These four things contribute to Trump’s deep and abiding support among racists, xenophobes, white supremacists, Christian fundamentalists, industrial agriculture, the fossil fuel industry, and the petrochemical industry; and it is their interconnected interests that have brought Trump to power and which are working to keep him in power.

Racists, xenophobes, white supremacists, and Christian fundamentalists support Trump primarily for ideological reasons; but the industrial agriculture, the fossil fuel industry, and the petrochemical industry (all of which depend heavily on fossil fuel) support Trump primarily for financial reasons. Trump’s ideological base and the fossil fuel industry are mutually supportive of each other and mutually dependent on one another. The need each other to maintain power, and they know it. Trump knows it too.

Racists, xenophobes, and white supremacists tend to subordinate any concerns they might have for the environment to their more immediate concern of making America white again, so climate change is easily discarded as a concern of the opposing “globalist” team. From their nationalist perspective, they are easily convinced that increased fossil fuel development for the sake of energy independence is in both the national and nationalist interest.

Christian fundamentalists, few of whom are explicitly racist, xenophobic, or white supremacists, are nonetheless willing to overlook Trump’s popularity among these groups because Trump is supporting their most important agenda items of ending access to legal abortions and protecting what they understand to be their religious freedom – even if that freedom calls for discrimination of other persons in the public sphere. As long as Trump continues to appoint judges who will support their agenda, they will never stop supporting Trump, and given that a very large percentage of them literally believe the world will end in their lifetime, climate change is of little concern to them. They are much more focused on uncritical support for Israel (another point Trump knows how to work) less out of concern for the Jewish people who are living in Israel than as a means to bring about the Second Coming (yes, they really are working for this). This is why Trump moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Ideological support for Trump is crucial to his success, but without the financial and organizational support of the fossil fuel related industries; Trump would likely not have come to power. Trump has rewarded these industries mightily with a massive rollback of environmental regulations and a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump’s problematic ties to Russia are not a problem at all to the fossil fuel industry as there are hundreds of billions of dollars to be made on drilling agreements with Russia. This is likely why Rex Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon, was appointed as Secretary of State. To Tillerson’s credit, he could not bring himself to continue working under Trump, but his initial appointment was a testament to how closely the fossil fuel industry is connected with this president.

Most fossil fuel executives are likely not racist, xenophobic, or white supremacists; and they are probably no more likely to be Christian fundamentalists than any other segment of society. Most fossil fuel executives probably don’t see themselves as being pro-Putin or even pro-Russia, but their desire to cash in on the trillions of dollars worth of fossil fuel yet to be exploited has led them into a mutually reinforcing and mutually beneficial relationship with Trump’s ideological base. The relationship is becoming stronger and more inextricable to the point that, whether consciously or not, the fossil fuel industry is supporting dangerous right-wing nationalist ideologies around the world. The existential danger we are currently facing is that this collaboration of convenience to further ideological and financial interests seems to be leading us down a pernicious path to fossil fueled fascism with dire consequences for people and the planet.

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