Rev. Dr. Bill Holmes is a Louisville, Kentucky-based minister and retired physician, and he says he cannot comprehend why anyone who says they’re a Christian can support a man as completely immoral as President Donald Trump.
In an op-ed he wrote for the Louisville Courier-Journal, Dr. Holmes warns that “the stench of moral decay, especially in politics, is creeping across America.”
Specifically, Holmes points to the fact that Trump and his supporters have recently attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and the angry chants at a Trump campaign rally, where his acolytes repeatedly chanted, “Send her back!” while Trump basked in their hateful words:
“As I recently watched the men and women standing behind President Donald Trump and chanting ‘Send (her) back!,’ I tried to imagine who they are, where they come from, and how they got to this point in their lives. Most likely, they would get up the next morning and, like most of us, go to work and school hoping to make a better life.”
Where these people come from or what they do for a living, Holmes adds, they:
“All had this in common: they were cheering for Trump and chanting slogans aimed at racial minorities, especially those who have had the audacity to speak out against social inequities and injustice.”
All of this, Dr. Holmes notes, speaks to something deeper and darker that is festering in our society:
“Unless we have been totally tuned out or in denial, we surely know by now that we have a national malignancy, a cancer from within that threatens the foundations of our democracy. The Constitution is being slapped around by the powers-that-be and, so far, neither political party has raised strong objections. It seems they are more interested in being reelected or running for president. Democrats beat each other up for political advantage while Republican leaders fail to lead, placing their party’s power and their personal gains above all else.”
But despite the moral decay we see at the highest levels of our government, Holmes ends his op-ed on a note of hope:
“We have some very difficult days of uncertainty ahead. We must stay engaged and not succumb to despair. We cannot hang our harps on a tree by a river in Babylon and there weep over what is no more or, in fact, never was. We can neither deny the reality of our time nor linger in an abyss of despair.
“It would be well for us to seek out MLK’s mountaintop and see if we can catch a renewed vision for America. Above all, we must take hold of King’s challenge to America: “… be true to what you said on paper.”
To that, we can all agree to say Amen.
Featured Image Via NBC News
