Laura Ingraham used to preach to artists: ˋShut Up and Sing.ˋ With her message, Ingraham either did not know or ignored the difference between artists and entertainers. For while all artists are entertainers, not all entertainers are artists. What is the difference between the two? Artists use either their platform or art to act as secular prophets to society on almost any issue. And their job as prophets is to make society feel uncomfortable with its significant faults. Entertainers sing just to make us feel good.
I mention this because Marco Rubio came close to, if not actually, taking a page out of Ingrahamˋs message. He said the following at the Munich Security Conference this month (click here for the source):
We want allies who can defend themselves so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength. This is why we do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame. We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.
At first, such a wish seems reasonable. And it would be reasonable until we see how Trump deals with pride and guilt at home. For Trumpˋs war against Wokeism and DEI shows that Trump does not want to be reminded of any negative criticisms based on the past or present. In other words, he doesnˋt want to hear any prophetic messages despite his penchant foror speaking prophtically, that is in his mind, to others.
What we end up with here is the kind of thinking that serves as the cognitive foundation for authoritarianism: all or nothing thinking. For, based on Trumpˋs domestic policies and Rubioˋs above statement, it seems that Trump wants his Western allies to be proud (and loud) as he is as opposed to feeling guilty over the past and perhaps the present too.
Even MAGA Christians, along with the rest of us believers in Christ, must tell Trump that we, as Christians, cannot go with him there. Why? Perhaps the parable of the two men praying explains why (see Luke 18:9-14):
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This parable applies because it gives birth to two questions that we believers in Christ must always ask ourselves. First, when is it safe for any Christian to pray the prayer of the Pharisee? Second, when does any Christian no longer need to pray the prayer of the tax collector?
As for all of us in society, we have go back to the logical issue here, Why must we choose between being proud or feeling guilt and shame over the past? Why canˋt we, as people, experience both sets of feelings? Why must we choose between one or the other?
If we realize that Trump views America as an extension of himself. And considering that Trumpˋs Administration has criticized Great Britain for its own Wokeism as well as the hate speech laws that many European nations have, Trump, through Rubio, seems to be demanding that his European allies br likr how he wants America to be.
There are other reasons for continuing to feel guilt and shame over the past. One reason is that those feelings not only reminds us of what our ancestors did, it also reminds us of what we are capable of repeating. We Christians should note that Daniel confessed that his generation of Israelites committed many of the same sins that their ancestors did.
That reminder should not only help humble us, but it can be a useful tool in exercising self-restraint. And so without that shame and guilt, Europe could, once again, repeat its past mistakes as well as committing Americaˋs current great sin of rationalizing its dependence on the rule of force on the grounds of its exceptionalism.
And now, what becomes of history if we forget the shame and guilt for our past atrocities? Why isnˋt it true that if we can share in the pride of past heroes with their accomplishments, then we can also share in their shame due to their past atrocities? If we canˋt share in that shame, then history becomes nothing a feel good drug designed to help us bury our self--doubts and criticisms, which ia much like entertainment provided by even our favorite entertainers does.
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