President Trump's social media post of his likeness as a Christ-like figure bathed in a golden aura attending to a sick man was strongly denounced as idolatry by attendees at a Yale Divinity School conference on Tuesday that drew hundreds of public theologians from around the nation.
"God said you will have no other gods before me and Acts says in Acts chapter 17 that we should not think that the divine is like gold, silver, stone or an image made by human design," Bishop William Barber told reporters at an emergency press conference called during Bishop Barber's bi-annual Public Theology and Public Policy Conference. Holding up a printed copy of Trump's Christ-like tableau, Barber asserted that the posting was "a form of heresy--a form of madness--a form of idolatry. It points to a kind of public demonism which requires a public exorcism and truthful speaking in the public square."
Barber described the latest Trump self-adoration, along with the President's threat to unilaterally "end a civilization" in Iran as well as Trump's attacks on Pope Leo, as evidence of the rise of white Christian nationalism he asserts runs contrary to the core tenets of Christianity which includes not waging "wars of choice" or violently targeting immigrants.
Barber continued. "This represents what happens when you allow it to go on too long unchecked and unchallenged which is why all of us must repent of being too quiet---we repent of not being loud enough or focused enough. But the day has now come that we all enter into the public square and we won't be silent anymore."
WBAI Pacifica Radio asked Bishop Barber if the American post 9/11 never-ending War On Terror, with its massive human, ecological and financial toll, had set the stage for President Trump's easy launch of his war of choice on Iran undertaken in coordination with Israel.
"You know when we think about war in this society and what was supposed to be a principle of America----Abraham Lincoln was one of the first to challenge it when we went to war with Mexico to steal their land. Abraham Lincoln put on the floor of the Congress the 'Spot Amendment' because he wanted to know the spot where they (Mexico) had attacked us," Barber said. "For sometime now, as far back as Vietnam--as far back as what happened in Iraq and on we have lessened that principle [of only defending ourselves] and everytime you lessened that principle [of self-defense] the scriptures teach us that what comes back is something seven times worse than what we had."
Barber recalled how there was only one member of Congress who voted to oppose the Iraq War Resolution, a war that as it turned out was predicated entirely on the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
"Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) was the only Congress person who stood up [voting no] and later people had to repent saying she was right when it came out that we had been lied to about weapons of mass destruction. And so following Jesus makes us necessarily suspicious of what we are told when folks want to justify war rather than negotiations and peace." Barber said.
Barber recounted how President Trump's tearing up of the US/Iran Nuclear agreement was a prelude to his war of choice with the country of 93 million people. When launching the month-long war with Iran, Trump recounted in his short speech a long list of past grievances that went back decades.
"And in this particular war is one where you destroy all of the negotiations---you destroy all of the agreements and then you decide in your own mind somewhere [to wage war] and that is where one is acting like God because the word of God says that vengeance is God's alone," Barber said. "And when you lead a nation down the path of vengeance you are leading that nation away from the principle of God."
In a one on one follow up interview, Barber told WBAI Pacifica Radio that America's drift to perpetual war post 9/11 was not the only thing its Christian Church needed to repent for citing the COVID pandemic in which more than a million Americans died.
"One study documented that sixty percent of those that died didn't have to die if they had healthcare [before COVID]. And we still didn't generate the moral courage and moral fortitude to have universal healthcare," Barber said.
And while the murder in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers galvanized massive street protests, Barber observed that by contrast there was scant protest of the passage of Trump's Big Beautiful Budget Bill, which experts predicted would cause 55,000 premature deaths a year through the loss of healthcare to millions.
"Folks will say it wasn't as visual as somebody being shot down in front of you--that may be true, but Jesus doesn't give us that excuse.....Jesus challenges systems," Barber said.
The Public Theology & Public Policy Conference is held every two years to coincide with national elections. We aim to train and empower religious leaders, scholars, theologians, and moral activists to delve into the crucial moral issues confronting our nation. We are committed to addressing issues from a theological perspective, transcending political partisanships.
