GAVEL GAMUT
By Jim Redwine
www.jamesmredwine.com
(Week of 27 January 2025)
PEACE IN OUR TIME
In his Inaugural Address President Trump told us his two main goals were to be a unifier
and a peace maker. Most of us can applaud those aims. Also, most people, whether MAGA or
Trump Haters realize such laudable and difficult objectives will take some time. Even skeptics
must allow for a country as divided as America to be incrementally and slowly to coalesce
behind anyone who announces such commendable, if unlikely, achievements. After all, even
Jesus has had over two thousand years to reign as the Prince of Peace and the whole world seems
still bent on committing either genocide or suicide. Perhaps we should, at least, allow President
Trump more than a couple of weeks. While not convinced by his first term nor his actions
thereafter, I for one can reserve final judgment. On the other hand, President Trump, in my
opinion, has not made an auspicious start.
You may recall, Gentle Reader, that during his first term President Trump sought to
restrict all Muslims from immigrating to America. Several of the countries we seek to have
peaceful relations with are majority adherents of Islam. The U.S. has about four million Muslim
citizens. The earth has a population of about two billion Muslims; that is one Muslim out of
every four humans. To have a peaceful world America must have a leader who does not hate
Muslims.
At his inauguration President Trump had a Catholic bishop, a Protestant cleric and a
Jewish rabbi, but no Islamic imam. There were, also, numerous secular figures involved. While
some citizens of the United States might believe that there should be no emphasis on any
religious faith in our government based on the First Amendment, it has been an American
tradition to involve religion in our inaugurations. This probably does no harm as long as all faiths
are welcome. However, the exclusion of Islam from President Trump’s ceremony was obviously
by his preference. Such exclusion did not help either national unity or the cause of peace.
What President Trump could do is to begin referring to America’s religious tradition as a
Judeo-Christian-Islamic one; after all, each of the three faiths worship the same god and have
many of the same rituals. Such a gesture by our new President would encourage the populace
and especially the news media to include one-fourth of our world family in our aspirations for
unity and peace. I doubt if such a magnanimous gesture by our new leader would escape notice
and, I predict it would receive heartfelt gratitude.
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