160 years ago slavery, and the overt racism behind it, was justified on the basis of the economy. And violence against those who would change it was justified. The Bible was used to justify it.
Not much has changed. We have a president who, while claiming he is not racist, lambasts the country with one racist thing after another. David Duke and other white supremacists see this. They love it. People who are Muslim, or Hispanic, or Black feel this. Crowds at political rallies chant "Send them back!". Racist. By the way, sending minorities back to their country of origin is a central theme of the Aryan Nations. White, Christian, Nationalism is just a contemporary manifestation of the basic tenets of the white supremacist agenda. The Church of Jesus Christ Christian is what the Aryan Nations under Richard Butler belonged to. As a country we should abhor all this, reject it, and work to overcome it. Racism has no place in a free society. Racism is sinful. White Christian Nationalism, if it is not checked, may well destroy both the Church and the Nation. It is that contrary to both democracy and freedom, as well as the message of Jesus Christ.
But the economy is good.
The economy was good for slave owners in the South. It did not justify slavery. Hitler's rise to power in Germany was closely associated with economic recovery from the Great Depression and the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles. Bottom line was that Hitler was 'good for the economy'. That hardly justified the Holocaust.
Two things are reprehensible about the current state of affairs. That otherwise good people will continue to support Trump, in spite of his racists attacks, is one of them. That otherwise good people will oppose any effort to control access to guns as a means of responding to the myriad of mass shootings in our country is another. And in the most recent shooting in El Paso the two issues are married together.
But the economy is good. And we like to collect guns. So to hell with the loss of life. We're content to send our "thoughts and prayers". I can't help but believe that God despises our 'thoughts and prayers'.
But the economy is good.
Except if you're a farmer or any other of the people affected by Trump's trade wars.
But we don't much care about other people's economic plight. The economy wasn't good for the slaves in the South. Just the plantation owners.
There is no moral justification for racism. There is no moral justification for callused indifference to the loss of human life. There is no moral justification for caring more for the economy than the lives and well being of human beings. No Justification. None.
I struggle with how to respond. I live in North Idaho. Trump is popular here. Racism is common place. Guns are BIG. I tend to politely, quietly, often silently, disagree. And in doing so I'm part of the problem.
I have to work with these people, whether in the cabinet shop or when I reopen my own business. And I hesitate to address the issue head on in my preaching or teaching at church, lest the offerings tank.
But economic considerations are no justification for doing nothing.
I can become politically active. The struggle is that in Idaho, my voice is drowned out by the vast majority in this redder than red state. My vote counts not at all, except as a protest. And there is a reason white supremacists have chosen to settle here: racism is widely accepted in this predominantly white society.
But at least the economy is good.
