Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Contrasting Justin Welby’s reaction to two presidents

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Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but when Trump was elected in 2016, Justin Welby couldn’t resist mentioning the bitter campaign and I can’t help suspecting that his prayers for the American people were for protection from the policies of their new president.

A year later, Welby confessed that he could not understand why so many Christians supported Trump.

From here:

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, my continuing prayers are that the United States of America may find reconciliation after a bitter campaign, and that Mr Trump may be given wisdom, insight and grace as he faces the tasks before him. Together we pray for all the people of the United States.

In contrast, now Biden seems likely to become president, Welby has somehow failed to notice that the 2020 campaign was even more bitter and reconciliation in even shorter supply. Instead, we have a probable future of hope and a fresh vision of the common good.

Not that Welby is biased in any way but when Biden pronounced himself president-elect, I could here Welby’s sigh of relief all the way from Canada.

From here:

As @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris prepare to take office, may God grant them wisdom and courage to face the great challenges of leadership ahead. For all the American people, I pray for hope and a fresh vision of the common good.

Who is celebrating Biden’s victory?

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During a recent church zoom meeting someone started rejoicing at the impending end of the reign of the current tenant of the White House. Just as I started to open my mouth, my wife whispered in my ear, “don’t”. That’s code for “shut up, don’t start on politics”.

It was a narrow escape, but I managed it. It did make me ponder one of life’s little mysteries, though: why do political liberals always take it for granted that every right-thinking, sane person simply must agree with them? If someone has the effrontery to disagree, it doesn’t merely take the liberal aback, it rattles the foundations of his entire universe. That’s one of the reasons I find disagreeing almost irresistible.

I wanted Trump to win. Among those who didn’t are these industrial baby killers:

Abortion giants around the world have celebrated Joe Biden’s reported Presidential victory by releasing a series of statements praising his pro-abortion position and policies.

Joe Biden was announced as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election by media outlets during the weekend. Some remaining US states continue to count their votes.

Following the announcement, global abortion giants took to social media to congratulate Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their

Planned Parenthood and NARAL have both publicly celebrated Biden’s reported win.

The Florida Planned Parenthood Alliance said: “The work is just getting started. Today, we celebrate; tomorrow, we get to work.”

Planned Parenthood kills an average of 345,672 unborn children every year by abortion.

Alexis McGill Johnson, President of Planned Parenthood Action said: “Voters’ voices were loud and clear, and they elected a new President, who is fully committed to protecting access to sexual and reproductive health care — including access to abortion…

“Throughout her career, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has been a steadfast champion for reproductive rights and health care. With the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, America will be in the hands of leaders who are deeply committed to advancing and expanding reproductive rights.”

Marie Stopes International (MSI) and Marie Stopes UK, which is one of Britain’s largest abortion providers, also weighed in on the election results.

In an online statement Marie Stopes, which kills an average of 4 million unborn children globally each year, congratulated Biden and Harris for their dedication to “choice” and urged for the repeal of Donald Trump’s pro-life policies.

The abortion giant said: “We look forward to the United States restoring their position as a world leader in championing choice and reproductive rights.

“The new administration will have a lot on its plate, but a quick win would be the repeal of Trump’s Global Gag Rule… Without Trump’s Global Gag Rule.”

Liberals experience epiphany: suddenly decide to take Bible seriously.

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Theological liberals try not to take the bible too seriously, so they don’t particularly care when, as an art project, someone rips it up and plasters satanic images over an image of Christ. No Anglican bishops denounced this; after all, it’s only a book and there is nothing you can do to it that rises to the level of blasphemy.

Except when Donald Trump uses it as a political prop. Then, suddenly, blasphemy!

This was blasphemy. In the most authentic and repugnant sense, it was blasphemy.

If only Susan Bell and Michael Coren would pay attention to what it says instead of who is holding it.

Have yourself a Merry Little Anti-Trump Christmas

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It would be unAnglican to this waste this Christmas by failing to mention how Trump has ruined it for everyone by planning to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

With that in mind, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem has, at last, been correctly interpreted by Fred Hiltz. It is all about the Israelis with their nasty wall, ugly checkpoints, and preposterous obsession with trying to prevent their citizens being murdered by rampaging Palestinians. Most of all, it’s about Trump moving his stupid embassy.

Brooks speaks of the town’s stillness and its undisturbed sleep above which “the silent stars go by”.  Then he speaks of the beauteous light that shines in its streets, as the birth of the Messiah becomes known.  As we hold our candle, and focus on this lovely text, we might think of how far a cry the Bethlehem of today is from the stillness and peace of which the carol speaks.  Stark images of the massive Separation Wall come to mind, as do images of the heavily guarded check point through which people must pass in and out of the city.  In many respects, Brooks’ words “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” are a fitting commentary on the circumstances in which people live there.  They live with hope for the peace God intends, however elusive it may be, however challenging to negotiate and secure.  They live with fear that developments such as the world has witnessed in recent weeks will escalate political tensions in their city, in Jerusalem, Gaza, and throughout the Middle East.  So as we hold our candle and sing, we think of all those for whom this “little town” is home, all those who know its history and cling to its destiny in the sight of God.

Fred Hiltz, Jerusalem and Trump

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It goes without saying that Hiltz, along with other church dignitaries, is spluttering his indignation about the U.S. recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Most importantly, it’s because he hates Trump and all he stands for with a loathing as intense as his fawning love for Justin Trudeau, Canada’s pretty boy, a bleached version of Barack Obama. There is no hatred quite so caustic as that of a liberal Anglican clergyman encountering opposition laced with disagreement that’s less than good .

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, is calling for prayers for Jerusalem after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision December 6 to recognize the city as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Hiltz, as Anglican Primate floats, as usual, blissfully above the demands that facts and reality impose on mere mortals. Thus, he declares that Trump has acted unilaterally, in spite of the fact that the U.S. congress voted to recognise Jerusalem as capital 22 years ago. Trump has done what every other president for the last 22 years has been putting off. This is very unAnglican: Anglicans have endless conversations when something comes up that they dislike.

Hiltz is also condemning Trump’s “unilateral action,” saying it has set off violence in the Holy Land.

Significantly, none of the clergy gnashing their collective teeth over this are interested in whether it is the right thing to do or not. Rather, they are motivated by pious pragmatism: will the recognition incite the usual lunatic elements to violence? After all, the Middle East has hitherto been so peaceful.

In a statement released Friday, December 8, Hiltz said he was joining a number of voices expressing “serious concerns” about Trump’s declaration. He cited a letter jointly issued by 13 heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem, including Archbishop Suheil Dawani, primate of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, voicing disapproval and worry.

“We are certain that such steps will yield increased hatred, conflict, violence and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, moving us farther from the goal of unity and deeper toward destructive division,” the church leaders said in the letter, released shortly before Trump’s official announcement. “We ask from you Mr. President to help us all walk towards more love and a definitive peace, which cannot be reached without Jerusalem being for all.

“The Holy City can be shared and fully enjoyed once a political process helps liberate the hearts of all people, that live within it, from the conditions of conflict and destructiveness that they are experiencing.”

We have something to be thankful for in all this: politicians tend to ignore the opinions of effete clerics – just like everyone else:

But Trump, Hiltz said, chose “to ignore this wise and Godly counsel,” and went ahead with his declaration. “His unilateral action has unsettled the entire Middle East and plunged Jerusalem into chaos,” Hiltz continued.

Hiltz, it seems, has found a new word: “unilateral”. This is the third time he has used it. Incorrectly.

In an interview with the Anglican Journal Thursday, December 7, Hiltz said he felt Trump had acted in a characteristically “unilateral” and dangerous way in making his announcement.

What we really need are more conversations. How about a Middle East Indaba?

“There’s no sense of, you know, consultation, no sense of this having been a broader conversation. It’s Donald Trump being Donald Trump,” he said.

It gets worse: North Korea’s obsession with nuclear tipped ballistic missiles is Trump’s fault, too. Did I mention that Hiltz hates Trump?

“As with issues of concern on the Korean peninsula, his statements and his actions agitate, and they tend to stir things up in ways that, quite frankly, are not helpful,” Hiltz said. “It’s very worrisome in terms of how this could turn.”

The Anglican Church of Canada—like the government of Canada—Hiltz said, supports “a lasting peace process in which there is a state of Israel, but within which Palestinians also have a rightful place.”

Finally, we find out what is really bothering Hiltz – other than the fact that he is forced to live on the same planet as Trump. His free trip to Jerusalem might have to be cancelled.

Hiltz also said Trump’s announcement cast some doubt on whether he would still make a planned trip to Jerusalem this January to visit the Anglican primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Predictable Anglican reaction to Trump’s Jerusalem announcement

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This is an early tweet from Canada’s establishment Anglican rag, The Journal, expressing “concerns” over Trump’s announcement today that the U.S. recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The article referenced in the tweet warns that the recognition will cause “Irreparable Damage”. Only time will tell, of course, but a few things we can predict with complete certainty.

The liberal Anglican establishment – just about all Western Anglican clergy in other words – will roundly condemn the move because: Trump did it and they all hate him; it goes against received leftist dogma, the last remaining heresy in Western Anglicanism and, most important of all, it acknowledges the existence of an objective fact – the land of Israel has been home to the Jews for 3000 years – something entirely alien to liberal Anglicans who prefer endless reality-evading conversations.

A safe space for Trumpophobics

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The Diocese of New Westminster along with St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, representatives of the fastest declining denominations in North America, are banding together “to offer an antidote to the fear and despair” resulting from democracy in action in the USA.

Franklin Graham seems to have been the catalyst for this but honourable mention is given to “right-wing groups” in Europe, Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duerte. “The list goes on” as the article below notes, but it doesn’t go on to include Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Iraq or any of the other countries that concentrate much of their national energy on persecuting Christians.

The featured speakers include an imam, a Zen Buddhist and Michael Ingham, one of the most divisive Anglican bishops of the 20th Century.  Anglicans should feel quite at home.

The event is called: Hope Amidst the Politics of Fear: Conversations for Creative Resistance. Even though Franklin Graham will be in Vancouver, he hasn’t been invited to state his side of the story; liberals generally can’t cope when both sides of an argument are presented. Their brains shut down in self-defensive panic. These days, I think it’s called “triggering”.

From here:

People have been confiding in Vancouver Rev. Gary Paterson that they’re having trouble feeling hopeful.

In a political era characterized by U.S. President Donald Trump, growing immigrant-skeptic movements in Europe and the murder of six Quebec Muslims, the minister at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church wanted to offer an antidote to the fear and despair he’s hearing from members of his church and the public.

So Paterson, past moderator of the United Church of Canada, teamed up with another downtown Vancouver clergyman, Rev. Peter Elliot of Christ Church (Anglican) Cathedral, to have a multi-faith group of speakers lead a four-part series in March titled Hope Amidst the Politics of Fear: Conversations for Creative Resistance.

“It’s partly a reaction to what’s happening in the United States. But the U.S. has such an influence on the world, especially Canada,” Paterson said, noting the city has been divided by the Vancouver crusade of American evangelist Franklin Graham, a major Trump supporter, to be held March 3-5.

“It’s also a reaction to reports from Europe about right-wing groups gaining traction … and to the aplomb with which (Russian President Vladimir) Putin seems to be acting these days and to (strongman Rodrigo) Duerte in the Philippines. The list goes on.”

Justin Welby denounces Donald Trump’s politics as fascist

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Justin Welby is struggling with abuse scandals in his church, a Communion that is fracturing and a denomination which, according to Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden, is dying.

What is to be done? Launch a diversionary offensive, of course. Accusing someone of being a fascist throws anyone who is listening – admittedly, not many – into paroxysms of righteous indignation or outrage, depending on one’s political bias. The main thing is, it helps people forget about the things the Church of England’s commander-in-chief has left undone.

An added benefit is that, as George Orwell noted, “the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless” making its use consistent with most other pronouncements any self-respecting Anglican Archbishop might make.

From here:

Donald Trump is part of the same “fascist tradition of politics” as far-right European politicians such as Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders, the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested last night.

In his most outspoken comments since the American president’s ban on travellers from some Muslim-majority countries was announced, the Most Rev Justin Welby accused Mr Trump of being part of a group of leaders from a “nationalist, populist, or even fascist tradition of politics”.

Fred Hiltz invites prayer for the USA

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Actually, as is so often the case, Hiltz offers his political opinions to God – who must have been waiting to hear them with bated breath – and us in this statement, thinly disguised as an invitation to prayer:

Next week, the eyes and ears of all Americans and indeed many other people around the world will be turned toward Capitol Hill in Washington as Donald Trump takes the Oath of Office as the 45th President of the United States.

Many of course will be rejoicing in his inauguration and eagerly anticipating his administration.  Many others are anxious.  Given some of the rhetoric in his campaign for election, they are wondering how tolerant he will be of the multi-racial, -cultural and -religious textures with which the fabric of the United States of America is woven.

In the face of an ever-growing gulf between Americans who are rich and Americans who are poor, there is considerable angst as to how the Trump administration will address this concern.  Many eagerly await initiatives that will be in the form of laying firm foundations ensuring equality of access to health care, education, and employment opportunities for all Americans.

Mexicans wonder about the nature of future relationships with the United States and so too do many Canadians.  World leaders will be watching to see how he takes his place in the gatherings where they take counsel together for peace and security of the world, and for the care of the earth itself.

It’s instructive to compare the scolding tone of the above with the gushing sycophancy on display in this letter to Justin Trudeau after he was elected Prime Minister:

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), we extend our heartfelt congratulations to you as our new Prime Minister.

You have set a bold vision for our country. The times in which we live call for visionary leadership in Canada and in the world so that we may build a truly just, healthy and peaceful world.

We welcome your approach to governance and your commitment to work closely with all levels of government on issues such as homelessness, lifting children and seniors out of poverty, improving our welcome of refugees, and refocusing development assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable. Anglicans and Lutherans from coast to coast to coast share a deep concern and profound hope for justice, peace and the well-being of creation. Your invitation to Provincial Premiers and to representatives of other political parties to participate in the Climate Change Conference in Paris is an important sign of the kind of partnership needed to address critical issues.

We support your commitment to implementing the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. We share the goal to build and strengthen relationships across Canada—with Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians—grounded in right relationships, compassion and justice.

We assure you that week by week, members of our churches are praying for you, for all Members of Parliament, and for the Government of Canada. May your service to this country be a blessing to many, and may God guide us in the better future we intend to foster together.

Yours in Christ,

The Most Rev. Fred J. Hiltz