Chuck Stephens – The disturbing truth behind the two Trump assassination attempts
The recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump has sparked criticism of Democrats for inciting violence, highlighting the deep divide between political factions. While progressives push for a future based on human rights and science, conservatives, rooted in religious beliefs, challenge this direction. The polarization reflects conflicting worldviews, with progressives often labelling Republicans as divisive. However, conservatives argue that progressives' intolerance is equally harmful, and accuse them of gaslighting when labeling Trump supporters.
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By Chuck Stephens
It was disturbing to hear of a second assassin shooting for Donald Trump. This has brought a lot of criticism about the Democrats inciting violence. Biden and Harris among others have been very nasty at times, and Pelosi and Hilary are not far behind.
Let's be honest, it runs both ways. Republicans are asked repeatedly if they will accept elections results if they lose. The answer is that they will accept those results if they are "clean". But expect some push-back if they are swindled – like Savimbi was in 1992 and Tsvangarai was in 2008. Or what about Venezuelan elections in 2024?
What amazes me is the self-righteous way that Democrats call Donald Trump "divisive". This illuminates two entirely different worldviews talking past each other.
On the one hand, you have the so-called "progressives". They are sons and daughters of the Enlightenment, who believe in human rights and Humanism. Many of them are atheist or agnostic, and their motto is "trust the science". Looking to the future, their globalist eschatology is that we all share one final destination together. So they are doing their best to impose their vision on everyone. The American dream becomes manifest destiny.
In the other corner of the boxing ring are the "conservers". Their roots are either in the Protestant Reformation, or in the Catholic counter-reformation. In short, they are religious because they all believe in God and monotheism. Their motto is "Don't trust the science – put your trust in God".
The opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympic put on display the contempt that "progressives" have for God and those who still worship him. Progressives are derisive because they want to stamp that out on their forward march to a one-size-fits-all future. God-fearers notice how the room temperature drops when they mention topics like abortion, gun control or immigration. It's called "the Chilling Effect" and it is discriminatory. Progressives are intolerant and love to refer to such God-fearers as "deplorables".
But proportions are odd. For example, there are far more Anglicans in Uganda and Nigeria than there are in the UK. And they are relatively conservatives, opposed to same-sex marriage, abortion on demand and gender modification. They have confronted the archbishop of Canterbury as a heretic for supporting such radical change. They believe that the worldwide Anglican Communion (counterpart of the Commonwealth) should be democratic. But it the Church of England! Top-down and British.
The World Economic Forum has lamented the polarization in the world. I reality, it is lamenting that not everyone sees its views as avante garde. Some see it as blasphemy. I can remember the Kairos Document coming out of the Institute for Contextual Theology and called apartheid a heresy. This shook the foundations. It led to the World Council of Churches confronting the Dutch Reformed Church at its every-five-year conference in Ottawa in 1987. It was asked to confess this transgression and change its theology. Within a very few years there was enough disruption in South Africa to see the unraveling of apartheid.
But globalism and the WEF are rapidly losing the moral high ground. People suspect some kind of collusion between Trump and Putin. But they don't need to collude because they both have the same lowest common denominator. Western culture is anchored in the first three chapters of Genesis. The Creation, imago dei, man, setting boundaries, woman, and the Fall. I daresay that both Trump and Putin buy into this worldview. Between them is a Europe that has lost its way and the America progressives who want to follow Europe into godless globalism.
To many of us, this is not the pilgrim's progress at all. It is rather the pilgrim's regress.
Since the Enlightenment, a new worldview has been evolving. Here I quote historian Yuval Harari:
"The liberal belief in the free and sacred nature of each individual is a direct legacy of the traditional Christian belief in free and eternal individual souls. Humanists believe that the unique nature of Homo sapiens is the most important thing in the world, and it determines the meaning of everything that happens in the universe. The supreme good is the good of Homo sapiens.
"Like liberal humanism, socialist humanism is built on monotheist foundations. The idea that all humans are created equal is a revamped version of the monotheist conviction that all souls are equal before God. Socialists believe that 'humanity' is collective rather than individualistic. They hold as sacred not the inner voice of each individual, but the species Homo sapiens as a whole. Whereas liberal humanism seeks as much freedom as possible for individual humans, socialist humanism seeks equality between all humans."
So the trending is towards liberalism or the more radical socialism. This has been happening gradually, over time, but under Obama and Biden, it has been speeding up. Brought to you by BLM, critical race theory, LGBTQ+, Obamacare, abortion on demand and an open border policy. For many citizens these changes are anathema. And yet the progressives call Republicans "divisive"! Who has been pushing the change envelope?
Conservatives include Christians (both Protestant and Catholic many of whom are Latinos), Jews and Muslims who are monotheist and see such "progress" as chaos. Every time a progressive calls a MAGA Republican "divisive", s/he is gaslighting. Accusing Republicans of being exactly what they are – intolerant. Democrats say that electing Trump will be the end of democracy. Yet they removed Biden in a palace coup and replaced him with Harris without any primaries. Robert Kennedy Jr critiques this as being un-democratic and unlike the party that his uncle JFK led with the help of his father RFK.
And now on assassination attempts, it's Democrats 2, Republicans no score. These crazies have been incited to violence by Democrat hate-speech. May God grant them the serenity to accept what they cannot change.
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