Pieces published in Romford Recorder, East London and Docklands Advertiser, Barking and Dagenham Post and Romford Recorder February 2025
Trump is an affront to Humanist beliefs and values in many ways. Take his boast that God chose to spare him from the assassin’s bullet so he could govern the US.
He said this on Martin Luther King Day, a US public holiday held to mark the birthday of an outstanding campaigner for justice and dignity for all people. King was only 39 when he was gunned down in 1968. He had just made his famous ‘Mountaintop’ speech, imbued with Christian symbolism. Why was he not spared?
In January I spoke at my local Holocaust Memorial Day event as the Humanist representative. The event is an annual reminder of the danger of unbridled hatred and bigotry. Victims included Jews, Roma, homosexuals, the disabled and political opponents. Where was God when they were murdered? I have yet to hear a person of faith convincingly explain God’s selective response to heart-felt prayers.
Primo Levi, an atheist Jew, Auschwitz survivor, and Humanist, wrote movingly of his experience and gave this warning: “It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.”
The claim to rule by divine authority is dangerous. Like many, I’ve always had a Humanist outlook. What prompted me to get organised was realisation that the forward march of reason and compassion is not a given. My ‘epiphany’ was Blair and Bush praying together and concluding their war on Iraq had God’s blessing. It was a milestone in the breakdown of a rules-based world order. Why bother following rules or listening to experts if God is on your side?
This is not to have a go at those of faith. Religious precepts of acting justly, living humbly, and loving mercifully are values we can share and aspire to whether religious or not. But Trump draws support from a fundamentalist tradition with beliefs and values way past their sell-by date. Vengefulness, the demeaning of women, intolerance of homosexuality. The long-expunged verse: ‘The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate’ finds new life in his vision of a world where inequality is ordained by God.
It is disheartening to see politicians and media suck up as Trump flexes his muscles and rolls back rights. This was once called appeasement.
Paul Kaufman, Chairperson East London Humanists
My Humanist beliefs drive me to face down Trump and so much he and his supporters stand for. His boast that God spared him from the assassin’s bullet is a telling example.
He said this on Martin Luther King Day, a US public holiday held to mark the birthday of an outstanding campaigner for justice and dignity for all people. King was only 39 when he was gunned down in 1968. He had just made his famous ‘Mountaintop’ speech, imbued with Christian symbolism. Why was he not spared, along with countless other innocent victims of injustice, intolerance, disease and disaster?
Whether or not Trump is genuinely religious, he acts as though gifted with divine authority. The ‘epiphany’ which led me to become an organised Humanist was Blair and Bush praying together and concluding their war on Iraq had God’s blessing. It was a milestone in the breakdown of a rules-based world order. Why bother following rules or listening to experts when you claim God is on your side?
Building a fairer, greener and kinder world requires human cooperation and a degree of mutual respect. Given the diversity of interests, it is remarkable what has been achieved: The United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the Paris Climate Accords, and so on. Human progress has been painfully slow, and no institution is perfect. But throw it all in the woodchipper, to use Musk’s phrase, and everything turns to dust. The world steps back to an age of barbarism where might is right, self-interest comes first, and the meek and powerless come last.
Humanists share religious notions of acting justly, living humbly, and loving mercifully. But Trump draws support from a fundamentalist religious tradition with beliefs and values way past their sell-by date. Vengefulness; the demeaning of women; intolerance of difference. The long-expunged verse: ‘The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate’ finds new life in his vision of a world where inequality is ordained by God. And his Old Testament view of mankind’s God-given dominion over nature is a recipe for nature’s ongoing decline and our own destruction.
We need to call out the politicians and others who suck up while Trump rips up the rule books, tramples on rights and aspirations and doubles down on trashing the environment. This was once called appeasement.
Paul Kaufman, Chairperson East London Humanists
