Ian Ellis: US needs a real sense of healing in its deeply divided society

​For months now, so much has been written, and spoken, about the US presidential election. In the weeks before November 5 – election day – successive polls suggested it would be a dead heat.
Donald Trump ran a vigorous campaign, gathering such widespread support that, placed alongside his controversial background, seemed baffling to so manyDonald Trump ran a vigorous campaign, gathering such widespread support that, placed alongside his controversial background, seemed baffling to so many
Donald Trump ran a vigorous campaign, gathering such widespread support that, placed alongside his controversial background, seemed baffling to so many

​Yet, as it transpired, former president Donald Trump was comfortably elected to be the 47th president and to the office so widely regarded as that of the leader of the free world.

Mr Trump ran a vigorous campaign, gathering such widespread support that, placed alongside his controversial background, seemed baffling to so many.

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What are we to make of the situation in the United States now that the election has passed?

Perhaps, indeed, religion is one factor to be taken into consideration.

Writing for the London-based Religion Media Centre, journalist Catherine Pepinster has reported how the US presidential adviser on faith and belief, Professor Stephen Schneck, has made insightful comments on present-day challenges to religion.

Speaking in London at a Theos think-tank event at the beginning of October, Professor Schneck, who chairs the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, said that as religious affiliation declines in an increasingly polarised US, “community is eroding, and American political identity is a reaction to that loss of community”.

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It certainly is a very plausible view, that the unfortunate decline of churchgoing in particular has at times created a vacuum which is filled with cult-like politics, particularly in the ultra right-wing context, which in its own way creates a sense of community.

In this column last February, I wrote about Donald Trump and the presidential election, expressing the view that, paradoxically, the former president's popularity seemed to have been boosted rather than hindered by the numerous and serious court cases he has been facing.

Nonetheless, he retained a strong following among white male evangelicals in particular. The phenomenon is difficult to unravel, but I attempted to do so in that column (Pro Trump evangelicals think he will deliver their vision, February 28).

It is fair to say that for any politicians seeking election in this country, such a record as Mr Trump has acquired would sink them without trace. They would not even get to run.

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But this is not the United States. Mr Trump, in winning the November 5 election, has shown that he has immense popular support, despite his baggage and his often, frankly, crude and disturbing style of campaigning.

It seems that the southern border issue and the value of the dollar in people's pockets were key motivating factors that drove voters to the Trump camp, but no doubt the full complexity of the reasons for Kamala Harris's failure to achieve the majority she required will be analysed for a long time to come.

Ms Harris certainly projected what many have described as “normalcy” in her campaign, while Mr Trump remained true to form as a classic disrupter.

Yet it all spells a society that is deeply hurt some way, and perhaps also somehow widely disorientated.

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Now, with the presidential election over, the US needs, perhaps above all else, a real sense of healing in its deeply divided society.

Ms Harris stressed the need for healing throughout her campaign and, in his election night victory speech, Mr Trump said: “We're going to help our country heal."

How does one heal a nation?

It is all about reconciliation. That includes people reaching out to one another, seeking to understand one another, and recognising one another's human dignity.

It requires self-examination and dispensing with any bigotry or prejudice that lurks in the heart.

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From a Christian perspective, love of God and love of neighbour are inextricably linked. In the context of any national reconciliation not everyone may share a love of God, yet nonetheless love of neighbour remains central.

Love of neighbour means actually caring about people and trying to see things through their eyes.

It means going out of one's way to help those in need, and showing compassionate and practical concern for the weak, the poor, the suffering and the vulnerable.

When Christianity goes yet further and teaches love of enemy, it does not mean allowing those who commit wrongs of whatever kind to be let off scot-free, but it does mean caring for the offender and treating the offender in a humane way.

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We in Northern Ireland are on this journey of reconciliation. As we know well, it does not happen overnight but is a process that takes its own time.

So too, looking from this side of the ocean, in America there surely now also needs to be a real movement of reconciling zeal.

Scripture tells of a people being given a new heart and a new spirit, and in place of their heart of stone being given a heart of flesh.

The heart of flesh is a truly human, and humane, heart - a heart that is ready for reconciliation.

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After the assassination attempt on Mr Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, he said that he had escaped “by the grace of God”.

While his subsequent rallies certainly did not become any more devout, hopefully if he reflects on it all deeply enough, the 47th president will find in such a religious insight the call truly to engage with the healing work that is needed in America today.

Canon Ian Ellis is a former editor of The Church of Ireland Gazette

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