Many years ago, I noticed that in many Renaissance paintings of the three Magi adoring Christ, one of the Magi (Magus is the singular) was depicted as a Black man. In earlier depictions, all three of the Magi were white.
I figured this was perhaps because Florence and Northern Europe were encountering more Black Africans due to the importation of slaves and a growing free Black population. I also thought it was a reference to Africa, which was then one of the three known continents—Europe and Asia being the others. I supposed the idea was that Christ’s kingdom extended around the known world. I did some more reading and was interested to find that art historians have various theories about why Black men began showing up in the “Adorations,” the name for paintings and artwork showing the shepherds and kings at the manger.
The depiction of the Black Magus is also interesting because of his location in the paintings, usually furthest from Christ. Additionally, he was usually the youngest and had the shortest beard. The art historians had various explanations but essentially had no real textual or iconographic reasons besides conjecture after analyzing the artworks and the history of Europe from the 13th to the 16th century.
It pleased me to know that perhaps the increase in exposure to people of color meant including them in the most sacred aspects of European culture and an acknowledgement that they had importance, at least, in showing that Catholicism was meant to include all people. I had a little sliver of hope that perhaps this was an indication that, even 500 years ago, humans could overcome their prejudices and fear of the “other” by contact with them, and even come to accept them.
The Bible, both the Old and New Testament, is a compendium of numerous texts written by various authors over the course of hundreds of years. While some believers think it is God given, the facts of how it came into existence and was compiled is not in doubt. The Jewish Bible was first orally transmitted and then written down over a period of more than 1,000 years, and the New Testament was assembled from about 50 CE to 100 CE. It is a fascinating book, showing the biases and the horrors that humans have perpetuated as well as the intent of our forebears to provide us a path for an ethical life. Unfortunately, human conduct throughout history seems to prove conclusively that our species is doomed to act in ways antithetical to its most enlightened ideals—as exemplified in one of its most sacred texts.
I am always struck by our contradictions—how we interpret, invoke, and discard or simply ignore concepts of morality. If we lived by the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, we would be better off, but we seem unable to do that, and you can always find something in the Bible to justify the most heinous acts. Hypocrisy seems the fallback position of humans, especially in disregarding our most profound religious rules of behavior.
This rambling preliminary brings me to Trump’s newly appointed (or nominated) acolytes. Antisemitic, anti-people of color, anti-LGBTQ. anti-immigrant (except white South Africans), they hit all the high points of the newly accepted prejudices now being gleefully displayed by their master.
In the recent past, those types of biases would have been the death knell for any Republican or Democratic politician or potential public office holder. You just did not acknowledge those hatreds, even though many of your fellow citizens may believe them. It was impolite and un-American to say them out loud. Now, our hatreds are being made into a new American credo, in direct contradiction to what America supposedly embraced. Hypocrisy is out; our worst angels are now an asset for employment in Trump’s world.
Jeremy Carl is the latest example of a well-educated bigot and hater. He was born a Jew but has converted to the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), the second largest Presbyterian Church in the nation and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination. The Church has stated unequivocally that white nationalism, antisemitism, racism, and anti-immigrant sentiment have “no place” in their congregation.
Carl served in the first Trump administration and is being nominated for the position of assistant secretary of state for international organizations. He has proudly acknowledged his white supremacist views, including his antisemitic and anti-Black beliefs as enunciated in his books.
He is calling himself an “American Civic Nationalist” rather than a white supremacist and has criticized the Biden administration for not employing enough white Protestants. He opines that the “Jewish Question has to be addressed.” (The “Jewish Question” is shorthand used by Hitler and others to question Jewish existence and their place in society. Hitler’s solution to the “Jewish Question” was the Holocaust.)
Carl has stated that a white person celebrating Juneteenth as a national holiday “has surrendered,” and he believes that those individuals who stormed the Capitol were treated worse than Black people in the Jim Crow South. His repeated assertions that “white culture” is being erased could have come right out of “Mein Kampf” with little editing.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations’ letter opposing his nomination probably had to be delivered with asbestos gloves, since he called for the death penalty for Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers. The letter cites his ongoing endorsement of the “replacement theory,” that non-white immigrants are being allowed in by Democrats and perhaps a Jewish cabal to replace whites.
I wonder who will vote to approve his appointment. It seemed at his hearing that only two Republican senators had anything good to say about him. It seems he would have a problem relating to portions of the globe and to organizations such as the U.N. and other groups containing or representing nations composed of non-white or mixed populations. How could such a creature even be thought of to represent our nation?
I will not list Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s disparaging comments about Muslim nations, nor Trump’s ‘shithole countries’ rant or his sharing of the meme depicting the Obamas as apes. We all know what the president is about—what horrifies me is that so many agree with him, continue to support him, and are unashamed to show their bigotry.
What is particularly incomprehensible is that many of Trump’s most ardent fans are individuals who claim to be devoutly religious. My suggestion to those people—Jewish, Protestant, or Catholic—is to read your sacred text and live by its moral precepts. There is no justification for blind hatred. You pray regularly in your services to be true to your faith—try doing it.
