The discussion of wars usually concentrate on land and resources taken, key infrastructure sites destroyed, and the number of soldiers killed or wounded. But the Iran war has taken on a new character as quotes from the Bible are read to justify actions, social media graphics and news reports are used to garner public support and key players in the war are not just generals and Pentagon officials but religious leaders and Vatican cardinals. The war is now not only between the President of the United States and the Iranian ayatollahs but the Catholic Pope and the Secretary of Defense (War) and the language of war comes not just from a military manual but the Old and New Testament with special emphasis on the Book of Revelations and the Gospels.

In many ways this is a new development in warfare and one that may could limit the use of overwhelming force to settle disputes and respond to international conflicts. The fact that the Pope and the President are engaging in verbal assaults over war and peace impacts public opinion formation as Americans begin to think about conflicts in faraway places from a new perspective. War becomes not just soldiers killing other soldiers but innocent civilians as evil “collateral damage” that is normalized and sadly tolerated. The rhetoric of war from Presidents and Theocrats begins to compete with the Gospel’s Sermon on the Mount (Blessed are the Peacemakers). And news footage of parents crying over dead children forces those safely at home to recognize that war only brings misery and sadness not just gasoline inflation.

There is much talk these days about Jesus and war. The question of what Jesus would say about the war in Iran is heard more often. Some like President Trump and Secretary Hegseth suggest that Jesus would approve of the conflict while Pope Leo and his cardinsls say that Jesus would never support the evil of war. It would appear from polling data that the Pope has Jesus on his side and that the American public rejects the arguments for war. At this stage in the Iran war it is not clear where the conflict is headed but what is clear is that the Pope has made the conflict a moral issue and peace an important goal for humanity. War is indeed hell and those that glorify it do not have God on their side.

The answer is complex and multi-faceted but it boils down to some key sources of support that at present are unmovable. Critical to that support is hatred of the liberal elite who have ignored, as Trump calls them “the low educated.” To his credit Trump has been an effective voice for the “low educated” stirring up their feelings of abandonment and inciting resentment and revenge.

Added to the “low educated” stimulant is a mix of racism and cultural bias. The MAGA base have bought into the warped view that their lot in life is because minority racial/ ethnic groups have benefited from preferential treatment by the liberal elite and have supported multicultural values and behavior patterns that are far removed from the lifestyles of the white family settings of the 1950s and 1960s. The MAGA base are keenly aware that they are in a race/culture war with non-whites, and they are losing.

To counteract this competition the MAGA base have embraced a cult-like demeanor as they join forces with their leader to stop the erosion of white power and cultural differentiation. This is a new kind of civil war not to protect slavery but rather to ensure that the “good ol’ days” are not replaced by the current wave of immigrants of different colors, different religions, different lifestyles, and different languages.

This is a civil war of dangerous elements that will not disappear once “The Orange Man” disappears. To return this country to the values contained in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the light of hope shinning frim the Statue of Liberty will likely take a generation of civic education, historical remembrance, courageous leadership and most of all old fashioned American kindness, fairness, justice, equality and respect for democratic values. We are in for a long haul of societal challenges as anger and hatred were permitted to run wild for too long. Pray that there is still time to turn the country around.

Oz was in reality an imaginary place where the man behind the curtain created a social and political system that is reminiscent of the land we currently live in as our Wizard and his phony cronies turn our lives into something akin to Huxley’s regimented, desperate and hierarchical 1984.

In between the scenes of friendship between Glinda and Elphaba and the insipiring songs about change and gravity are sobering visuals of a system of society built on deceit and misdirection. The Wizard and his Press Secretary Madame Morrible have become experts at making the citizens of Oz and indeed Glinda believe that they live in a world of happiness and goodwill when in fact they are prisoners of falsehoods and evil.

By the end of the movie Glinda realizes the error of her ways and sends the Wizard back to Kansas and has the reformed monkeys fly Madame Morrible to parts unknown. The final song about friendship and change between Glinda and Elphaba had theater goers in tears (me included) as good overcame wickedness and both witches moved on to a new life.

If we transfer Wicked For Good to our current governing situation, then sometime in the future the Wizard will leave the Emerald city, the evil cronies will be flown away by the reformed monkeys and the citizens of Oz will celebrate a return to truth, honesty and justice. But keep in mind that Wicked For Good is only a movie.

Pope Leo’s words reminding those in power about the treachings of Jesus to live a Christian life by accepting the needy with open arms and treating those escaping violence and injustice with compassion got me thinking that one of the fundamental failings in our society is the lack of moral education. Too many voices in the religious communities in our nation have forgotten what it means to be a follower of Christ as they conveniently define sin in a narrow biblical sense without mentioning that treating those that have little in todays world is also a violation of Christian teaching.

Pope Leo seems to be one of those lost voices in today’s political wilderness begging leaders and followers who claim to be Christians to reread the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount where he talks about justice, love and mercy; praises the “ poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, and embraces“ peacemakers” and the importance of forgiveness and a transformation of the heart.

Somewhere along the way too many Americans replaced kindness with anger, love of neighbor with racial discrimination, and a willingness to help the poor with selfishness and a rejection of helping those in need. I don’t know when this radical shift away from the Christian way of life began but it is now so ingrained in our value system that it will be difficult to remove and return to the words and works of Jesus.

One does not have to be a diehard person of faith to live a life based on the life of Christ, but it does mean that we can become a people with a willingness to see others as equal, to treat the poorest among us with common decency and reject cruelty and anger as the foundation of our lives.

Since the beginning of Trump’s second term the Supreme Court has countermanded the Congress and its lawmaking authority by doing away with the Department of Education, stripping away Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, stopping $4 billion in foreign aid, firing thousands of federal employees in violation of their contracts and deported migrants to countries that were not their original home base.

The Court has also reversed 93% of lower court decisions that limited executive powers and written 24 emergency decisions without explanation that in 90% of the cases were favorable to Trump. In many of the decisions the Court reduced the power of Congress to establish appointment and retention regulations, appropriate funds for bipartisan approved programs and protect individual rights and procedures. Added to this the Court provided the President with near uncontested power when it granted immunity from prosecution for actions taken in his role as chief executive.

The six Justices that make up the conservative wing of the Court seem to be more interested in appeasing the President than supporting the role of Congress, upholding the decisions of the lower courts and following legal precedents that have long been enshrined in the rule of law. They also appear to support the controversial and questionable theory of the unitary executive which grants the president unlimited power to make public policy decisions without limiting checks from the Congress.

Ok In a recent book by Justice Amy Coney Barrett she said the quiet part out loud when commenting that the Court did not possess “the power of the purse or the sword”, a condition brought on by her conservative colleagues who seem unconcerned by the gross unconstitutional excesses of the President. The “conservative six” are willing to follow along as he weakens democratic values and practices and makes a mockery of the core constructs of our governing system – separation of powers and checks and balances. It is clear that the Supreme Court needs a course correction to bring it back to the original intent of the Founders.

But it is important to point out that No Kings power is not the same as Trump power. Within days of the tallies Trump used his power to tear down the East wing of the White House, move ever closer to invading Venezuela, starting the process of getting $230 million to pay himself off for legal bills associated with his fraud trial, and refused to budge on pressuring Republicans to negotiate with the Democrats to end the government shutdown.

The No Kings rallies, polling that shows a clear decline in Trumps approval ratings and increasing evidence that the economy is headed into the dumpster may be encouraging as the nation heads next year to critical elections, but Trump is clearly working to rig the election through redistricting schemes, counting on a likely decision by his Supreme Court to gut the Voting Rights Act, and relying on an obedient Republican Congress to protect their leader. The power that Trump can wield can offset the power of the people to change the dynamics of executive control.

There is clear anti- Trump energy at work in America and the 2026 mid term elections could shift power away from the authoritarian regime currently in place. But it is important to understand that Trump will do whatever he can to hold onto his power, the Comstitution and the rule of law be damned. Trump has ignored Democrat challenges, court decisions and long held governing norms and values. He can be expected to follow the same playbook.

To counteract Trump power No Kings Power must be transformed from rallies to electioneering; mundane and often boring door knocking, phone calling and especially social media messaging. Americans are beginning to wake up to Trump power, but they need to be constantly reminded about the dangers of authoritarian control and the damage that is yet to come if Trump power is not silenced.

Whether you are a believer or not, there are so many “evil spirits” in our midst that we need a force for good like St. Michael to “defend us in battle…against the wickedness and snares of the devil”.

There has been more and more discussion in the public sphere about how to conquer violence, discrimination, injustice, meanness, and anger. Sadly what we are finding out almost every day is that we live alongside too many awful humans who have been captured by the “wickedness and snares of the devil.”

So what to do in response to this mounting evil? The prayer to St. Michael is one answer as we have sunk so low as a people that we need to be lifted up in this case by a higher power. Saying a short prayer to St. Michael may help us rise above the current wave of awfulness and do battle against the evildoers.

St. Michael may have the answer, its certainly worth a try.

Yet Cardinal Dolan conveniently forgot Charlie Kirk’s basic value system and goal which was to establish the extremist doctrine of Christian nationalism and replace the importance of love, community and compassion with strict religious beliefs that accent control, discrimination and white supremacy.

Cardinal Dolan must have forgotten St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians which in part says the following:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

But because Cardinal Dolan made Charlie Kirk into someone who he is not, the proponents of anger and hatred and falsehood now have a new champion and have opened up the floodgates of rage and Ill will- President Trump even suggested that Charlie Kirk is the new Jesus.

St. Paul wrote his letter on the importance of love to heal the divisions in the early Christian community. Charlie Kirk was no healer of divisions or unifier and Cardinal Dolan only helped to expand our national divide.

This is not the time for angry voices, harsh threats and bold promises of change. This is a time rather for self-reflection and inner peace. As a people we have spent the last few years yelling at each other, carrying signs of protest and talking nonsense. Now is the time to accept the benefits of simple quiet and take a break from questioning the values and motives of those around us.

It is time to take a rest from listening to those who make their living by breeding hate and live a life of friendship and community spirit. The dark trail of suspicion and conspiracy has only made our lives less comforting and fruitful. If we need change and reform then let it begin within us.

So let’s promote a new era of peace and quiet that starts from within. Debating unrealistic answers to our problems and talking about unworkable solutions have not shown the way forward. The heroes of tomorrow will be those who make life better by being thoughtful, humble and above all kind. As the Gospel tells us “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.”

Razia was a fearless voice for young girls despite threats from the Taliban and centuries of restrictions limiting the role of woman to remain home bound and uneducated. Razia started the Zabuli Education Center in the dusty villages 30 miles from the capital city of Kabul. She was a demanding principal requiring her girls to come to school with clean clothes and brushed teeth. She had regular meetings with village leaders and fathers who were unwilling to challenge her demands for support. Every morning she would drink the water from the school hose to ensure it wasn’t contaminated by the Taliban extremists. With support from abroad and her Rotary colleagues back in Massachusetts( she was the first female president of her Club) Razia expanded her school, increased her Om on enrollment and graduated young women with writing, reading, math and science skills that were never part of village life .

I had the distinct honor of hosting Razia at our home where she told her story of the importance of education for young girls and ending the limitations on providing the skills necessary to change a restrictive religious culture. Razia’s school still remains with a staff of brave teachers. Razia may be gone to her just reward as a servant of young children but her commitment to break down the barriers of discrimination remains. Thank you Razia for all you have accomplished for the girls of Afghanistan.