What Trump should have done and said after the synagogue mass shooting: An ecumenical America

After eleven people died in a Pittsburgh synagogue shooting,  President Donald Trump remarked that the synagogue "should have had armed guards standing outside." The President, who canceled no campaign rallies in the wake of the horrific incident, joked about the possibility of having to cancel campaign events because of a "bad hair day," but mentioned nothing about the mass shooting in his diatribe.

Armed guards, and at a house of worship? Is the President of the United States, who leads the one nation founded on the principles of "freedom of religion," suggesting that churches and synagogues be protected by armed guards to keep people out

President Trump speaking at rally after Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

instead of inviting them in? Whatever happened to the ecumenical America envisioned by our Founding Fathers who eloquently inscribed in the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Has our assimilation to the very principles of religious freedom denigrated to the point that our nation will crumble without armed militia at the door of every place of worship in our country? Have we not intrinsically internalized our very basic and fundamental principles as a People, as a nation of Constitutional laws aimed at protecting the rights of each and every American to worship as he or she chooses? Is the exercise of those very principles in everyday life in America so fragile that it will cease to exist without armed militia at every church, synagogue or house of worship in America?

Trump has given up on America

If that is the case, then we already have failed as a nation and the great American experiment in Democracy is but a sham. And President Trump is the one raising the white flag in surrender to the very hatred that he has helped to incite with his hateful rhetoric. If President Trump truly believed in America and the very principles upon which this nation was founded, including freedom of religion, he would not give up and say that the only way to protect religious freedom and the exercise thereof is to have armed guards in front of our churches, synagogues and places of worship.

President Trump fails to understand that a nation founded on the principles of religious freedom defends such principles intrinsically and from within. After over two-hundred and forty years of existence under a Constitution that transcends our differences and serves us in a common bond of freedom, we Americans share an interwoven allegiance to freedom, to religious worship when, where and how we see fit, and to freedom of speech and the right to assemble. We do not defend our churches and synagogues with the might of the sword, or the firing of the rifle. We uplift all who worship as they see fit with the preeminence of our Constitution.

Donald Trump obviously does not believe in such principles, nor does he believe that the Constitution is strong enough to protect America's freedoms from those who would threaten them. Trump has surrendered to the encircling fear that attacks some Americans and causes them to believe that America's greatest days are behind her. The President's divergent despair about the continuity of the American Dream has affected both his actions and his words in the wake of this terrible tragedy.

Trump should have had an ecumenical service to heal the nation 

 

Trump's response to this horrific massacre could have been so much different. Instead of going to campaign rallies and talking about "bad hair days," the President could have called for an ecumenical church service, open to people of all faiths and from all walks of life, in Pittsburgh. And there are some things that Trump, as President, could have said at that ecumenical service to help the nation "bind its wounds."

The speech that Trump should have given 

 

Here, then, are the healing words that the President could have offered to a nation in peril:

My Fellow Americans: Once again, and all too often in recent years, we find ourselves assembled in the wake of yet another horrific, senseless, and despicable, inhuman act by a sick, deranged person who desperately was in need of help. And we come collectively, from all walks of religious life and all faiths, to seek solace from our Creator. And we ask the Creator to help us understand. 

The defining mantra of the experience that we call America always has been the ability of its people to come together, to summon the grace of God, to shed a tear in a moment of sorrow while enjoining a resolve to unify and rebuild what has been torn asunder in times of great national tragedy. This is one of those times, the time to drop what divides us and come together in a common bond of what we do best: being Americans, thick and thin, brave, resolute and unwavering in our hope for tomorrow and our faith in a Divine Creator. 

And I commit to you today, as your President, that I will not give up on my resolve to find solutions to this ugly manifestation that has victimized our people, divided our nation, and threatened our hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow for all our children, grandchildren and future generations. I pledge to you that I will not rest, I will not stop my daily toil, and I will not claim victory until this manifestation has been eliminated from our streets, our buildings, our public events and our American way of life. 

The hatred that is responsible for this manifestation must be eliminated from every city, every village, every church, and every square inch of America. And we can measure our success by the sparkle in the eyes of our children, the radiance of hope in our college youth, and the patriotic resolve of all our citizens that this nation is the best nation ever conceived, ever created and forever defended. 

We have a lot of work to do, for the task before us is one that we all share. The "Fruited Plain" is ours to defend; and the fruits of our democracy come to us at a cost. Thank you ever so much to those who serve our country to keep us free. They know, better than anyone, that, as John F. Kennedy said, that "The price of freedom is not free." 

Together we will pay that price. Together we will worship, we will defend what is ours, we will uphold the principles of freedom, we will prevail and we will not ever give up. And we will humbly bow to our Creator and once again, as always, proclaim, "God bless the United States of America."

The long path to healing

That is what I believe that Donald Trump, or any President in this situation and at a time such as this, should have said. The path to healing is a long one for America. But it must begin at the top and with the President. And words such as those above are the first prescription for a nation of sorrow in a time of desperate need.