Where Did the Rays Go?

I promised I wouldn’t inundate my readers with all the negative news until I saw some rays of light and hope.

For a couple of weeks, I thought I saw some positive news. One was from Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, who said, “We are clear that President Trump is a danger to our most fundamental freedoms—and we have a plan. The ACLU has been preparing for this potential outcome for years, and we are ready to tackle every threat to our civil liberties.” Many agencies are ready to take on his wannabe dictator.

The Sunday, March 2, 2025, New York Times had two full-page ads taken out by private citizens. One of them read “A Plea for Donald Trump to Resign.” The other read “THE RUBICON HAS BEEN CROSSED,” pleading with Republican senators to recognize that “our country today is in crisis. We need you to do the right thing.”

Columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote an op-ed titled “The Right’s Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which stated that the Republicans keep pretending the president is someone he’s not—something he’s done his whole life.

Claude Malhuret, senator of the French Republic, spoke truth to power: “Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling.” And he goes on for eleven minutes telling his countrymen and other Europeans the terrible consequences for Europeans with Trump’s presidency. Malhuret needs to have his speech translated into English and sent to the seventy-seven million Americans who voted for Trump, even though I suspect that not one of them cares that the rest of the world sees us as laughingstock.

Also, I was looking forward to reporting about the group of progressive clergy in Orange County, California, who were getting together for a second time. I thought we were making plans to try to stop Trump and Project 2025. I was totally taken back. For an hour, all they talked about was getting together for a happy hour in some bar. Yikes! I won’t be attending.

I immediately thought of the poem “Credo” written by Dorothee Soelle (excerpt taken from Revolutionary Patience, Orbis Books, 1974, p. 23):

 

every day, I am afraid

that he died in vain

because he is buried in our churches

because we have betrayed his revolution

in obedience to authority

and our fear of it

I believe in jesus christ

Who rises again and again in our lives

so that we will be free

from prejudice and arrogance

from fear and hate

and carry on his revolution

and make way for his kingdom.

 

Let me close by saying that the best ray of hope I have found is happening every Sunday afternoon, from two to four o’clock, at a major cross street in our city of Irvine. Last Sunday, about five hundred demonstrators were letting traffic, especially Tesla drivers, know that we are not happy about how the Trump cult is destroying our democracy.

On Saturday, April 5, a demonstration is scheduled to take place in Orange County, California, attracting an estimated twenty thousand people. I bet I find some rays of hope there.

PeaceLoveJoyHopeKindness

Bil

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P.S. People often ask me provocative questions about current events, both religious and secular. I have found that some of these questions are being asked universally. I’ll be periodically alternating regular articles with one of those questions and my answer. I invite you to send me your question to bilaulenbach@yahoo.com.

Photo by Raphael Renter | @raphi_rawr on Unsplash