SPIRITUAL VIEWS & TRUMP'S WALL

Growing up Trump was not exposed to the concept of morality and ethics. He was a son of a member of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK). His father was arrested at a KKK rally in an altercation with the police. Trump and his father were both fined for not renting to minorities.

Many people are suffering in this government shut down. The government workers are not getting pay checks. Those on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are likely to lose their benefits soon. States are starting to fund the Women, Infants, Children (WIC) Program and affordable housing contracts have ended recently in public housing. Immigrants seeking asylum have to wait another year to have their cases heard in court because of the shut down. Congress needs to open up the government and then discuss their solutions. People should not be suffering because Congressional leaders lack the will to do the right thing. People should not be suffering because of the Wall.

Oppressing these individuals is not acceptable. In Judaism oppressing the alien is not acceptable. In Exodus 22:21 a very clear statement is expressed so well: "Do not mistreat aliens or oppress them, for you were aliens in Egypt" (New International Bible).

In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about the stranger. In this culture the stranger was the foreigner or alien. He states, "I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me." The statement shows that the highest form of ethics and morality is really how you treat others. This is what matters the most.

In Christianity and Judaism we see an emphasis on showing love to the neighbor who includes the stranger and alien. In Hinduism there is an even higher level is involved. Pandits have done discourses on the famous Golden Rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." They have concluded that the Self is the Atman or Soul. So you should love your neighbor as your own soul. This brings ethics and morality to a very high spiritual plane.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal is a Hindu who happens to be a US Congresswoman. She actually went to the border to talk to migrants seeking asylum to understand the effects of Trump's policies against them. She states very clearly: "Trump is trying to use people who are seeking asylum who are literally running from death just for his own political benefits and that's a disgrace." Most people in this caravan were women and children escaping the violence of Honduras. Rep. Jayapal visited migrant children separated from their families by Trump's policies. She got arrested at the border at the beginning of December but finally got released.

Trump has failed to acknowledge the root causes of why these migrants are seeking asylum in this country. On Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) several experts talked about Guatemala and Honduras, the poor economies of these countries and the violence of the gangs and drug cartels as reasons people come to the United States from these nations. Most undocumented individuals come here with a VISA and do not enter through the border stations. Most do not have criminal records. In fact most refugees commit crimes at lower rates than native born citizens. Refugees go through an asylum process and it would be hard to get into this country with a criminal record. Most terrorism is caused by native born citizens not refugees.

Nina Khrushcheva, professor of International affairs at the New School, is the great grand daughter of Nikita Khrushchev who build the Berlin Wall in 1961. On November 12, 1989 the Wall started to come down when the government let people cross the border between East and West Germany.

This professor published an article on the history of dictators and tyrants constructing walls to stop migrants from entering their countries. The Great Wall of China was built for that purpose. Emperor Qin Shi Huang built this wall starting in 220 B.C. In WWI the Germans erected a barbed-wire fence in Belgium and the Netherlands. It was called "No Man's Land" and the "Wire of Death." Three thousand people were killed when they tried to escape. In 2015 the Hungarian Prime Minister constructed a wall to keep out migrants. It is a 13 feet high razor wire fence between Hungry and Serbia.

The American public is not in favor of the Wall. Better to fund human needs than wasting government money on the Wall. We are a nation of immigrants. Trump's upbringing as a son of a KKK member is what is causing him to be obsessed about building a wall to keep our immigrants of color from entering the United States. He clearly stated his preference for immigrants who are white. He wants people from Norway to come here but not people from Central America or Africa. His white supremacist views were instilled in him as a child and he can't get beyond the immoral values of his father.

He looks on people of color as being inferior. The facts are there were many highly advanced civilizations where the majority of the citizens were people of color. The Hindu Vedic Dravidian Civilization was a vast and great empire. In the Rig Veda you even have 27 female philosophers who contributed to this text. No other civilization at the time allowed women such status. In Africa in Ghana you had a very high civilization of blacks who developed high art and technology. In Egypt pyramids were developed by people of color. We still can't build one with our 21st century technology. In South America you had the Mayans and the Aztecs who also built pyramids. The Mayans developed very precise calendars which were accurate and advanced.

People of faith must come together at this time and stop Trump's immoral actions concerning the construction of the Wall. His treatment of federal workers, the poor and immigrants is not acceptable.

Kohlberg, the psychologist, developed a system for measuring ethics and morality. The lowest form of ethics is called the teenage system of morality. The person on this level does what they can get by with and not get caught. The next highest level is doing what is legal as being the standard to live by in life. The problem with that is that there are actions which are legal but are not moral. It was legal to the drop the nuclear bomb in the Japanese in WWII, but it certainly was not moral to kill people in such a horrible way. Hitler's ovens were legal, but definitely not moral. The next highest standard is when a person does an action based on a principle. It was illegal for blacks to eat at lunch counters and stay at hotels in the South. The person with a higher standard of morality would make sure these laws were protested and changed. The highest standard of morality is when the person lives the higher principle when there are two conflicting values being considered. It is a higher value to show love. When the Nazis came for the Jews, these people made sure they were hidden away. They often told the Nazis that there were no Jews in their houses. The highest standard is to show love rather than telling the whole truth.

Trump shows low standards of morality. He does what he can get by with in every situation. He does not care how he treats people around him. He does not welcome the alien or stranger. He does not uphold the Constitution, or stand up for democracy or basic human rights. Trump's Wall is a wall based on White Supremacy Values, which are very immoral. As people of faith we need to stand up against his behavior. Love and compassion is the highest standard in all spiritual traditions. We need to help our neighbors out now any way we can. Love is the reason were here on Mother Earth at this time. The Wall must be stopped now! The government needs to be opened by Congress!

JAI SHRI LOVE! JAI SHRI JUSTICE! JAI SHRI MA!

Radhapriestess