FaVS: President Trump – a response from Spokane’s faith community

No denying the country is shocked by the election results. The predictions were wrong. Today many citizens are grieving, while others are celebrating.

Contributing writes to the Spokane Faith and Values website (SpokaneFaVs.com) have been asked to share their responses to the election. We’ve excerpted some of those responses here, and published other in full. Find the rest at http://spokanefavs.com/president-trump-a-response-from-spokanes-faith-community/.

Admir Rasic: Uncertainty is Uncomfortable

I am surprised Donald Trump won the presidency. I was hoping he would lose because his rhetoric and proposals were frightening for many minority groups, including Muslims. There is a great deal of uncertainty about him since he has never held public office and we do not have a great way to predict how he will act in any given scenario. I’m sure many minority groups are uncertain about laws that may be proposed or enacted that restrict their rights. Trump has used hateful language when describing Muslims, and hateful language breeds hateful actions. I’m uncertain if my family and I will be targets for violence and greater surveillance because of our religion.

I am also uncertain about the reaction from the Democratic party. Will it move further to the right to capture Trump’s voters, or will it move further to the left in an effort to reject moderate policies? Maybe most analysts and pundits have it wrong (as they have so far) and Donald Trump’s policies truly will make America greater. There is a silver lining to this result for me personally. I finally understand how many conservatives probably felt when Obama won. There was a sense of hopelessness, fear, and anger from conservatives and I am working through all of those emotions myself this time.

Admir Rasic, a Muslim, was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina and has lived in Spokane since 2000.

Rob Bryceson: God is in control

In overall life we evangelical Christians are guided by the Bible, in politics we Christians tend to want our Constitution to be the center focus, guided by principles of fairness and compassion. Many of us believe executive orders and court decisions and big money political insiders have undermined the legislative branch of our government and the overall rule of law. Most of my conservative friends want smaller federal government and more power to the states and local governments. It’s time for change. That being said, we evangelicals are not a homogenous electorate. We’re black, Asian, Hispanic, white, immigrant and (natural) born. If my social network and magazine article threads are an indicator, we have grown discontent. Some 25 million Evangelicals didn’t vote in 2012. I wonder what the difference is this time? We have not liked the direction of our country or the political process in over the last several years. We know Trump is not one of us. He doesn’t share our values, but for most of us, Hillary even less so. Trump is a risk but Hillary was a known quantity – one we did not want….

We wait in hope to see what kind of cabinet Trump puts together and we wait with some caution to see what he really will do. But we remind ourselves, God is still in control and prayer really can change things.

Rob Bryceson is the Pastor of the Gathering House Covenant Church and café in the Garland District

Nicholas Damascus: Lots of uncertainty

Interesting, surprising outcome and a lot of uncertainty prevails. One could say the majority has spoken, however the means does not always justify the ends. Perhaps this is a wake up call for many complacent citizens to become participants rather than spectators. I have no answers, only questions and in any experience there is always opportunity and challenges. We are not always dealt a winning hand however uncertainty may provide the catalyst to be more involved in OUR future.

Nicholas Damascus frequently writes the “Ask an Eastern Orthodox Christian” column for Spokane FaVS.

Hyphen Parent: I don’t feel safe

It’s the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht and, for the first time in my life, I can no longer say, “Never again,” with confidence.

I’m an American Jew and even in the face of anti-semitism through the years, I’ve always felt relatively safe here in America. Those were isolated incidents, though. This is the majority of the American people and the government. I do not feel safe. I don’t feel secure. I’m very worried.

For some people, this election was just about ideology. People voted for Trump to “drain the swamp,” and try something different.

For those of us who are Jewish, Muslim, queer, poc, immigrants, trans, differently-abled, or otherwise marginalized; this has the potential to change everything and those potential changes aren’t hopeful. They could be catastrophic.

For us, isn’t just a political ideology. These are our lives, our safety, and our rights and they may be forever changed.

Dorothy-Ann Parent (better known as Hyphen) is a writer who contributes to FaVS’ “Ask a Jew” column.

Jan Shannon: Selfishness, sin won

What happened yesterday was an example of the worst of humanity’s treatment of one another. Caring only about themselves and their agenda, they have elected a man who will do just that, exactly what he wants. Selfishness and sin has won. But that is not unexpected. Selfishness and sin often win. Usually win. On earth, yeah. But what happened yesterday is just politics. Just humanity’s attempt to organize themselves. This is what it looks like when we do that. That is what it looked like when we did it to Christ. It was brutal, horrific, and the worst example of humanity’s treatment of one another.

Jan Shannon is the part-time assistant pastor at Westminster UCC