A bewildering dilemma I experience is, “Why do so many others who also wear the name of Christ Jesus remain loyal to Donald Trump? How can people profess faith in Jesus, who preached love, mercy, and care for the oppressed, and at the same time support policies opposite to those, such as cruelty toward immigrants, demonizing others, and glorifying brutality?”
President Trump’s immorality and unethical dealings are well known and too numerous to list in this brief article. His loyalists I have talked with are decent, honest, and intelligent people. “We know he is not a choir boy, but we like his policies,” they say, even though he is convicted of 34 felonies and a sexual assault.
After much studying and conversations with others, I do believe the keys to understanding these apparent contradictions about good people following a bad man are found in studying the term “vertical morality.” Discovering this explains why people support Trump’s policies and those of his appointees, while excusing their extensive shortcomings.
What is vertical morality? It teaches that authority, power and a moral code of right and wrong, or acceptable and unacceptable, come from “above”—an external superior who designates rules, systems and tenets that must be obeyed by those beneath (msn.com/en-us/ news/opinion/vertical-moralitymight- describe-why-maga-christians- seem-so-unchristian).
Those with a rigid vertical morality are loyal to a Supreme Being, a political leader, or both, especially when they think God appointed that leader.
Christian Nationalists tend to be vertical in their morality and rely heavily on examples in the Old Testament to rationalize behaviors, regardless of whether innocent people are hurt. They cite such instances as when God told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, as a burnt offering.
Abraham promptly obeyed. His arm was raised to strike the fatal blow with a knife, when an angel stopped him. The record tells that his total willingness to obey God was rewarded with promises of many blessings (Genesis 22:1-19).
We are familiar with the account of Joshua’s army defeating Jericho. “They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys” (Joshua 6:21, NIV).
Abraham and Joshua are examples of vertical morality. They obeyed God because God was God, and that settled it, even if innocent people were harmed. We should be grateful because Jesus, the promised Messiah, abolished that old law and its violence, nailing it to His cross (Colossians 2:13-14, NIV).
Following Jesus means we practice a “horizontal morality.” We see that in His compassion toward the poor and outcast. It is described as “firsthand” morality in Matthew 25, when Jesus says we either follow Him or reject Him in the ways we treat others.
“….horizontal morality is about the duties and responsibilities we have to those around us. Horizontally, our focus is on our fellow humans, our relationships with the people who are on the same level as we are. Here, our attention, will and allegiance are directed toward our peers, those who share the same space and plane of existence with us. In short, horizontal morality is about how we engage and relate to the people in our lives—our neighbors, our communities, outsiders” (baptistnews.com/ article/vertical-and-horizontal- morality/).
Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth is an example of “vertical morality.” His body is covered with tattoos of religious symbols and expressions. One, “Deux Vult,” was the battle cry of the Crusaders as they fought the heretics. It is Latin for “God Wills It.” The word “Crusade” means “The mark of the cross.” Among his tattoos are the Jerusalem Cross, frequently used by Christian Nationalists, and an American flag with the bottom stripe replaced by an AR-15 rifle (www.msn. com/en-us/news/us/whatto- know-about-meaning-ofhegseths- tattoos).
Does Hegseth’s strict vertical morality permit him to kill survivors of a boat that was destroyed by U.S. missiles because he believes “God wills it?” In my view, it appears he thinks of himself as a modern Joshua-type figure. This means he believes doing God’s will means killing enemies without any opportunity for them to surrender, the same as was done to the Jericho residents.
I believe Border Czar Tom Homan is another example of vertical morality. He apparently doesn’t care whether an undocumented person is a criminal or a quiet, peaceful person who has lived here for decades. “The Law is the Law,” he said in response to the violent separation of children from parents and other brutalities (msn.com/en-us/ news/us/border-czar-tomhoman- the-law-is-the-law).
Jimmy Carter is an example of horizontal morality. His faith and humanitarian activities are legendary.
Horizontal morality includes a vertical outlook, balanced by fairness toward others. Vertical morality without any inclusion of the horizontal aspect can lead to the way immigrants and other minorities are treated cruelly without remorse.
The Beatitudes of Jesus describe those who are humble, merciful, and pure in heart, who desire righteousness, and who possess other noble qualities. They explain what horizontal morality looks like in tangible terms. Let us all strive to emulate these virtues.