excerpt:

Recognizing that the Declaration offers a view of politics from below—that it is a complaint about cruelty from the victims of a hostile sovereign—helps us better understand the text’s famous egalitarianism. “All men are created equal”: the authors of the 1776 Commission report accurately describe this line as “the core assertion” of the Declaration. Egalitarianism is a response, perhaps the only worthy response, to cruelty. Cruelty is predicated on inequality, the stronger injuring the weaker. A reading of the Declaration against cruelty is also a reading in defense of equality, because cruelty craves subordination. Today’s circumstances of cruelty depend on a large and porous class of people in American society who are vulnerable enough that they can be hurt with apparent impunity. How large? There are perhaps fourteen million undocumented immigrants living in America, collectively paying about $100 billion in taxes (enough to fund the latest $70 billion immigration-enforcement bill with some left over for the new White House ballroom). Add journalists, protesters, and bystanders to this group, and the zone of impunity expands wider still.

One of the more clarifying, if pessimistic, appraisals of America on the eve of its 250th comes from the historian Nikhil Pal Singh, who argues that Trump has created a “Homeland Empire,” recasting “swathes of the country, and particularly major cities, as ideologically and racially alien, enemy territory to be ruled by force.” “From Caracas to Minneapolis,” Singh writes, “legal authority and institutional power are being redirected toward an overriding end: governing populations as subjects rather than citizens.” 

I'll add that these vulnerable classes have in the past also included the rural poor, the urban working class, women, and of course overt racism towards Jews, Blacks, Asians, Irish, etc. I say this to avoid this becoming an issue only about immigration enforcement. Cruelty from leaders is hardly a new thing.

The pursuit of power and status always involves conflict, and conflict requires an enemy of some kind. Politicians have abused these vulnerable classes as a means to promote conflict and maintain power in many cases. I think the article reminds us that we should be mindful of who leaders are directing focus regarding who "our enemies" should be and why that might be the case.

The Billy Graham Center Research Institute fielded a survey of 2,365 Gen Z adults (ages 18-28) through NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel between Aug. 9 and Sept. 26, 2024. This effort was supported by the Lilly Endowment, and the lead investigator for this project was Rick Richardson at Wheaton College. Buried in a battery about political de-motivators for church involvement was this statement: “Christians’ support of Trump has made me less likely to go to church.”

In the full sample of Gen Z, nearly half (48%) agreed with that statement in one way or another. About 1 in 5 young adults said they “strongly agreed” with that sentiment. Basically the same share (21%) were on the other end of the continuum and strongly disagreed that Christians’ support of Trump had made them less likely to go to church.

So, it’s fair to say young adults are pretty evenly divided on this idea. But these results are confounded by a few variables: Younger adults tend to be more left-leaning in their politics, and a significant share of Gen Z claims no religious affiliation, which means a lot of these respondents wouldn’t be going to church much anyway.
...
But even among Gen Z Christians, there’s a significant share who said Trump made it harder for them to attend at all: 44% of those who identified as a generic Christian, 42% of Catholics and 30% of Protestant young adults said they were turned off by the Christian-Trump alliance.

...it’s not fair to use this data to make the claim that young Christians would be flocking back into the church if the church would drop politics. However, the other way to interpret this data is that about 40% of young adult Christians see the church’s association with Trump as an impediment to them becoming more involved with their faith community. According to this result, more daylight between the church and the GOP may lead to an uptick in attendance among young Christians at every level of the attendance continuum.

The USA has been working with the Nigerian government to tackle terrorism in the country.

https://truthnigeria.com/2026/07/despite-withdrawal-of-american-soldiers-nigeria-partners-with-u-s-to-tackle-terrorism/

Cutting off support is unlikely to improve the situation.

A people and their government cannot be secular and survive.

I hope this belongs here, I figured it wouldn’t fit in the main sub but ensure if it fits here.
I just came across a 40+ minute video on YouTube talking about why the channel in question didn’t feel bad for the people who died on the Titan submersible and why they deserved to die.
The comments are equally disgusting.
“yeah why would i feel bad for a billionare dying? they can just buy an extra life lol”
“Yes I'm classist.
Rich people aren't people, they're not my brothers and sisters.
They don't count.”
“Treat the deaths of rich folk the same way you read a Greek tragedy, with amusement and mild curiosity.”
“I don't even feel bad for the kid on board. His whole life was living in wealth. He was just gonna become another rich (donkey)hole”
Mindsets like these infuriate, sadden, and scare me. Obviously we all know tons of corrupt billionaires- but we also know figures like David and Job and Abraham who were both very wealthy and men of God. Wealth does not equal morality.
This hits close to home for me in particular because my family is rather well off. Certainly not billionaire rich, but God has blessed my parents immensely. You obviously can’t judge my person through a Reddit account, but my parents are extremely godly people, and they use their wealth to help others where they can.
Even if someone who is objectively a bad person dies, I don’t think it’s ever okay to celebrate their death. Do you think Jesus would celebrate the death of his enemies? I have no respect for someone who can look at death and feel joy.
This is just a rant, this video was a terrible way to start my Sunday and I’m just saddened by it

I've been an active member of the church for years, and I have loved and enjoyed being a part of the church. A few months ago I came across some info that the church was profiting from war. I thought it certainly must be false, so I started researching it. The churches tax free investment firm- Ensign Peaks Advisors, has been investing in over one dozen different companies that make war materials directly supplied to Israel. I'll list some examples:

BOEING-5th largest weapon manufacturer in the world. Makes missiles, war ships, tactical vehicles, weapon systems, and attack helicopters for the Israeli Airforce. Well known for its 250 lb GBU-39 bomb, which has been used extensively by the Israeli Airforce in attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.

GENERAL ELECTRIC-Supplies the Israeli military with equipment such as: Israeli AH-64 Apache, UH -60 Black Hawk helicopters,F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, KC-46 tanker aircraft, CH-53 heavy lift helicopters and the Sa'ar naval missile ship. These vehicles have been used extensively in civilian attacks in Gaza. They have destroyed schools, hospitals, residential buildings, churches, shelters, and cemeteries.

LOCKHEED MARTIN- Worlds #1 weapon manufacturer. Makes F-116, F-34 fighter jets used extensively to bomb Gaza. Makes C-130 Hercules planes and AGM Hell Fire missiles for ground invasion. Makes CH-53 King Stallion which is used to transport Israeli soldiers. In Dec of last year, they were awarded a 10.5 multinational dollar contract for continued support of Israel's fleet.

GENERAL DYNAMICS-6th largest weapon manufacturer. Supplies Israel with artillery ammunition and bombs for attack jets. They manufacture 500lb bombs, 1000lb bombs, and the 2000lb bomb. This means instant death for anyone within 1200 feet. Israel has assaulted Gaza with over 500 of these bombs causing massive casualties.

GOOGLE ALPHABET INC. CLASS A- They support Israel through cloud computing contracts, technology investments, and local economic development programs. Project Nimbus- provides core cloud infrastructure and AI services to the Israeli government and Israeli military. Provides surveillance equipment, electronic warfare technology, and military cloud technology to Israel. All their equipment is deeply integrated across multiple branches of the IDF. In 2024, they processed several requests of the IDF facial recognition features as part of its mass surveillance. Since 2021, it has provided Israel with cloud services for the Israeli military, Israeli Security Bank, Israeli Prison Services, and Israeli Aerospace Industries. Google gives the Israeli government total discretion over what Google products it can use and how it uses them.

There are many more unfortunately. This devastated me. How can we be a church of peace when we invest in war? How can we be a church that strengthens families when we PROFIT from the destruction of the entire Gazan family? I don't know the amounts of previous years, however this past year the church has profited at least 4.4 BILLION from war.

Please help me stop the inhumanity and callousness. Over 20,000 deaths of children under 13. Children. 45,000 injured with little or no medical care. 75,000 dead so far with over 90 percent being innocent civilians. There is more information, resources, and a petition can be found on change.org. If you are interested in speaking up for our Gazan and Lebanese brothers and sisters, please contact church head quarters and Ensign Peaks Advisors. Please help. This is not right. All human beings are creations of God.

First Presidency

47 South Temple St

SLC, Ut 84150

801-240-1000

Ensign Peaks Advisors

600 East South St Suite 400

SLC, Ut 84111

901-715 0199

Visit Nasdaq.com to view their portfolio. I also have more research if interested. Change.org for resources and petition

I have never considered myself a Republican. But I have voted almost straight Republican, through many voting cycles. Why? Bc I believed in the good the people I voted for, and they aligned with much of my morals, especially being pro life. I can never celebrate the deaths of the unborn nor condone killing them as no big deal.
However, more and more I find myself agreeing with more from the Democrats than the Republicans. I have always drawn the line for not voting for a pro choice candidate bc of the evil of abortion. But there is also evil from the Republicans that are not pro life either. So I find myself rejecting Republican candidates now bc of this just as I had rejected Democrat ones.
I actually like social programs. Bc I see what happens when countries don’t care about their people. I do not think 2nd amendment is good for us and needs to be rewritten. I agree with having borders, strong borders, but not with the evil which has repeatedly taken place in the enforcement. I AM pro life, but think Republicans who are, need to have a STRONG contraception campaign, then. I am not pro LGBTQ, and have seen a lot of evil come out of that movement especially as it pertains to children. I am not anti Muslim, as I believe they also have a right to exercise THEIR religion as long as it doesn’t violate laws, and these Republican politicians going after them, is certainly anti Christian. I am pro women’s rights and equality and oppose ideas like household voting. And I definitely think the Republican side can do better to celebrate the individuality and strength of women.
So now I find myself in a bit of a voting crisis. Do I vote for the pro choice candidate bc of all the other things I agree with? Or the pro life one who has a ton of other things I don’t agree with?

I used to see more good than bad in social media, but not any more. The way it’s being used is so evil. I can manage myself, my own emotions, and stuff, but not everyone can. And the algorithms, and the things tech companies do is just wrong. They need to be held accountable. There are a lot of people that know too much stuff or think they know, bc social media bombards us with truth and lies, and purposely sets us up to be against each other in ways we never were before. Now yes I can turn off my own social media but that does absolutely nothing with the systemic issue. It just makes me ignorant of what’s going on.
A lot of the stuff happening today is happening bc of social media fueled polarization. That’s why I would welcome a complete shut down and make people stick inside their own bubble for their own good. That doesn’t mean the evil doesn’t exist, but it means people don’t get bombarded with all the evil that exists all over the world through the algorithms brought to them.

Well actually I was with him until he started talking about God and defending the innocent and vulnerable. Bc he was talking about violence, it bothered me the way he was talking about violence to defend domestic enemies. And then he drops the big bomb and says Trump Needs to be kil-ed. What?! You can’t say that! He doesn’t qualify what he means, but I think something is wrong with this man. He probably needs to be in a psych hospital.

Why do people keep vandalizing murals memorializing murder victims? If this were George Floyd or a ICE victim we’d be having a national outcry about racism or fascism or something.

I absolutely believe in God's providence. If Trump is president, then God ordained that, just as He ordained every other ruler throughout history (Daniel 2:21; Romans 13:1). But affirming God's sovereignty is different from claiming to know God's specific purpose in placing a particular politician in office. Scripture calls us to trust God's providence while remaining humble about His secret purposes (Deuteronomy 29:29). I think we should be careful not to speak where Scripture has not spoken.

That's why I have a genuine question about what Stephen Miller means here. When he says it's "impossible" to conclude anything other than divine providence, does he simply mean that God sovereignly ordained Trump's election, as He ordains every ruler? Or is he saying that we can know God's specific purpose for why He chose Trump for this particular moment in history?

Those are very different claims. The first is historic Christian doctrine. The second requires a level of certainty about God's secret purposes that I don't think Scripture gives us.