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Black Church News in Virginia

The Ink of the Scholar: Misplaced Values

By Imam Vernon Fareed

There is consternation and fear almost everywhere you go today over the recent election of Donald J. Trump as President [Elect] of the United States. These strong concerns emanate not only from the common people but from leaders throughout the world. The concerns run the gamut from, “what will his (Trump’s) foreign policy be;” to “will we be rounded up and sent back to our country” and further, “will there be a registry for Muslims?” Some people have become so terrified with the uncertainty of a future Trump Presidency that they have become depressed. Others have already began moving to countries such as Canada and other places. From day to day political commentators and news reporters seem to have a laser type focus on Mr. Trump’s Cabinet appointees and nominations to high level administrative positions!

In fairness, it is certainly understandable that people would and should be concerned about the politics of any President or political figure who’s going to be pursuing policies that will impact their lives. On the contrary there are some mitigating factors that people are obviously overlooking. In America there are some protections in place designed to prevent the successful foothold of a dictatorship. There are three branches of our U.S. Government and they are the Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches – collectively these create the balance of power. No one branch of the government holds absolute power, and if fact they check each other. Some of the policies that the President elect has threatened to carry out would require Congressional approval and other matters may end in the Supreme Court for legal rulings. There are numerous other forces and factors that bring pressure to bear prior to policies being enacted. The point is that governing as President of the United States is not as clear cut as some perceive it to be! U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly driven home the point that campaigning for the office of President is drastically different than governing as President!

The major factor that American citizens appear to be overlooking is that “G-d is always in control” and no matter who becomes President, they can’t do any more than G-d allows them to do. The Great Creator has a Plan for His creation, and whether or not we understand all that He does or allows to be done – all things ultimately fit into the Divine Plan. Many people seem to have lost faith in G-d, and their values are therefore misplaced! I am not suggesting that people should just sit around and do nothing – on the contrary they should fight for justice, hold authorities accountable and be active in various aspects of life. We must get busy planning for our future and not relying on others to do this for us. We should be working to create jobs for ourselves and for our community, while insisting upon a just and equitable distribution of available jobs by others. People have to be diligent about establishing the life that they want for themselves, and people of faith have to put more trust in G-d!

Note: The spelling of “G-d” when used in my articles is not a typo, it is intentional. We have a serious issue when the reverse spelling for the Name of the Great Creator is “Dog” and this is our way of drawing attention to this concern!

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