President Trump established the White House Faith Office with representatives from various Christian and other religions participating. The Religious Liberty Commission just recently held its first meeting. In a June 19, 2025 ETWN interview with the chairman (Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick) Patrick mentioned that Donald Trump “used the name of Jesus more than any other President in history in the Oval Office.” Unfortunately, President Trump doesn’t walk the walk. His green light or a wink and a nod for Israel to bomb Gaza to smithereens with more than 50,000 Palestinians killed and his distasteful initial suggestion that Gaza should be made a resort relocating Palestinians from where they have lived (even before the state of Israel was founded) as well as the green light for Israel to be the aggressor in bombing a nation state’s nuclear site within Iran’s borders are not exactly peace making activity.
Then, getting the US military to actively bomb the Iranian sites. Do we really think that there will not be any long-term consequences? Trump in his announcement reportedly stated, “I want to just say we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them.” These actions do not reflect the principles that Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, communicated as he went from community to community 2,000 years ago. The greatest commandments were the ‘Law of Love’ and ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’ (all humanity).
If Trump wants to uphold his campaign promise of attaining “peace” his administration needs to re-analyze US positions in the middle east and truly understand both sides, not just one side of the Israeli Zionist regime. He needs to treat these issues -since it involves destruction and killing – not with the ‘art of the deal’ approach but with an open heart, compassion, and an understanding of “love” as put forth by God. I hope that Bishop Robert Baron, who serves on the Religious Liberty Commission, and Pope Leo XIV advocate strongly for the proper approach. There are no gray areas when it comes to the respect for human life and the language and communication by such religious leaders can’t be timid. And, when it involves nuclear weapons, the only way to proceed is for across the board nuclear non-proliferation that every country having such weapons including Israel should abide by.
Deborah Smarth