When I was a teen, this phrase came into vogue: "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty." You saw it on car bumper stickers everywhere, and many mornings sitting in assembly, our school headmaster would address us about kindness using this phrase. My high school was secular, and I remember family discussions — lightly theological — around our dinner table about the slogan. Kindness and beauty are not in fact random or senseless, my parents said. They're purposeful and ordered — signposts of a present and intentional God. Whether we realize it or not, they said, all kindness and beauty stem from — and belong to — God. We practice them no randomly but as a participants in his kingdom. By him and through him.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's persistently anti-Muslim rhetoric has kept the GOP up in arms to protect their party from being tied to Islamophobic bigots. But his latest utterance on the subject also recalls positions taken earlier by some U.S. religious leaders, to the consternation of more moderate counterparts.
A statement from Trump's campaign released Monday called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Trump stood by the policy in subsequent appearances despite widespread condemnation from Republicans and Democrats alike.
