God, I'm really mad.
Complaining to God after the Election
Me: God, I’m really mad.
[Pause]
God: I know. Tell Me so you get it out.
Me: Kamala versus Trump? I know You are always sending us signs and seeing what we will do, but seriously? I mean, I knew that this election would be a stinker, but how could so few people fail to see the obvious?
[Pause]
God: What did you see?
Me: Unmitigated horror! We’ve been watching for a year on our phones! Babies shot in the head! Human beings starved, tortured, burned alive. Evil live-streamed! Could You have made it any clearer?? How could anyone with any shred of decency handle this?
[Pause]
God: What were you expecting?
Me: That more people would try to stop it! That more people would take a moral stand!
[Pause]
God: People do struggle with moral priorities.
Me: Yes! But God! Is it really that hard?? I get that most Americans are not personally invested - their family members have not been murdered or bombed by Israel. But what about those who are invested? How, in light of the overwhelming devastation we are witnessing, could anyone vote for the status quo in Kamala or Trump?
[Pause]
God: I gave everyone free will.
Me: I know. Thank You. But I thought live-streamed genocide would be the redline for more people! I was so encouraged by all the people protesting, standing up for Palestine, demanding an arms embargo. It felt like things were changing. But tonight. Why God?
I already knew that Kamala or Trump would win. But why did SO FEW PEOPLE vote for the ONLY anti-genocide, anti-war, pro-humanity, and pro-earth - Your Earth - candidate - the alternative to the status quo - Jill Stein? I get that people didn’t agree with everything she stood for, but seriously? Are we going to split hairs while unspeakable evil is committed before our very eyes, escalating 24/7, with no end in sight - all on our dime?? What has happened to our collective humanity?
I’m shaken. I’m really disappointed. You know that when I wrote my Letter to my fellow Muslim Voters, I set out my best case for the ethical vote, citing Your ethics and the imperative to stand on Principle. I found that many other ethical people - Muslims and non-Muslims - were making the same case, so I thought we were on to something!
But tonight’s voting results say that of all the people in America (roughly 350 million), less than 600,000 people (0.4% of the vote)1 cared enough to take a clear stand against genocide! And worse, in Michigan, where Muslims and Arabs could and should have stood loud and proud against genocide, the anti-genocide vote was only around 26,000 (0.5% of the vote)!2 How could that be? Is that small number of people all we have to unequivocally say NO to genocide, regardless of any other pragmatic calculus?
As Muslims, we had an opportunity to make a statement and register our dissent! But instead, we chose to stay home or lend our votes to the pro-genocide camps. We remain irrelevant and silenced, instead of standing up against injustice and being counted! Am I missing something? (Huge, frustrated sigh.)
[Pause]
God: What do you always ask me for?
[Pause]
Me, calming down just a little bit (I know what God is getting at): I always ask that You present whatever is best (even if it is not what I want or wish for).
[Pause]
God: I always answer your prayer.
[Pause]
Me: Ok I get it.
It’s like the story about the guy that keeps turning down the help You keep sending him through other human beings.3 We have to keep helping each other do the right thing, fighting and resisting evil in any way we can. That’s what we’re here for (big sigh…).
And the last time Trump was President [OMG we’re back here again??] Trump definitely got A LOT of people fired up to make serious change.
God: Exactly.
Me: Do we really have to do this again? It was so hard last time.
God: I never give you more than you can handle.
Me: Okay, fine. I will start recycling my resistance memes from 2020. God help us all.
As of 3:15 am ET, the Associated Press reports a total of 574,065 votes (0.4%) for Jill Stein across the United States.
As of 3:15 am ET, the Associated Press reports a total of 25,291 votes (0.5%) for Jill Stein in the state of Michigan.
The story goes something like this as I recall, but don’t hold me to it: A flood is coming, so a man hears his neighbor calling to him. “A flood is coming! Hurry, jump in the car so we can get out of here!” The man tells his neighbor, “You go ahead, I will be fine. God will take care of me.” The neighbor leaves. The flood waters rise and the man climbs up to his balcony. A rescue boat comes by and calls to the man, “Hurry, climb in the boat so we can get you to safety!” The man waves the boat on saying, “You go ahead, I will be fine, God will take care of me.” The flood gets even worse and the man climbs on his rooftop. A helicopter flies overhead and drops a ladder for him to climb. The man waves the helicopter on with the same message, that God will save him. Eventually the flood waters drown the man. When he meets God, he asks God, “Why didn’t you save me?” God answers, “I tried. I sent you your neighbor, a rescue boat, and a helicopter. Why didn’t you accept my help?” The moral of the story: God can only do so much if we don’t do our part.
Well articulated and beautifully written as always Grace, thank you. As a Brit it's terribly disappointing seeing less than a 1% vote share for Jill!! In our election we have our anti genocide green party 7%, I'm hoping that climbs up gradually and there's a good bit of hope there. But less than 1% ah man, that's just frustrating...but there's always hope, we keep going, we keep working, seeking God's help and mercy.
Grace, have you read the book, The Fate of Abraham.. Why the west is wrong about Islam. It’s by Peter Oborne and is a real eye opener about the myths, fabrications and downright lies that have contributed to the poor relationship between Islam and three of the major western powers, America, Tge UK and France.
The power that the Evangelical Christian’s have in American politics is disturbing and I say that as an ex Evangelical Christian myself. Many of my Christian acquaintances have the strange belief that God has sent Trump, its mind boggling to me. I struggle to understand how they can preach a gospel of love and forgive whilst condoning a genocide but that stems from a misunderstanding of scripture about Israel being God’s chosen people.