America, divided racially and now in flames. Did Donald Trump stoke the fire when he declared war on protestors as he waved around the Bible? Also, how hardliners in the Catholic Church have turned the Pope’s cautious response to the Covid 19 crisis against him.
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America burns: Jelani Cobb and Anthea Butler discuss the dangerous fault lines of race
On The Religion and Ethics Report with Andrew West
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For two days, mainstream Christian leaders have criticised US President Donald Trump for using religion as a prop in his response to the violence that has shaken America.
Since an unarmed African American man, George Floyd, was killed by police in Minneapolis a week ago, protests – and riots – against police brutality have convulsed 350 cities. One of the arresting officers has been charged with George Floyd’s murder.
Donald Trump went first to an Episcopal Church in Washington where he waved around a Bible and then vowed to crush protestors. Then he visited a shrine to Pope John Paul II.
But the Episcopal and Catholic bishops have both condemned the president. Washington DC’s Catholic leader Wilton Gregory even called Trump’s visit “baffling and reprehensible”.
Jelani Cobb, a Columbia University professor and staff writer at The New Yorker, has been watching events unfold.
And the death of George Floyd is, tragically, only part of a long history of US police killing unarmed black people.
But does the nationwide outbreak of protest and rioting we have seen over the past week suggest this is a breaking point for America?
Anthea Butler of the University of Pennsylvania is one of America’s leading theologians and civil rights activists.
