Voices: The bishop who stood up to Trump showed the courage I lacked as a spiritual leader. I’m with her now
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Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde’s brave plea to Trump should inspire people of faith who’ve feared speaking out about Trump’s cruelty. Watching Bishop Budde on Tuesday, I recalled Christ’s challenging words in the Gospels. I had spent so many years writing and speaking to my congregation about those words. I had taught a generation of children about the call to be God’s loving hands and feet in the world. Why was I cowering in the face of cruelty and injustice? Who was the hypocrite now?.
![[President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and second lady Usha Vance attend the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/20/2195123436.jpg)
In the Old Testament, Queen Esther is told of a plot to kill the Jewish people in her kingdom. The queen is herself a Jew, and has hidden that fact from the king. Her adviser Mordecai encourages her to speak out and save her people, telling her that perhaps she was born for such a time as this. Esther rises to the occasion, and the Jewish people are spared.
Scripture tells me, quite clearly, that having faith means taking action when others are being harmed. Faith demands we use our voices to advocate for all of our brothers and sisters, no matter the risk to ourselves. Faith and courage should go hand in hand.
It is not lost on me that Inauguration Day was also MLK Jr. Day. Dr. King also lived in troubled and turbulent times. As he spoke out for civil and human rights, he was often in great personal danger, imprisoned and, eventually, killed. Difficult as his road was, I believe that King was, indeed, born for his time.
The world today is still a deeply divided place, and it is very tempting to keep quiet and keep my peace. But maybe I too was born for such a time as this. Maybe it is my duty, as a person of faith and as a decent human being, to rise to the occasion. To add my small voice to the chorus that is crying out against injustice.
