美国国家公共电台 NPR With His Choice Of Inauguration Prayer Leaders, Trump Shows His Values

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

One week from today, Donald Trump¹ will become the 45th president of the United States. We're going to take a look now at one group who will play a feature role during his swearing-in ceremony. The six members of the clergy² will offer prayers and readings that day for him and for the country. NPR's religion correspondent, Tom Gjelten, says Mr. Trump's choice of these particular six faith leaders may offer hints about the president-elect's own values and beliefs. And Tom is in the studio to talk with us about that. Hi, Tom.

TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE³: Hi, Rachel.

MARTIN: Six is a lot - right? - traditionally for an inauguration⁴?

GJELTEN: Yeah. We've usually seen three or four at the most. This time we'll have five Christian⁵ leaders and a rabbi.

MARTIN: No Muslim.

GJELTEN: No, but that's not unusual at a swearing-in.

MARTIN: All right. So let's go through these people. Who are they?

GJELTEN: First, Bishop⁶ Wayne T. Jackson of Detroit. He's a prominent African-American minister, leads a big church conglomerate⁷ there with a television network. He played an important role in the presidential campaign. Remember, he's the minister who invited Donald Trump to his church, one of the very few black churches that Trump visited.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WAYNE T JACKSON: Mr. Trump, will you come, and would you stand? Would you stand, Mr. Trump?

(APPLAUSE)

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much.

GJELTEN: So now, as president-elect, Trump has invited Bishop Jackson to pray at his swearing-in next week, returning the favor. But there is something else. Jackson is a very wealthy preacher, lives in a multimillion-dollar mansion⁸, drives luxury cars and famously preaches that wealth is not a bad thing, that Donald Trump's wealth is a sign he's been blessed by God.

MARTIN: This is the prosperity gospel, right? - like, the idea that if you pray hard enough, you'll be rewarded or that your wealth is a sign that you have been blessed.

GJELTEN: Right. And that brings us to a second faith leader who will be at Trump's inauguration, Paula White from the New Destiny Christian Center in Florida. She's perhaps the best-known example of a prosperity preacher. Listen here to part of one of her sermons, where she talks about how what you have in life is what God has given you.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PAULA WHITE: You're either in a position of abundance or you're in a position of poverty. Now, that's every area of your life. That's not just financially.

GJELTEN: Now, if you're wealthy like Donald Trump is, and you have a preacher who says your wealth is a sign God approves of you, you're probably going to like that preacher. And if there is one major element in Donald Trump's religious beliefs, it would be this prosperity gospel. Paula White has her critics among other evangelical leaders. But Trump has called her his spiritual adviser⁹. And she endorsed¹¹ his candidacy.

MARTIN: OK. So then we have Franklin Graham, a name that will be familiar to a lot of people, the son of Billy Graham, who himself prayed at several presidential inaugurations¹².

GJELTEN: Several, beginning with Richard Nixon on up through Bill Clinton. And Franklin himself prayed at the inauguration of George W. Bush. So his appearance here is hardly unprecedented¹³. But he has something in common with Paula White. He, too, was a big supporter of Donald Trump during the campaign. Listen to what he said just last week about Trump's election in an interview with Lou Dobbs on the Fox Business Network.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT")

FRANKLIN GRAHAM: Everybody predicted that he was going to lose. And I just think it was the hand of God. I think God intervened and put his hand on Donald Trump for some reason. It's obvious that there was something behind this. And it was more than people understand. And I just think it was God.

MARTIN: Divine intervention¹⁴ is tough to argue with.

GJELTEN: Boy, you can't ask for a better endorsement¹⁵ than that. And, politically, Franklin Graham stands with Donald Trump on a number of issues. Trump, during his campaign, focused a lot of attention on what he said was the threat from radical¹⁶ Islam. And that's a theme Franklin Graham has hit over and over.

MARTIN: All right. You said there was going to be a rabbi there. What can you tell us about him?

GJELTEN: Right. Rabbi Marvin Hier, president of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles - the first rabbi to take part in a presidential swearing-in since 1985.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARVIN HIER: I'm delivering a prayer. I will hit modern themes. It'll be a short prayer. But it will reflect on the 21st century.

GJELTEN: That's a clip from a TV interview on Fox News. And one other point here - Rabbi Hier has ties to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law now set to be a close White House adviser. Kushner's parents and Rabbi Hier and his wife are old friends.

MARTIN: Kushner is Jewish himself. And Ivanka Trump has converted.

GJELTEN: Indeed.

MARTIN: So we have two more to go through. First, Rev¹⁷. Samuel Rodriguez - what can you tell us about him?

GJELTEN: Well, Rev. Rodriguez is president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. And, you know, Hispanics are the fastest-growing evangelical group in the country right now, an important constituency. But Trump's views, especially his views on immigration, did not exactly go over well with this faith constituency. Rev. Rodriguez told me that Trump's invitation created something of a stir in his world.

SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ: Of course, there was a bit of angst due to the fact that, throughout the course of his campaign, the rhetoric¹⁸ and the tone as it pertains¹⁹ to, particularly, the immigrant community did not line up with the ethos or the values of the NHCLC.

GJELTEN: Remember, that's his church group. But Rodriguez told me, in the end, he could not pass up the opportunity to pray on what he called the quintessential political platform on the planet. But there's more to this invitation. Rev. Rodriguez is one of the more conservative faith leaders in the Hispanic world. And while he did not endorse¹⁰ Trump, he told me he's heard a change of tone from Trump in the last few weeks and now has high hopes for better relations between Hispanics and the Trump administration.

RODRIGUEZ: Thirty percent of Latinos voted for Donald Trump. There's a great possibility that the president-elect and his team have come to the realization²⁰ that this constituency can be engaged successfully.

MARTIN: All right. So we've got one more faith leader to be introduced to. Cardinal²¹ Timothy Dolan doesn't need an introduction to many because he's the archbishop of New York, a prominent Catholic.

GJELTEN: And, Rachel, in many ways, the least surprising of these faith leaders. President after president has asked a prominent Catholic bishop or theologian to do an inauguration prayer. And being New Yorkers, Cardinal Dolan and Donald Trump have known each other a long time.

MARTIN: All right. Looking across the scope here, these six faith leaders - what can we learn, if anything, about Donald Trump, his philosophy, the way he sees the world? Can we draw any conclusions?

GJELTEN: I'd say two big points, Rachel. With the exception of Cardinal Dolan, these are somewhat unorthodox choices starting with the prosperity preachers. There's no representative here of mainline Protestantism. And being out of the mainstream²² is entirely²³ consistent with the way Donald Trump is approaching his presidency²⁴. The other thing is these choices reflect the importance he puts on loyalty²⁵. He's rewarding people who have supported him politically or endorsed his views or even offered a religious approval of his great wealth, a reminder²⁶ that Donald Trump seems to prefer people he sees as being on his side.

MARTIN: NPR's Tom Gjelten - he covers religion for us. Tom, thanks so much.

GJELTEN: Of course.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

7 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

8 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

9 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

10 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

11 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 inaugurations   

n.就职( inauguration的名词复数 )；就职典礼；开始；开创

参考例句：

13 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

14 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

15 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

16 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

17 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

18 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

19 pertains   

关于( pertain的第三人称单数 )； 有关； 存在； 适用

参考例句：

• When one manages upward, none of these clear and unambiguous symbols pertains. 当一个人由下而上地管理时，这些明确无误的信号就全都不复存在了。
• Her conduct hardly pertains to a lady. 她的行为与女士身份不太相符。

20 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

21 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。

22 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

23 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

24 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

25 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

26 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。