Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About
Christology
Israel/Palestine
Publications
KermitZarley.com
Archives
Categories
- Angels
- Blog Description
- Book Reviews
- Christian Living
  - Unconditional Love?
- Christianity
- Christology
  - Deity of Christ?
  - Holy Spirit
  - Incarnation?
  - My Change
  - Trinity?
- Church History
- Current Events
- War on Terrorism
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Eschatology
- Ezekiel 38-39
- Last Empire
- Primitive Weapons
- Film Reviews
- God
- Golf
  - Billy Graham
  - Karsten Solheim
  - Lee Trevino
  - Major Championship Winners
  - Masters
  - Purpose
  - Ryder Cup
- Gospel Harmonization
- Interview
- Islam
- Jesus
- Literary Announcements
- Monotheism
- My Books
  - The Restitution of Jesus Christ
- Old Testament
- Politics
- Society of Biblical Literature
- The Bible
- Trinitarianism
- Uncategorized
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Americans Should Mourn the Loss of USAID Caused by Trump

Americans Should Mourn the Loss of USAID Caused by Trump

Last updated on: April 7, 2026 at 12:17 pm by Kermit Zarley

0 Comments

Americans Should Mourn the Loss of USAID Caused by Trump 2026-04-07T12:17:38-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

CREDIT: Wikipedia

I just now listened to a Council on Foreign Relations webinar entitled “The Future of Strategic Religious Engagement in U.S. Foreign Policy.” It was a panel moderated by Peter Mandaville, former federal government official and now senior researcher of the Berkley Center. The panelists were Melissa Nozell, Dave Hunsicker, and Knox Thames, all experts in religious freedom and peace building.

U.S. Agency of International Development Closed

The phenomena prompting this webinar is that the present, and second, Donald Trump administration has withdrawn federal government efforts at promoting religious freedom and peace building. One of the main ways it has done this is by closing certain federal government agencies that previous, recent presidential administrations of both Democrats and Republicans had been involved.

This alarming loss of U.S. government efforts toward religious freedom and peace building has been most noticeable by the Trump administration closing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) last July 1. USAID was a humanitarian agency that tried to alleviate hunger and poverty in the world and promote peace. The Trump administration terminated 83% of USAID’s humanitarian programs and fired thousands of it employees. Whatever was left of this dismantled USAID was absorbed by the State Department.

Donald Trump has characterized his presidential administration with the branding MAGA, an acronym for “Make America Great Again.” On the contrary, Donald Trump is ruining the reputation of the USA. What made America great was its spirit of giving in helping needy people in the world. That’s what the U.S. Agency for International Development did, and Donald Trump and his administration took it away. Donald Trump’s branding should be MABA—Make America Bad Again as it did about slavery.

Helping People Worldwide “Not” a “U.S. Interest”

This loss obviously was a part of Elon Musk’s DOGE program last year, a reduction of government waste, saying USAID was “not aligned with U.S. interests.” That was false. Experts estimate that the closing of USAID will result in 23 million children in the world not having access to public education and 95 million people losing basic their healthcare, resulting in 3 million preventable deaths per year. That’s something to mourn about.

USAID and U.S. foreign aid has always been popular with the American public because it has been a giving people whereas Trump and many people he puts in government are the opposite of philanthropists. And peace building is a huge government interest. This truth is being reinforced in the American psyche right now as President Trump is about to “unleash hell” on Iran in the U.S.-Israel war on Iran if it does not make a peace deal with Trump by 8 PM ET today.

How to Restore U.S. Peace Building

This CFR panel discussed how these previous government efforts at protecting religious and peace building might be restored to our nation’s federal government. David Hunsicker, who was with USAID, reminded us that although religion is always a controversial topic in society, “religious actors” have always played a vital role in peace building. Knox Thames suggested, likewise, that such efforts toward restoring government peace building needed to be done by faith-based NGOs.

Melissa Nozell spoke of her efforts at diplomacy training and peace building as an officer with the U.S. Institute for Peace.

Conclusion

Probably the most famous statement ever made about peace was by Jesus of Nazareth in one of his beatitudes in his Sermon on the Mount that seemed to have begun his public ministry. It was this: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will called children of God” (Matthew 5.9).

Three weeks into the Iran war, President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said of peace talks with Iranian leaders, “We negotiate with bombs.” Yet this war monger—who constantly blows up people-filled boats in the Caribbean Sea as alleged drug smugglers without proving it—claims to be a Christian, holds Bible studies in the government, and declares to U.S. troops that the Iran war is Armageddon leading to the second coming of Christ. HOGWASH! True American Christians should both mourn such lies and call them out.

Previous Post

April 6, 2026

Former MAGA Politician Greene Says Trump Is Not a Christian

Next Post

April 19, 2026 Fitzpatrick Wins RBC Heritage in Playoff with Scheffler

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Glen, you seem to be advocating a preterist viewpoint, with which I disagree." I'm a ..."

Kermit Zarley

Family Estrangement Versus Honoring Father and ..."

"THESIS is a SCRIPTURE QUOTE.“Remember the predictions foretold by the holy prophets and by the ..."

glen smith

Family Estrangement Versus Honoring Father and ..."

"How are they going to answer it. They don't have unlimited financial resources. They're trying ..."

Kermit Zarley

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Getting Much Worse

"...but isn't that an important question to answer?"

Harold Porter

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Getting Much Worse

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many people did Jesus feed with five loaves and two fish?

Select your answer to see how you score.

About 7000 About 12 About 5000 men About 100

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »