Many Americans are beginning to realise that President Donald Trump poses a grave threat to public health and well-being. Thankfully, public health experts are sounding the alarm, and at least one public radio station has decided not to live broadcast his misleading and dangerous coronavirus briefings. Even the threat that Trump poses to the nations mental health has been well documented. But Trump also poses a grave moral and spiritual hazard to the American people a danger that has so far gone unnamed and unappreciated.

Others have written about the immediate threat he poses to American lives, first by minimising the threat of COVID-19 and, most recently, by signalling that he plans to reopen the economy against the advice of his own public health officials. Months of inaction have exacerbated the scale of the crisis.

But the spiritual threat he poses has passed unrecognised. Trumps casual cruelty, mendacity and consuming self-interest can corrode confidence in human capacities for kindness, candour and compassion. In times of crisis, a divided nation customarily rallies together and gives expression to the better angels of our nature. Those who recall the immediate aftermath of 9/11 can testify to the tangible care Americans extended to each other. We looked each other in the eye, greeted each other in public and looked after each other. Our public leaders, however flawed, and even talk show hosts exhibited vulnerability and care. This mood of tenderness, however short-lived and drowned out by the drumbeats of war, mattered because it ennobled us. We knew we had suffered a shared loss and that we belonged to each other.

Things are different this time around because the loudest public figure in our nation daily runs roughshod over basic norms of truth telling, decency and empathy. Crass monetary calculations and insistent demands for fealty and adulation from the nations governors these remain his consuming obsessions. His insistence that lifesaving stay-at-home measures are a cure that is worse than the disease is just one flagrant example of wanton disregard for human life.

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There is a real time cost to being subjected to this constant onslaught of moral degradation. Rather than a bully pulpit that might rouse the nation to mutual aid and sacrifice, the President and his acolytes invite the nations grandparents to stand ready to die for the sake of the economy. Divisiveness and derision now set the tone of our common life.

Daily exposure to such debasement, whether by tweet or by briefing, raises dispiriting questions: Is this the best our nations leader can do? Is there in him any redeemable character trait that can serve as a beacon of light in an otherwise dark and deadly situation? Under the cumulative barrage of lies and life-threatening misinformation, the questions morph and become broader. Rather than ask about just about one mans peculiar degradation, we begin to wonder about human nature itself. Are some human beings irredeemable, incapable of learning and growth? Are we nave, even foolish, to expect human beings to set aside self-interest and rise to responsibilities thrust upon them by extraordinary times? Under the relentless of assault of his pettiness, we are rendered vulnerable to rage, cynicism and a subtle, pervasive lowering of moral expectations for ourselves and others.

Breathing in spiritual pollution is akin to the breathing in air pollution in New Delhi. Just as air pollutants harm lung capacities, so too our spiritual capacities, love, resilience, trust and confidence in human goodness are diminished by constant exposure to such spiritual toxins as hubris, venality and hate.

No wonder, then, that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has become a stand-in President for many who look for a leader who projects competence, empathy and compassion. New Yorkers know all too well that Cuomo is no saint. But he consistently sets a spiritual and moral tone of decency and dignity and has thereby restored a measure of confidence in our leaders and, more importantly, in ourselves.

But we neednt look to Cuomo alone. Instead, call to mind the number 76,000 that is the number of volunteers who have answered Governor Cuomos call to join the frontlines in the struggle against COVID-19. Many have come out of retirement and so are in the age bracket most vulnerable to this disease; nevertheless, they have stepped forward bravely.

We are inclined to believe that heroic goodness is found only in a handful of extraordinary people like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa, but it seems that New York State alone has 76,000 Mother Teresas. Truth be told, that is a vast undercount. After all, those of us who are sheltering at home do so because we too want our neighbours to be safe and healthy. This too is a form of quotidian kindness, an unheralded and humble heroism.

The worlds wisdom traditions offer theological accounts of what enables such generosity. Christians affirm that human beings bear the imago dei the image of God a mark of divine grace that orients and impels us toward love. Most Christian communities hold that sin cannot altogether erase this original created goodness. Buddhists affirm that human beings indeed, all sentient beings bear the Buddha-nature which is the ground of innate wisdom and compassion. We do fall into ignorance, but our primordial nature abides.

These traditions testify that we need not give up on ourselves and on others, that despite appearances to the contrary, there is far more love and kindness in the world than hate and cruelty. The callous deeds of a few in prominent places need not drive us into despair about our neighbours and ourselves. We would do well to listen to and learn from one of our lesser known contemporary theologians, Governor Andrew Cuomo himself, who reminded us recently, And at the end of the day, my friends, even if it is a long day, and this is a long day, love wins. Always.

John J. Thatamanil is Associate Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity.

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Why Donald Trump is a threat to the United States' spiritual well-being - ABC News