search

Gerald Bray

Date posted: 1 Feb 2021

As en was going to press, Joe Biden was due to be sworn in as President, with more trouble predicted on the streets. Gerald Bray, distinguished Professor of Historical Theology at Knox Theological Seminary, and Director of Research for the Latimer Trust at Oak Hill in London, reports exclusively for en from the United States.

When Donald Trump lost the election last November there was one thing that everybody agreed on – he would not go quietly.

Gerald Bray

Date posted: 1 Mar 2021

The inauguration of a new American President is always a time of great expectations, but especially now, after the sorry end to the previous regime.

Most people are relieved that the transfer of power went off without a hitch. The overarching need to deal with the pandemic is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and Joe Biden’s promise to deliver 100 million does of the vaccine in his first 100 days in office is being widely hailed as an ambitious but still achievable goal. In the circumstances, other matters have taken a back seat. Biden is a sincere Catholic and his recent attendance at church has been duly noted, though some of his executive orders are not what the Vatican would have prescribed. He has rescinded the restrictions on abortion that the previous administration introduced and has appointed homosexual and transgender people to prominent positions. He has also removed the bar to transgendered soldiers serving in the armed forces. It is hard to say what practical effect things like that will have, and for the moment few people are talking openly about them. Whether they are the tip of a looming iceberg of radical reform, or simply a nod to left-wing lobbies that will soon be disappointed in their deeper aims, remains to be seen.