the bible we did a look at the america's character and where we were going. pastor bernard was such a star talking about the spiritual moral issues that american had an outcry and we decided for the final show of the year we are going to take a look at america through a spiritual and moral lens, with our special guest, and pastor ar bettered narked ie house, and he with are talking your calls later in the show. let's talk morality, folks. ♪ ♪ ♪ hello and welcome back to the armstrong williams show. pastor bernard thank you for coming down from new york to enjo us on our live broadcast. happy holidays. >> happy holidays and mother rechristmas. >> merry christmas and the

let's take a look at 2017 through a spiritual and moral lens, there's so many issues of terrorism around the world, we can look at also i atlas vegas t recently happened in new york. help us put terrorism in the spiritual and moral concept. ask is there anything that we can do to change the trajectory that we're on. >> that's interesting, because when we're talking about the word spiritual we're talking about the transcend answer, andk we're talking about take a look at what is going on global he la. this past year in new york we experienced a heinous act of terrorism where innocent people were mowed down by a terrorist who took a rental truck and it was in the bike lane. samuel t huntington said he moved from war of kings, to war of nations to war of ideologies. and it was brilliantly stating because it's amoral construct, a wa

society should be organized and how we should function in it. whether it's a war of kings, and war of nations it was specific to geographic locations but now ideologies are no longer geographic, the west is no longer america, it can be america with conjunctions with parts of europe or australia on ideologies are being played out and the conflicts are being played out in urban landscapes t can be in new york city, and you don't know who is who. you don't know who believes what, who thinks what until it plays out in someway, like a terrorist attack. terrorism is meant to create fear and anxiety. you know, in our faith tradition anxiety has to do with the greek word beautifully expresses a divided mind t means to be pulled in different directions. the whole idea is to create instability, to undermined the safety of a society, and to

are pulled in different directions not knowing what to did. it's specific to the world in which we live. in new york, you know, if we have hope, and we live in faith, co everyday in fear. we're going to understand that it's part of life. it's where we are in conflict. it's as we fr progress as civilization, advances in technology take place. advances in economics and civil construct take place but human nature remains the same and that is always the biggest challenge. so how do you impact those that not necessarily, they're not terrorism, they don't realize, and like what the young man said in new york, and other places he was watching us on tv, america is doing things overseas that it should not be doing, and all of a sudden he unleashes something he didn't realize that was going inside of him. is this something that -- where does this grow from?

where they're in that stage where they're heavily influenced? >> the influence that we have upon us throughout our lifetime come from where we are educated, socialized in the family structure and culture. the chaos that we feeling in our society is that lack of certainty as to the direction that things are going in. and because of social media, and the 24-hour news cycle, we're inundated by all of these different events and issues without resolution. it's bringing the news and bringing greater fear and anxiety to us. unless you have some inner campus, unless there's something inside of that you transcend all of this to bring you a peace that is greater than all of this, you can be become a part of chaos ask confusion? >> should the media report differently. >> i think the media has the responsibility to report the news but too often it's spun in different directions it's responding to different

influences social influences, special agendas that media may have. i don't think it's as fair and balanced as it's reported to be. so on a -- bringing a political aspect in this, how much has the election of president trump impacted what we're discussing? >> we talk about it in a spiritual perspective. there's those who support him, who are my colleagues in faith, and religious life. and they see him as a cyrus, which is a biblical leader of persia who was favorable to the jewish people, encouraged the rebuilding of the wall, and basically gave them a large degree of religious freedom. so they trump as someone coming into power that is going to make a difference with regard to the diminishing religious freedoms that christians feel even in this

but there are those who also see trump as a saul, someone who was given to leadership over a nation as a concession because the people did not want divine presence and divine guidance. what saul ended up doing was exposing the moral and spiritual conditions of the nation, and how divided it was. so i think that depending upon what lens we look at the presidency, and the one who is in office, i think he is a combination of both of those things. but it didn't begin with him, i mean, the spiritual and moral condition of our nation began decades ago. you know, everything begins in seed form, and then grows into an experience. and these seeds were sewn in the '60s, and the revolution. associated with the '60s, i was there. i grew up in it. it was spiritual, it was sexual, it was moral, it was racial, so many different revolutions that were going on. here it is 60 years later and we're

we're reaping from that particular period in american history. let's go even deeper. it seems as though, it's not just a white house, you look at the recent defeat of roy moore in alabama. you look at all of the sexual harassment allegations against members of congress that are resigning and look at what happened in our newsroom. i think hollywood is a little more understanding of people. what about the spiritual and moral implications there? it seems like all of our houses, important institutions that we have are crumbling? >> all the things that that we trusted and all the things that we pursued in terms of having power are trimbleing because they did not have a moral component to under gird t character under girds all of your success this life. your talent and ability can take you to heights but only character can support and sustain. we have realizing that, so we can have individuals where at the best of their top journalistic game. to be of thr

productions, top of their sports, whatever it is, but if they don't have the moral character to support that success, we're going to see the same downward spiral. i think another thing that is at work here is, you know, history is written by the victors, not the victims. but when by chance, within the history of that society, the victors emerge into places of power, they then begin to look at the existing narrative and determine to change it. so when it comes to women, and how many women are now coming out who were from afraid to 30 or 40 years ago when these things were perpetrated against them. is because women in over the past 50 years have experienced unprecedented wealth, education, and upward mobility and 60% of college enrollment today is female. 40% is male. so you have this emerging female power class that now says, you know what? we are in a position

we are no longer going to allow the existing narrative to continue out into the future. >> is there a moral threat in this rise to power? >> i think that, yes. here is the moral thread, because women are looking for decency. they are looking for respect. they're looking for professionalism whenever they have to be engaged in the marketplace. and men have exploited them is the reality. pastor bernard is here to talking about the i implications of what all that happened in 2017. i'm armstrong williams. i will b ♪ ♪ ♪ saul and cyrus, so the president is playing a spiritual and

even realize. >> every lead their is put interest power based on our spiritual lens is a spiritual authority in that nation. tied to that is morality, ethics, not just a vision politically. they have a responsibility whether they know god, believe in god or not. we believe that all power is either directly placed thereby god or allowed for some greater purpose. >> so there's a greater purpose you believe. >> always, always. >> and if he devil delves enougo tell us. they wonder why donald trump is in the white house. given his behavior and what he does, they are thinking -- n there's many ways. >> and they don't need to understand, do they? >> there's many ways to look at it. many interpretations that you can look at this. i think for me, especially in my context and in the context of others, all right. what having a trump in office has done is

and moral condition of our nation. we are being forced to have conversation that america has avoided having. it's a wonderful passage in the book of the prophet jeremiah where he says that you cannot heal a wound by saying it's not there. and we have been in denial about a lot socially, morally and spiritually in our nation. and now we're being forced to talk have that conversation. >> i guess as we talk about the spiritual, moral implications of 2017 that it's easy for some to look at trump and see haze flaws, but what you're telling us is that we need to look at ours, too. >> i think it's less about who is in power and more about the spiritual and moral condition of us as a nation. we're the ones who vote people into office. the power is in our hands, how are we ruing it? i think that what we have seen is a dow downgrading of our vals and a lowering of our standards in terms of what we will tolerate. i think we're hitting th

mark where we're saying, okay, we didn't go below this. but the fact that we're there is forcing us to think about what we have done just turned a blind eye to and a deaf ear to for the last 50 and 60 years in the development of american society. you spoke about something when you were at the museum of the bible that resonated with so many. morality and ethics, delineating between the two. >> guest: over the last 30 years, american society has tried to eliminate and remove the word morality and moral, because it's too associated with religion and they wouldn't want religion in a rapidly secularizing society. so to now have that come back around, we're now having a serious conversation and we have to think about the distinction between morality and ethics. and because removing the morality and replacing it with ethics allows it to remain on a

ethics is internal it's a product of the society. the culture constructs the ethics. it's a set of rules and regulations depending upon the context, but morality is external, it's transcendent, ethics is a social contract withthin the society, morality s a higher covenant that says above the culture itself and the rules and regulations there's a higher sense of right and wrong. and that is where morality comes in. >> talk to us about the spiritual and moral implications of the nfl protests? >> you know, it's comparable to women rising to a place of power, because these are protests are being -- >> so women in power, and economic power? >> economic power. these are black athletes who are now being paid millions of dollars for their talents and their abilities. and they're saying, not only is it a job for me, but i have a moral responsibility to respond to the issues

society, to take this pla platform, to take this power and bring attention to the american narrative and the fact that narrative has to change. it's less about the american flag and the star spangle banner. it's more about the america's failure to dole with the socioeconomic blight of persons of color and disenfranchise in this nation in a way that is helpful that, is going to move the nation forward and bring us together and unite us. so what do you say to those when they try to have had a conversation about this protests, and the lives that they feel are lost, the lives that are harmed, what about when there's -- all of this crime in chicago, black on black crime where more people are dying and are injured, where is the moral equivalency, is that unfair. >>no moral equivalency. blacks make up a 13% of the population, but a disproportionate nu

freedom and equity have been a paster tension throughout american history. there's those who say it's about freedom and some say it's about equality. when we sees the disparity between people in that society. we have to step back and say why is there such a disparity between the quality of education afforded persons of color and those in the urban context. why is there a ray racial iced system. and why is there 96 lack of opportunity for certain segments of the society? we have a problem here that we have not addressed effectively in american society. for you is it amoral issue? >> absolutely. >> where the morality. >> because it transends the rules and regulations that are established within a society. dr. king would not have been effective in bringing the ci

and effecting change in american society if he did not appeal to the moral conscience of the society. racism was legal. segregation was legal, jim crow was legal it was part of the social construct. we had to take it beyond the realm of what was constructed by society and say there's a higher ruling when it comes to right and wrong conduct. so the question that doesn't get asked often. we. >> that this harassment is about women's power, but should women also be cautious that it's also about them also and their morality? >> well, look, i'm not going to join those who want to