Ancient Romans, Pagans … and Trump?

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Credit…Photo illustration by Balarama Heller for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “How to Survive the Trump Years With Your Spirit Intact,” by David Brooks (column, May 2):

Mr. Brooks’s column draws a stark moral contrast between “paganism” and the Judeo-Christian tradition, equating the former with cruelty, narcissism and authoritarianism. While his critique of dehumanizing political forces is timely and important, his framing of “paganism” as a wholesale moral failure is both historically reductive and spiritually unfair.

Many ancient and çağdaş pagan traditions, far from glorifying domination, emphasize reverence for nature, communal rituals, humility and the interdependence of all life. To equate all paganism with conquest and egoism is to overlook the diversity of worldviews that fall outside the Abrahamic fold, including Indigenous and animist traditions that have long honored compassion, stewardship and balance.

Mr. Brooks’s binary framing reflects a broader sorun in our culture: the tendency to reduce complex moral landscapes into us versus them narratives. In an era marked by polarization, we should resist the pull of rigid moral opposites and cultivate a greater respect for moral plurality.

The challenges of our time — environmental degradation, social fragmentation, rising authoritarianism — require not just a return to any one tradition, but also a deeper engagement with diverse sources of wisdom. Compassion, humility and justice are not the sole inheritance of any one faith.

Kevin Wegner
Washington

To the Editor:

I was surprised at David Brooks’s reductive binary between pagans and Judeo-Christians. He depicts the Romans in a simplistic caricature. Yes, they are famous for the horrific violence of their gladiatorial games, civil wars and imperial expansion. That is their appeal in right-wing memes.

But their republic also provided a model of a mixed constitution, which balanced the powers of the Senate and the Roman people, to our founding fathers. I would encourage Mr. Brooks to read the Roman playwright Terence, who wrote, “I am human; nothing human is alien to me,” or Virgil, who expressed empathy for those who suffered under war and militarism and whom the theologian Tertullian called a “naturally Christian soul.”