I Have Seen the Light Vision and LightInduced Molecular Changes Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemistry Experiment Key Concepts Mapping to Create an Image in the Brain Photoreceptor Cells Rods and Cones Isomerization of Retinal Interactively view a molecule in this section Molecular Orbitals Photon Absorption and p Electron Promotion 11 cis Retinal vs All trans Retinal Protein Conformational Changes Resulting from Retinal Isomerization Interactively view a molecule in this section Note This section also includes a separate link Signal Transduction Cascade to Generate a Nerve Impulse Color Vision Three Types of Cone Cells Characteristic Absorptions of Conecell Pigments Interpretation of Color by the Brain Sharpness and Sensitivity Differences Between Rods and Cones Overview of the Vision Process For most of us vision is such an everyday occurrence that we seldom think to wonder how we are able to see the objects that surround us Yet the vision process is a fascinating example of how light such as the light reflected off of the objects that we see can produce molecular changes with important consequences ie our ability to perceive an image The eyes receive the light and contain the molecules that undergo a chemical change upon absorbing light but it is the brain that actually makes sense of the visual information to create an image Hence the From the Light Source to the Brain Mapping an Image The eyes behave similarly in some respects to a camera Light enters the pupil is focused by the lens and strikes a lightsensitive detector called the retina located along the inner surface of the back of the eye Figure 1 Figure 1 This is a schematic drawing of the human eye Light enters the front of the eye through the pupil and is focused by the lens onto the retina Rod cells on the retina respond to the light and send a message through the optic nerve fiber to the brain The light is mapped as an image along the surface of the retina by activating a series of lightsensitive cells known as rods and cones These photoreceptor cells convert the light into electrical impulses which are transmitted to the brain via nerve fibers For an image to be recognized many photoreceptor cells will be activated and the visual information will be transported to the brain via numerous nerve fibers The brain then determines according to which nerve fibers carried the electrical impulse which photoreceptors were activated by the light and then creates a picture Figure 2 Figure 2 This figure shows how the brain uses mapping to make sense of visual information from the eye The green numbers in the figure correspond to the following steps Rays of light blue reflected off of an image are focused through the lens onto the back of the eye forming an upsidedown image on the retina On the retina those photocells that are hit by light from the image are activated These photocells are shown in white in this figure Photocells that do not receive any reflected light are not activated and are shown in this figure Thus we can think of the image as a pixellate map of activated and nonactivated photocells on the retina A nerve gold from each photocell connects to a particular location in the visual cortex of the brain The photocells that are activated white send a nerve impulse to the brain while the photocells that are not activated black do not send any impulse to the brain Only a small sample of the nerves are shown in this figure The brain when it receives a collection of nerve signals from the eye interprets where each signal comes from and reconstructs the pixellate map The brain then interprets the pixellate map as an image Photoreceptor Cells and NerveImpulse Generation As explained above the vision process is initiated when photoreceptor cells are activated by light from an image Hence our discussion of the vision process shall focus on the photoreceptor cells and how these cells are activated to generate a nerve impulse to the brain The retina is lined with many millions of photoreceptor cells that consist of two types 7 million cones provide color information and sharpness of images and 120 million rods Figure 3 are extremely sensitive detectors of white light to provide night vision The names of these cells come from their respective shapes The outer segments tops of the rods and cones contain a region filled with membranebound discs which contain proteins bound to the chromophore 11 cis retinal A chromophore is a molecule that can absorb light at a specific wavelength and thus typically displays a characteristic color When visible light hits the chromophore the chromophore undergoes an isomerization or change in molecular arrangement to all trans retinal see below for a fuller description of this isomerization The new form of retinal does not fit as well into the protein and so a series of conformational changes in the protein begins As the protein changes its conformation it initiates a cascade of biochemical reactions that result in the closing of Na channels in the cell membrane as outlined in Figure 4 Prior to this event Na ions flow freely into the cell to compensate for the lower potential more negative charge which exists inside the cell When the Na channels are closed however a large potential difference builds up across the plasma membrane inside the cell becomes more negative and outside the cell becomes more positive This potential difference is passed along to an adjoining nerve cell as an electrical impulse at the synaptic terminal the place where these two cells meet The nerve cell carries this impulse to the brain where the visual information is interpreted Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a rod cell The stacked disks contain rhodopsin the complex of opsin protein and 11 cis retinal At the synaptic body the potential difference generated as the ultimate result of the retinal isomerization is passed along to a connecting nerve cell creating an electrical impulse that will be transmitted to the brain and interpreted as visual information Figure 4 This is a flowchart outlining the major steps in the vision signal transduction cascade which occurs between the isomerization of retinal which leads to the formation of metarhodopsin II the first reactant in the process outlined in this figure and the interpretation of a visual image by the brain The steps in this cascade are discussed in the section entitled Signal Transduction Cascade to Generate a Nerve Impulse below The Vision Process for Monochrome Vision Rod Cells The sequence of events to generate a signal to the brain for monochrome vision which occurs in the rod cells and for color vision which occurs in the cone cells is essentially the same although monochrome vision is somewhat simpler Hence we shall first describe how a monochromatic visual nerve impulse is generated and then show how color vision differs The process of generating a monochromatic visual signal can be broken down into three important steps the isomerization of retinal the protein conformational changes following retinal isomerization and the signal transduction cascade to generate a nerve impulse Isomerization of Retinal The first step in the monochrome vision process after light hits the rod cell is for the chromophore 11 cis retinal to isomerize to all trans retinal This event is best understood in terms of molecular orbitals orbital energy and electron excitation You may find it helpful to review these important concepts in the introduction to the Experiment in your lab manual or in your chemistry textbook In the Experiment you learned that when an atom or molecule absorbs a photon its electrons can move to higherenergy orbitals and the atom or molecule makes a transition to a higherenergy state In retinal absorption of a photon promotes a p electron to a higherenergy orbital a p p excitation This excitation breaks the p component of the double bond thus allowing free rotation about the bond between carbon atom 11 and carbon atom 12 see Figure 5 Thus when 11 cis retinal absorbs a photon in the visible range of the spectrum free rotation about the bond between carbon atom 11 and carbon atom 12 can occur and the all trans retinal can form This isomerization occurs in a few picoseconds 10 12 s or less Energy from light is crucial for this isomerization process absorption of a photon leads to isomerization about half the time in contrast spontaneous isomerization in the dark occurs only once in 1000 years The molecule resulting from the isomerization is called all trans retinal In the cis configuration both of the attached hydrogens are on the same side of the double bond in the trans configuration the hydrogens are on opposite sides of the double bond As you can see by the CPK representation in Figure 5 the cistrans isomerization causes the conjugated carbon chain alternating double and single bonds to become straightened and increases the distance between the CH 3 group attached to carbon 5 and the oxygen at the end of the chain 11 cis retinal all trans retinal Figure 5 Upon absorption of a photon in the visible range 11 cis retinal can isomerize to all trans retinal In the 11 cis isomer the hydrogens red in the 2D ChemDraw representation are on the same side of the double bond red in the 2D ChemDraw representation between carbon atom 11 and carbon atom 12 In the all trans isomer the hydrogens are on opposite sides of the double bond In fact all of the double bonds are in the trans configuration in this isomer the hydrogens or hydrogen and CH 3 are always on opposite sides of the double bonds hence the name all trans retinal Note how the size and shape of the molecule change as a result of this isomerization Note On the left is shown the twodimensional ChemDraw representation of the isomerization reaction On the right are CPK models of the two isomers Carbon atoms are gray hydrogens are light blue and oxygens are red in these CPK models The CPK images were rendered using SwissPDB Viewer and POVRay see Note To view the molecule interactively please use Jmol and click on the button under the isomer that you wish to view Questions on the Isomerization of Retinal Explain in terms of bonding orbitals why retinal is rigid unable to rotate freely about its bonds until it absorbs energy from light Explain in terms of bonding orbitals why the absorption of a photon allows retinal to rotate about the bond between carbon atom 11 and carbon atom 12 and not about some other bond ie what do we mean when we say that the p component of the double bond is broken Protein Conformational Changes Following Retinal Isomerization As we shall see below the isomerization of retinal has an important effect on special proteins in the rod cell the isomerization event actually causes the proteins to change their shape This shape change ultimately leads to the generation of a nerve impulse Hence the next step in understanding the vision process for monochrome vision is to describe these proteins and how they change their shape after retinal isomerizes In rod cells the protein which binds the chromophore retinal is opsin and the bound complex of 11 cis retinal plus opsin is known as rhodopsin or visual purple Alone 11 cis retinal has a maximum absorbance in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum but the maximum absorbance for rhodopsin is 500 nm in the visible green part of the spectrum Recall from the inorganicsynthesis experiment that the observed color of a substance is actually the complementary color to the color that is absorbed Thus the name visual purple describes the complementary color for rhodopsin Rhodopsin also absorbs in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum However the lens of the eye absorbs ultraviolet light preventing it from reaching rhodopsin in the retina This is why we can not see ultraviolet light Opsin Maintaining the Bodys Chemistry Dialysis in the Kidneys This region consists primarily of nonpolar amino acids which do not attract the polar water molecule The alphahelical structural motif is described in detail in the tutorials Hemoglobin and the Heme Group Metal Complexes in the Blood for Oxygen Transport and Iron Use and Storage in the Body Ferritin and Molecular Representations The chromophore is situated among these alpha helices in the hydrophobic region It is covalently linked to Lysine 296 one of the amino acids in the opsin peptide chain Figure 6 Figure 6 The upper panel is a twodimensional representation of the reaction which links 11 cis retinal to opsin The lower panel is a threedimensional closeup of Lysine 296 covalently attached to 11 cis retinal Note The coordinates for the threedimensional representation were obtained using molecular modeling The the image was rendered using SwissPDB Viewer and POVRay see When the chromophore absorbs a photon it isomerizes to the all trans configuration without at first any accompanying change in the structure of the protein Figures 7 and 8 Rhodopsin containing the all trans isomer of retinal is known as bathorhodopsin However the trans isomer does not fit well into the protein due to its rigid elongated shape While it is contained in the protein the all trans chromophore adopts a twisted conformation which is energetically unfavorable Therefore a series of changes occurs to expel the chromophore from the protein Figure 7 These are schematic diagrams of rhodopsin 11 cis retinal bound to opsin and bathorhodopsin all trans retinal bound to opsin in the membrane of a pigmentcontaining disc in the rod cell Figure 8 These are views from above of the seven helices of opsin bound to retinal before and after the cistrans isomerization The all trans retinal isomer does not fit well into the protein and so it will cause a series of conformational changes by which the chromophore is removed from the protein Note To view the opsin protein in its two conformations interactively please use Jmol and click on the View this Molecule Interactively button under the conformation that you wish to view The coordinates for the transmembrane helices and chromophore shown in Figures 7 and 8 were obtained from the THEORETICAL MODEL by Pogozheva et al The transmembrane helices are depicted using the ribbon representation to emphasize the helical structure while the chromophore is depicted using the CPK or spacefilled representation to show the approximate volume occupied by retinal Helical portions of the images were rendered using SwissPDB Viewer and POVRay see The membrane and nonhelical protein segments in Figure 7 are cartoon representations Click to view the EXPERIMENTALLY DETERMINED Xray crystal structure of rhodopsin which was recently published in May of 2000 see Although the initial isomerization occurs without any change in the shape of the opsin protein the twisted conformation of all trans retinal in bathorhodopsin is too unstable to remain in this configuration for long Within nanoseconds 10 9 s the shape of the protein begins to change Ultimately the all trans retinal molecule is expelled from the protein yielding free opsin plus free all trans retinal A series of intermediate complexes have been isolated at low temperatures each absorbing maximally at a different wavelength The names and characteristic l max values for these intermediates are shown in Table 1 Pigment Name l max Rhodopsin Bathorhodopsin Lumirhodopsin Metarhodopsin I Metarhodopsin II trans Retinal free 498 nm 543 nm 497 nm 487 nm 380 nm 370 nm Table 1 As rhodopsin changes its conformation following the cistrans isomerization of retinal the intermediates have distinct names and absorbance characteristics Source Yoshizawa and Kuwata on bathorhodopsin Cowan and Drisko on other intermediates For vision to occur the important intermediate is metarhodopsin II This intermediate activates the enzyme transducin which starts the impressive signal transduction cascade resulting in the production of a nerve impulse to the brain see next section The all trans retinal is important for the multiplestep regeneration of 11 cis retinal The regenerated 11 cis retinal is reincorporated into rhodopsin Questions on Protein Conformational Changes Following Retinal Isomerization What sort of intermolecular interactions would you expect to find between retinal and the opsin protein excluding the covalent bond between retinal and Lysine 296 Which intermediate absorbs higherenergy light bathorhodopsin or metarhodopsin II Briefly explain your answer Signal Transduction Cascade to Generate a Nerve Impulse After the metarhodopsin II is formed there are approximately four more steps in the vision process activation of the enzymes transducin and phosphodiesterase hydrolysis of cyclic GMP closing of Na channels and propagation of an electrical impulse to the brain see the flowchart in Figure 4 Recall for a signal to be sent via a nerve fiber the Na channels must be closed so that a large charge difference across the rods outer membrane builds up Recall the plasma membrane shown in Figure 3 Once a large charge difference occurs the membrane is said to be hyperpolarized Then charge travels as an electrical impulse down the rod cell to the synaptic terminal where it is transferred to an adjoining nerve cell How does this charge buildup occur The starting point for this process is the production of metarhodopsin II as described above This initiates the following cascade of events First metarhodopsin II complexes with the enzyme transducin and activates it Transducin in turn activates another enzyme phosphodiesterase Phosphodiesterase catalyzes the hydrolysis of cyclic GMP as shown in Figure 9 below Figure 9 Phosphodiesterase catalyzes the hydrolysis of cyclic GMP adding a water molecule red to GMP and breaking the bond between the phosphate group blue and carbon Note The cyclic part of cyclic GMP on the reactant side of this reaction is composed of the phosphate group blue and the three carbon atoms between the oxygens of the phosphate The GMP on the product side of this reaction is not considered to be cyclic Cyclic GMP is required to open Na channels in the plasma membrane In the dark cyclic GMP is abundant and these channels stay open Sodium cations enter freely into the rod cell because the cell typically has a lower potential is more negative than the external environment thus attracting the positivelycharged ions However when cyclic GMP is hydrolyzed gains an H 2 O and breaks a bond by the nowactivated phosphodiesterase it is no longer available to keep the Na channels open Sodium cations can no longer enter the cell freely and so the cells potential suddenly becomes even lower relative to the external environment A large charge difference across the membrane is built up this is known as hyperpolarization The large potential difference travels as an electrical impulse down the rod cell to the synaptic terminal and is then transferred to an adjoining nerve cell The nerve cell carries this impulse all the way to the brain The brain then determines where the nerve impulse originated and interprets the image as shown in Figure 2 Question on the Signal Transduction Cascade to Generate a Nerve Impulse A scientist has developed a technique to inject chemicals into the inner segment of rod cells without otherwise disrupting the cells activities If the scientist injects a chemical that blocks the activity of transducin into the rod cells what effect if any would this injection have on vision Briefly explain your answer If the scientist injects activated phosphodiesterase into the rod cells what effect if any would this injection have on vision Briefly explain your answer Color Vision Cone Cells Now that we have studied the vision process for monochrome vision we can turn our attention to color vision Recall that the nerve signals for color vision are generated in the cone cells Color vision in the cone cells operates by essentially the same process as the monochrome vision in the rod cells However whereas the eye only has one type of rod cell the eye has three different types of cone cells The differences between the three types of cone cells as we shall see below allow us to distinguish colors Our color vision is trichromatic ie we perceive color through three fundamental receptors redabsorbing greenabsorbing and blueabsorbing cone cells Each color in the visible spectrum can be made by a mixture of these three primary colors recognized by the three types of cone cells Each type of cone cell contains a different protein bound to 11 cis retinal and has its own characteristic absorption spectrum corresponding to the particular pigment protein that it contains Each absorbs maximally at a characteristic wavelength but the absorbance peaks are rather broad and extend over a range of wavelengths Therefore some wavelengths are absorbed to varying degrees by more than one type of cone Orange light for instance is absorbed by both the green and redabsorbing pigments but the latter pigments absorb the orange light more efficiently When the brain receives the combination of signals from the green and redabsorbing cones it interprets this as orange light The combination would be different for yellow light more green relative to the red absorbance The three pigment proteins for color l max about 10 nm to longer wavelengths lower energy The red and green proteins have more of their amino acid sequence in common than either does with the blue protein Therefore their absorption spectra are similar whereas the absorption spectrum of the blueabsorbing pigment is more distinct Questions on Color Vision Goldfish like humans have redabsorbing greenabsorbing and blueabsorbing cone cells The absorption spectra for the cone cells of goldfish are shown below Label each peak to show which type of receptor ie redabsorbing greenabsorbing or blueabsorbing it represents The wavelength for indigo light is 480 nm Which cones in the goldfish eye would produce a nerve signal for indigo Assume that the absorption spectra for human cone cells are similar to those of goldfish cone cells If ultraviolet light were not filtered out by the lens of the eye would we perceive ultraviolet light as color Which cones would absorb ultraviolet light Briefly explain your answer A student researcher finds a way to separate retinal from the opsin protein and then reinsert the chromophore into the protein without damaging the protein in any way The student decides to separate retinal from the opsin contained in a blueabsorbing cone cell and in a greenabsorbing cone cell The student then inserts the retinal from the blueabsorbing cone cell into the opsin from the greenabsorbing cone cell What color of light will the resulting rhodopsin absorb Comparison of Rods and Cones Sharpness and Sensitivity Now that we have discussed how light excites vision cells to generate a nerve impulse and how different cone cells allow us to differentiate color the question remains why are rod cells more sensitive to small amounts of light and why do cone cells provide sharper images The answer lies in the brains ability to map images according to the location of the photoreceptor cells that send nerve impulses to the brain recall Figure 2 The brain has no direct contact with the photoreceptor cells but receives information through an intermediary optical nerve Thus our ability to view images depends on the brain determining the location of the photoreceptor cell that passes an impulse to any given nerve fiber Each cone cell connects to a different nerve fiber so the brain is able to precisely determine the location of the visual stimulus Thus cone cells provide very sharp visual images Rod cells however may share a nerve fiber with as many as 10000 other rod cells When the brain receives an impulse from such a nerve fiber it has no way of determining from which of these 10000 cells the impulse originated The brain can not therefore distinguish the precise location of the rod cell sending an electrical impulse so the image is not as sharp as that provided Summary Vision is a remarkable process by which we are able to interpret an image from light the eyes receive from the objects around us Although this process depends on the interplay of many different factors including the optics of the eye the isomerization of retinal nerve impulses and the brains ability to reconstruct the image vision is fundamentally based on the change in the molecular orbitals of retinal that occurs when the molecule absorbs energy in the form of light reflected off of the objects that we see Recall that when visible light hits the chromophore retinal a p electron is promoted to a higherenergy orbital allowing free rotation about the bond between carbon atom 11 and carbon atom 12 of the retinal molecule About half the time this rotation leads to the isomerization of retinal when the p electron returns to the lowerenergy orbital When retinal isomerizes a conformational change in the protein opsin occurs This conformational change initiates a cascade of biochemical reactions that result in the closing of Na channels in the cell membrane When the Na channels are closed a large potential difference builds up across the plasma membrane and the potential difference is passed along to an adjoining nerve cell as an electrical impulse The nerve cell carries this impulse to the brain where the visual information is interpreted Jmol Files To view the molecules interactively please use Jmol To download the pdb files for viewing and rotating the molecules shown above please click on the appropriate name below 11 cis retinal cisretpdb all trans retinal transretpdb 7 transmembrane alphahelices and 11 cis retinal of rhodopsin rhodopsipdb 7 transmembrane alphahelices and all trans retinal of bathorhodopsin bathorhopdb Additional Links The Joy of Visual Perception A Web Book by Peter Kaiser provides indepth explanations and illustrations of many different parts of the vision process We can learn a lot about how the brain interprets visual information with illusions This site is a bit like a visit to the Science Center Here is a fun site on how we perceive color from Colorotate Cowan DO and RL Drisko Elements of Organic Photochemistry New York Plenum Press 1976 p 561565 Guex N and Peitsch MC Electrophoresis 1997 18 27142723 SwissPDB Viewer URL httpspdbvvitalitch Nathans J The Genes for Color Vision 1987 Scientific American 255 7 4249 Okada T I Le Trong B A Fox C A Behnke R E Stenkamp and K Palczewski XRay Diffraction Analysis of ThreeDimensional Crystals of Bovine Rhodopsin Obtained from Mixed Micelles Journal of Structural Biology Vol 130 No 1 May 2000 pp 7380 Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer POVRay URL httpwwwpovrayorg Pogozheva ID et al The transmembrane 7alphabundle of rhodopsin Distance geometry calculations with hydrogen bonding constraints 1997 Biophys J 72 196385 Rhodopsin PDB coordinates Brookhaven Protein Data Bank Sappan P Chemistry and Light Royal Society of Chemistry Cambridge 1994 p 171175 Stryer L The Molecules of Visual Excitation 1987 Scientific American 257 7 4250 Stryer L Biochemistry 4th ed WH Freeman and Co New York 1995 p 332339 Wald George The Molecular Basis of Visual Excitation 1968 Nature 219 800807 Yoshizawa T and O Kuwata Organic Photochemistry and Photobiology W Horspool and P Song eds Ch 26 Vision Photochemistry p 14931499 CRC Press New York 1995 Acknowledgements The authors thank Greg Noelken for creating the chime script files They also wish to thank Dewey Holten Carolyn Herman Michelle Gilbertson and Jody Proctor for many helpful suggestions in the writing of this tutorial The development of this tutorial was supported by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education program Grant HHMI 71199502008 to Washington University

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O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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News Columnists Dahleen Glanton Column When it comes to supporting Trump the people have spoken President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on July 27 2018 in Andrews Air Force Base Md en route to Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown NJ Carolyn Kaster AP Dahleen Glanton Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune From the moment Donald Trump was sworn into office about 40 percent of Americans have stood steadfastly by the presidents side Some would say thats patriotism Others might call it ignorance Regardless of what drives their loyalty Trump can count on this group of Americans to have his back no matter what When the rest of us denounced Trumps inhumane policy of separating refugee children from their parents that 40 percent praised his determination to do whatever is necessary to protect our borders I voted for the man because of his stance on immigration one Trump supporter wrote me I want that wall built and it doesnt bother me about the separation of children from their parents Weve been too soft on immigrants We have to let them know that we mean business Open borders will destroy our country When Trump publicly sided with Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki summit and rejected the findings of US intelligence agencies on Russias election meddling some of us thought he teetered toward treason But that 40 percent turned on their TV sets and saw the president being strong yet diplomatic They easily accepted Trumps explanation that he intended to say wouldnt when he said I dont see any reason why it would be Russia One supporter dismissed it this way Of course Trump knows they meddled because our own CIA does the exact same thing ALL THE TIME But what we dont do is talk about it Column Trump is on Putins side not Americas Though the number might occasionally rise or fall by a few points Trumps 40 percent approval rating is for the most part impenetrable And while he has never been able to get the majority of the country on his side his base is determined and vocal enough to keep establishment Republicans trembling with fear Who are these people who see America and the rest of the world so drastically different from the rest of us Do they truly believe that Trump is an economic and social policy genius who knows how to make America great Or are they misguided misfits so afraid of the future that they are clinging desperately to the past Those who have spent time studying these folks say they are all of the above Perhaps thats true but underneath their tough exterior I believe many of them are driven by something much more basic anger Commentary Hardcore Trump supporters have got to be kidding I will admit that I have no scientific and some would argue accurate information on which to base my opinion What I do have though are emails dozens of them a day from Trump supporters across the country who happen to stumble upon my columns If you are familiar with my writings it goes without saying that Trump supporters despise me They think that I am above all racist but also biased hatefilled and stupid just to use a few of their terms But this isnt about me Its about my interpretation of them They see politics under Trump as a war between us and them a crusade against liberals who think they are smarter than everyone else and look down on anyone who disagrees with their selfimposed ideals of righteousness Admit it liberals we do get an attitude the minute a Trump supporter opens his or her mouth We come out fists drawn But for Trumps people this is Custers Last Stand and he is their ferocious leader They are determined not to go down without a good fight I will stand by President Trump He is this countrys last hope one reader emailed explaining that Trump stands up for Americanborn citizens over others He is really the only one to take on the problem of illegal immigration the unfair trade polices the unfair way we fund NATO He is for me an American Some Trump supporters think our country is no longer fair to white people They cringe when AfricanAmericans with a career a good education and a comfortable lifestyle complain about white privilege While some might think they deserve the best simply because they are white others see themselves being trampled on by minorities and immigrants who use government handouts to get ahead much faster Take this email for example You and people like you is whats wrong with this country I am a white male that came from nothingness I educated myself no one gave me a handout never really had anything until I worked for it I am an American Not a MexicanAmerican Not AfricanAmerican They are as obsessed with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as Trump is The president has convinced them that sour grapes is the main reason most people dont support him Youre a liberal Democrat that still thinks Hillary Benghazi Clinton should have been elected in 2016 one man wrote I give thanks every day that she lost for the second time She should be in prison garb And like Trump they deplore the liberal media You and your ilk started beating on President Trump the first day after the election because we were correct and you lost Obama should have been voted out in 2012 He was worthless In closing I can not wait to vote Republican in 2018 and 2020 Here are a few other tidbits The woman they hate as much as Clinton is Rep Maxine Waters a California Democrat They see her as the face of the Democratic Party While some agree with Trump that black men mooch off society they make exceptions for Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and rapper Kanye West Invoking their names proves they are not bigoted Men in particular love First Lady Melania Trump In their eyes shes a helpless belle and theyll go to any lengths to protect her honor Brad Biggs 10 thoughts on the Bears 1615 loss to the Eagles in the playoffs Ask Amy Impoverished parents now ask for more

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


News Data New years resolution Why not set a Guinness World Record By Kori Rumore Classical Music Crime Homicide Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chicago White Sox Leo Burnett George Burns Why stop at a simple new years resolution when you can aim higher and break a world record or create a new one in 2017 There are more than 47000 existing Guinness World Records all of which can be challenged through a free application process but new ones can be submitted online for a 5 nonrefundable fee Guinness achievements have a few things in common They must be universally measurable and breakable and involve just one variable In other words it cant be a record unless you can verifiably measure or weigh or count it To give you inspiration the Tribune took common resolutions and applied them to 17 world records with Chicago connections Resolution Invent something First ultrasound remote control for TV sets Date of record 1956 George Burns and Gracie Allen in a 1950s print ad for Zenith Space Command TV the first television remote control Saturday Evening Post Designed by Chicagobased Zenith Electronics this wireless handheld device transmitted signals via ultrasound waves instead of beams of light Robert Adler and Eugene Polley are credited with developing this design and were awarded an Emmy for it in 1997 Resolution Make lots of money Highest gross income in a single year by a private citizen Date of record 1927 Chicago Tribune archive 1931 The US attorneys office in Chicago estimated gangster Al Capone made 105 million in 1927 from liquor bootlegging gambling establishments dog tracks dance halls and other illegal activities Resolution Conquer a fear of heights Highest blindfolded tightrope walk Date of record 2014 Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video Highwire walker Nik Wallenda began by walking more than two city blocks from the Marina City west tower to the Leo Burnett Building That first crossing which took 6 minutes and 51 seconds and was done at a 19degree slant across the Chicago River set the world record for steepest incline for tightrope walking between two buildings He then took a Leo Burnett elevator down to the street and returned to the Marina City west tower where he wore a blindfold as he crossed to the east tower in 1 minute and 17 seconds The feat was completed at more than 500 feet making it the highest blindfolded walk recorded Both walks had their challenges for the seemingly unflappable showman He was uncharacteristically quiet during the blindfolded walk as he asked spectators for silence and did not provide any commentary during the stunt Resolution Be more efficient at work Fastest typist on an electronic typewriter Date of record 1946 Stella Pajunas poses with her trophies following the International Speed Typing Finals in Chicago Chicago Tribune historical photo 1946 During a contest held in Chicago Stella Pajunas a Cleveland speed demonstrator for IBM swept the professional onehour amateur 30minute and amateur 20minute categories The record is 216 words typed per minute but no record of that could be found in the Chicago Tribune archives Resolution Make a movie First animal cartoon Date of record 1913 Chicago Tribune archive 1913 Chicago Tribune cartoonist Sidney Smiths character Old Doc Yak a goat wearing a tailcoat and striped pants was brought to life through this animated work that included several thousand drawings by Smith Though no longer available the cartoon shows Old Doc Yaks relentless attempts to kill a bee and his creator attempting to finish the 2000 drawings by 5 pm or lose a 50 bet with his editor Smiths work at the Tribune including The Gumps comic strip made him a rich man In 1922 he signed the first milliondollar contract for a cartoonist which included a RollsRoyce as a bonus He also owned three country homes including a southern Wisconsin farm He was driving to the farm early one morning in October 1935 when he was killed in a crash near the Wisconsin border Resolution Do more exercise Stair climbing by bicycle most steps Date of record 2016 Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video Krystian Herba a Polish man scaled 3461 steps inside Willis Tower aboard his bike ABCowned WLSCh 7 reported that Herba completed this task in three hours climbing to the 66th floor taking an elevator back down to the bottom before going up 103 floors to the observation deck Herba had to stay balanced on the bike the whole time including the elevator Resolution Do better teamwork Most people to share a Grammy Award Date of record Unknown The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs in 2006 Brian KerseyAP A Grammy Award was shared by 46 musicians with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Unfortunately its not known which CSO Grammy this record represents CSO recordings have earned 62 of them Resolution Spend more time with friends Most people wearing Groucho Marx glasses Date of record 2009 Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video A new record of 4436 people was attained during a screening of the classic Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup at the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park Chicago wrenched the Guinness World Record for most people wearing Groucho Marx glasses from an event held by a St Louis Cardinals minorleague affiliate in Springfield Mo Resolution Do something that scares you First performer to consistently perform triple somersaults on the trapeze Date of record 1920 A diagram shows unintentionally in a clockwise direction how Alfredo Codonas famous triple somersault was performed a newspaper clipping reports how he murdered his divorced wife before killing himself Chicago Tribune historical illustration and archive 1937 Born in Mexico to a family of circus aerialists Alfredo Codona was considered the best trapeze performer in his day He first landed the dangerous triple somersault in public at Chicago Coliseum in 1920 as part of the familys trapeze act and went on to use it as part of his daily routine until injury forced him to leave the circus in 1933 He then became a stunt double for Tarzan movies Following an appointment with his exwife Vera Bruce and her attorney in California in July 1937 Codona shot Bruce four times before shooting himself Both died Resolution Think big Tallest mule Date of record 1990 Courtesy of Illinois AgriNews and Farm Show magazine Apollo owned by Herbert Mueller was 19 hands or 6 feet 3 inches tall The beast weighed in at 2200 pounds Resolution Aim high Longest climb on the vertical face of a building Date of record 1981 Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video Daniel Goodwin 25 who grew up mountain climbing in Maine and moved to Las Vegas to become an actoracrobat scaled the thenworlds tallest building the Sears Willis Tower in less than eight hours while dressed in a 450 custommade SpiderMan suit and mask Goodwin did it by attaching suction cups and a homewelded claw to windowwashing equipment track runners but grease on the windows made his climb of the 1454foot building dangerous He was arrested for disorderly conduct when he reached the buildings roof but was spotted the next day dining on trout at the Pump Room Resolution Get a pet First giant panda maintained outside China Date of record 1937 Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video SuLin discovered as a young cub in a hollowed tree near the ChinaTibet border by adventurer Ruth Harkness in 1936 was brought to Brookfield Zoo in 1937 She officially went on display to the public on April 20 1937 Harkness chose the zoo reportedly because it agreed to fund her second trip to China Following that trip Harkness brought a second panda to Brookfield Zoo MeiMei SuLin died April 1 1938 with the initial cause was thought to be a mouth infection Field Museum researchers performed a necropsy which revealed SuLin died of pneumonia and that she was actually male A preserved version of the panda has been on display at the Field since 1939 Resolution Make a work of art Largest balloon mosaic Date of record 1999 Courtesy of balloonhqcom During the International Balloon Arts Convention 200 attendees helped construct this 86foottall and 58footwide depiction of Chicagos skyline on New Years Eve in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency OHare in Rosemont It took 70884 latex balloons and 1300 manhours to make Resolution Start a new business Most unused concert tickets bought by an individual Date of record 1986 Chicago Tribune historical archive 1980 An estimated 1000 people lined up to buy the Sept 25 1980 edition of the Chicago Tribune due to something special within its pages a mailorder form for tickets to four nights of Led Zeppelin shows at the Chicago Stadium The band was supposed to appear in Chicago in 1977 but canceled those shows following the death of singer Robert Plants oldest son Karac Needless to say fans were excited for the bands return Little did the fans who camped out in front of Tribune Tower know however Led Zeppelins drummer John Bonham was found dead in England the same day reportedly after drinking the equivalent of 40 shots of vodka The 1980 concert tour was immediately canceled and the band parted ways just a few months later Tickets however had already been printed for the four Chicago shows They gathered dust inside Chicago Stadium until 1986 Thats when Michael Dehn bought 79652 undistributed tickets to the canceled shows for 9000 Dehn now sells them online in various commemorative sets Resolution Break a bad habit Heaviest object removed from stomach Date of record 2006 In the Nov 22 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine two Rush University Medical Center doctors describe the process of removing a 10pound hairball from an 18yearold womans stomach How did it get there The patient stated that she had had a habit of eating her hair for many years a condition called trichophagia The New England Journal of Medicine reported a year after the surgery the patient had stopped eating her hair Resolution Hang out more with your best friend Most dogs attending a sporting event Date of record 2016 The outfield seats at what is now Guaranteed Rate Field hosted 1122 dogs and their owners during the White Sox game against the Indians The Sox set out to achieve the record for their annual Bark at the Park event and a Guinness World Record adjudicator was on hand to verify the record and award the club with a certificate for the feat Resolution Improve your wardrobe Most costume changes in eight hours Date of record 2012 Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video Chicago dancer Monternez Monty Rezell founder of Movement Revolution Dance Crew changed into 155 different Halloween costumes by himself during an eighthour commercial shoot for Kmart in the parking lot of one of its Chicago stores SOURCES Guinness World Records Tribune archives

O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Judgment days A small town reckons with God Trump and the meaning of morality Clay Crum the pastor at the First Baptist Church in Luverne Ala delivers a sermon Michael S Williamson The Washington Post Stephanie McCrummen The Washington Post Clay Crum opened his Bible to Exodus Chapter 20 and read Verse 14 one more time Thou shalt not commit adultery it said He prayed about what he was going to do He was the pastor of First Baptist Church in the town of Luverne Alabama which meant he was the moral leader of a congregation that overwhelmingly supported a president who was an alleged adulterer For the past six weeks Crum had been preaching a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments and now it was time for number seven It was summer and all over the Bible Belt support for President Donald Trump was rising among voters who had traditionally proclaimed the importance of Christian character in leaders and warned of the slippery slope of moral compromise In Crenshaw County where Luverne is located Trump had won 72 percent of the vote Recent national polls showed the presidents approval among white evangelical Christians at a high of 77 percent One survey indicated that his support among Southern Baptists was even higher surpassing 80 percent and these were the people arriving on Sunday morning to hear what their pastor had to say By 1030 am the street alongside First Baptist was full of slantparked cars and the 80 percenters were walking across the green lawn in the sun up the stairs past the four freshly painted white columns and into the church Good to see you this morning Crum said shaking hands as the regulars took their usual places in the wooden pews and soon he walked up to the pulpit and opened his King James Today were going to be looking at the Seventh Commandment Crum began Exodus 2014 the Seventh Commandment simply says Thou shalt not commit adultery The people settled in There was the sound of hard candy unwrapping and thin pages of Bibles turning Congregants follow along during a sermon at the First Baptist Church in Luverne Ala Michael S Williamson The Washington Post The presidency of Donald Trump has created unavoidable moral dilemmas not just for the members of First Baptist in Luverne but for a distinct subset of Christians who are overwhelmingly white overwhelmingly evangelical and more uniformly proTrump than any other part of the American electorate In poll after poll they have said that Trump has kept his promises to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices fight for religious liberty adopt prolife policies and deliver on other issues that are high priorities for them At the same time many have acknowledged the awkwardness of being both selfproclaimed followers of Jesus and the No 1 champions of a president whose character has been defined not just by alleged infidelity but accusations of sexual harassment advancing conspiracy theories popular with white supremacists using language that swaths of Americans find racist routinely spreading falsehoods and an array of casual cruelties and immoderate behaviors that amount to a roll call of the seven deadly sins The predicament has led to all kinds of reactions within the evangelical community from a gathering of pastors in Illinois described as a call to selfreflection to prayer meetings with Trump in Washington to hours of cable news reckoning in which Southern Baptists have taken the lead The megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress has declared that Trump is on the right side of God and that evangelicals know they are not compromising their beliefs in order to support this great president Franklin Graham son of the evangelist Billy Graham said the only explanation for Trump being in the White House was that God put him there A few leaders have publicly dissented from such views aware of the Southern Baptist history of whiffing on the big moral questions of the day such as during the civil rights era when most pastors either defended segregation or remained silent The chair of the Southern Baptist Conventions ethics commission Russell Moore asked whether Christians were really ready to trade unity with our black and brown brothers and sisters for this angry politician One prominent black pastor Lawrence Ware left the denomination altogether writing that the widespread reluctance to criticize Trump on racial issues revealed a deep commitment to white But all those discussions were taking place far from the rank and file The Southern Baptists who filled the pews every Sunday were making their own moral calculations about Trump in the privacy of a thousand church sanctuaries in cities and towns such as Luverne population 2700 an hour south of the state capital of Montgomery It was a place where it was hard to drive a mile in any direction without passing some church or sign about the wages of sin where conversations about politics happened in nodding circles before Sunday school or at the Chicken Shack after and few people paid attention to some national Southern Baptist leader What mattered in Luverne was the redbrick church with the tall white steeple that hovered over the tidy green lawns and gardens of town First Baptist was situated along Luvernes main street next to the post office and across from the county courthouse a civic position that had always conferred on its pastors a moral authority now vested in Clay Crum A fine Christian man was how the mayor referred to him He just makes everybody feel like he loves em said a member of First Baptist And the members of First Baptist loved their pastor back They had hired him in July 2015 a month after Trump began campaigning for president and courting evangelicals by declaring that Christianity is under siege and the Bible is the best A church committee had sifted through dozens of résumés from Florida and Missouri and as far away as Michigan and out of all of them they had picked Crum a former truck driver from right down the road in Georgiana As Southern Baptists in this small town we want our leader to believe like we do said Terry Drew who had chaired the search committee and three years later Crum was meeting their highest expectations of what a good Southern Baptist pastor should be He kept up with the prayer list He did all his visits the nursing homes and the shutins He wore a lapel pin in the shape of two tiny baby feet as a reminder of what he saw as the pure evil of abortion And when Sunday morning came he delivered his sermons straight out of an open Bible no notes and it wasnt unusual for him to cry He is just really sincere said Jewell Killough who had been a member of First Baptist for four decades and as Crum stood at the front of the congregation now and looked out hers was one of the faces looking back Signs with religious and political themes are common sights on back roads near Luverne Michael S Williamson The Washington Post She always sat in the center row fifth pew from the front right in line with the pulpit Jewell Killough was 82 and as Crum had gone through the first six commandments Sunday after Sunday she had not yet heard anything to dissuade her from believing that Trump was being used by God to save America Oh I feel like the Lord heard our prayers and gave us a second chance before the end times she had said a few days before when she was working at the food pantry of the Alabama Crenshaw Baptist Association It was a lowbrick house where the Baptists kept stacks of pamphlets about abstaining from premarital sex alcohol smoking and other behaviors they felt corrupted Christian character which was not something Jewell worried about with Trump I think they are trying to frame him she said referring to the unflattering stories about the president By they she meant liberals and others she believed were not only trying to undermine Trumps agenda but Gods agenda for America which she believed was engaged in a great spiritual contest between good and evil God and Satan the saved and the unsaved for whom God had prepared two places There was Heaven Most say its gonna be 15000 miles wide and that high Jewell said We dont know whether when it comes down how far it will come if its gonna come all the way or if there will be stairs We dont know that But its gonna be suitable to each person You know that old song Lord build me a cabin in the corner of Gloryland See thats not right Its not gonna be you have a cabin over here and I have one over there Its gonna be suitable to each person So whatever makes me And there was Hell Each person is gonna be on an islandlike place and fire all around it And theyre gonna be in complete darkness and over time your eyes will go And wormsll eat on you Its a terrible place the way the Bible describes it It was a binary world not just for Jewell Killough but for everyone sitting inside the sanctuary of First Baptist Church who prayed all the time about how to navigate it There were Brett and Misty Green who sat a few rows behind Jewell and said that besides reading the Bible or listening to Pastor Crum prayer was the only way to sort out what was godly and what was satanic Satan is the master magician said Misty 32 a federal court worker The father of lies said Brett 33 a land surveyor who was sitting with his wife and his Bible one evening in the churchs fellowship hall a large beige room with accordion partitions that separated the mens and ladies Sunday school classes Thats why we have the Holy Spirit Brett said explaining it was like a gut feeling that told him what to do in morally confusing situations which had included the election when the spirit had told him to vote for Trump even though something the president allegedly said since then had given Brett pause It was when Trump was discussing immigration and reportedly asked Why are we having all these people from shithole countries coming here Jesus Christ was born in Nazareth and Nazareth was a shithole at that time Brett said Someone might say How could anything good come out of a place like that Well Jesus came out of a place like that Other things bothered Misty Crum had preached a few Sundays before about the Third Commandment Thou shalt not take the Lords name in vain but as Misty saw it Trump belittled God and all of Gods creation when he called people names like loser and stupid A lot of his actions I dont agree with Misty said But we are not to judge What a good Christian was supposed to do was pray for God to work on Trump who was after all prolife and proIsrael and proall the positions they felt a Christian nation should be taking And if they were somehow wrong about Trump said Misty in the end it doesnt really matter A true Christian doesnt have to worry about that said Brett explaining what any good Southern Baptist heard at church every Sunday which was that Jesus had died on the cross to wash away their sins defeat death and provide them with eternal life in heaven I think about it all the time what its gonna be like she said I know well have new bodies said Brett Well be like Christ it says There was Jack Jones who sat behind the pulpit in the choir and was chairman of the deacons the church leaders who tried to set a Christian example by mowing lawns for the homebound building front door ramps for the elderly and maintaining standards in their own ranks We stick strictly to the Bible that a divorced man is not able to be a deacon said Jack who said it was uncomfortable being such a Bible stickler and supporting a president alleged to have committed adultery with a porn star Its difficult thats for sure he said sitting with his wife in the church basement The way he and Linda had come to think of it Trump was no worse than a long list of other American presidents from the Founding Fathers on George Washington had a mistress Linda said Thomas Jefferson did too Roosevelt had a mistress with him when he died Eisenhower Kennedy None of em are lily white said Jack What was important was not the character of the president but his positions they said and one mattered more than all the others Abortion said Linda whose eyes teared up when she talked about it Trump was against it It didnt matter that two decades ago he had declared himself to be very prochoice He was now saying every life totally matters appointing antiabortion judges and adopting so many antiabortion policies that one group called him the most prolife president in history It was the one political issue on which First Baptist had taken a stand a sin one member described as straight from the pits of Hell and which Crum had called out when he preached on Thou shalt not kill the Sunday before reminding the congregation about the meaning of his tiny lapel pin Its the size of a babys feet at 10 weeks he had said There was Terry Drew who sat in the seventh pew on the left side who knew and agreed with Trumps position and knew that supporting him involved a blatant moral compromise I hate it he said My wife and I talk about it all the time We rationalize the immoral things away We dont like it but we look at the alternative and think it could be worse than this The only way to understand how a Christian like him could support a man who boasted about grabbing womens crotches Terry said was to understand how he felt about the person Trump was still constantly bringing up in his speeches and who loomed large in Terrys thoughts Hillary Clinton whom Terry saw as sinister and evil and Id say of Satan She hates me Terry said sitting in Crums office one day She has contempt for people like me and Clay and people who love God and believe in the Second Amendment I think if she had her way it would be a dangerous country for the likes of me As he saw it there was the issue of Trumps character and there was the issue of Terrys own extinction and the choice was clear Hes going to stick to me Terry said So many members of First Baptist saw it that way There was Jan Carter who sat in the 10th pew center who said that supporting Trump was the only moral thing to do You can say righteously I do not support him because of his moral character but you are washing your hands of what is happening in this country she said explaining that in her view America was slipping toward a civil war on our shores There was her friend Suzette who sat in the fifth pew on the right side and who said Trump might be abrasive but we need abrasive right now And there was Sheila Butler who sat on the sixth pew on the right side who said were moving toward the annihilation of Christians She was 67 a Sunday school teacher who said this was the only way to understand how Christians like her supported Trump Obama was acting at the behest of the Islamic nation she began one afternoon when she was getting her nails done with her friend Linda She was referring to allegations that President Barack Obama is a Muslim not a Christian allegations that are false He carried a Koran and it was not for literary purposes If you look at it the number of Christians is decreasing the number of Muslims has grown We allowed them to come in Obama woke a sleeping nation said Linda He woke a sleeping Christian nation Sheila corrected Linda nodded It wasnt just Muslims that posed a threat she said but all kinds of immigrants coming into the country Unpapered people Sheila said adding that she had seen them in the county emergency room and they got treated before her And then the Americans are not served Love thy neighbor she said meant love thy American neighbor Welcome the stranger she said meant the legal immigrant stranger The Bible says If you do this to the least of these you do it to me Sheila said quoting Jesus But the least of these are Americans not the ones crossing the border To her this was a moral threat far greater than any character flaw Trump might have as was what she called the racial divide which she believed was getting worse The evidence was all the black people protesting about the police and all the talk about the legacy of slavery which Sheila never believed was as bad as people said it was Slaves were valued she said They got housing They got fed They got medical care She was suspicious of what she saw as the constant agitation of blacks against whites the taking down of Confederate memorials and the raising of others such as the new memorial to the victims of lynching just up the highway in Montgomery I think they are promoting violence Sheila said thinking about the 800 weathered steel monoliths hanging from a roof to evoke the lynchings one for each American county where the violence was carried out including Crenshaw County where a man named Jesse Thornton was lynched in 1940 in downtown Luverne How do you think a young black man would feel looking at that Linda asked Wouldnt you feel a sickness in your stomach I think it would only make you have more violent feelings feelings of revenge said Sheila It reminded her of a time when she was a girl in Montgomery when the nowfamous civil rights march from Selma was heading to town and her parents fearing violence had sent her to the country to stay with relatives Its almost like were going to live that Rosa Parks time again she said referring to the civil rights activist It was just a scary time having lived through it She thought an allout race war was now in the realm of possibility And that was where she had feared things were heading right up until election night when she and Linda and everyone they knew were praying for God to save them And God sent them Donald Trump I believe God put him there Sheila said He put a sinner in there God was using Trump just like he had used the Apostle Paul she said Paul had murdered Christians and he went on to minister to many many people Sheila said I think hes being molded by God for the role I think hes the right man for the right time Its about the survival of the Christian nation We are in mortal danger Linda said We are in a religious war Sheila said Linda nodded We may have to fight and die for our faith Sheila said I hope it doesnt come to that but if it does we will She rubbed her sore knee which was caked with an analgesic In heaven I wont have any pain Sheila said No tears said Linda I think itll be beautiful I love plants and I think itll be like walking in a beautiful garden said Sheila Have you ever been out at night and looked at the stars said Linda Thats the floor of heaven and heaven is going to be so much more beautiful than the floor Im going to be in my kitchen Sheila said imagining heaven would have one I think its going to be beautiful to see all the appliances It was hard to know what a good Christian should do in the meantime Sheila said and that was why Clay Crum was so important He had been inspiring her with sermons all summer including the Sunday before Memorial Day when he had everybody stand up and not only pledge allegiance to the American flag but to the Christian flag and the Bible I see Clay as my leader Sheila said Clay just knows what we need on any given day Terry Drew a deacon at the church has struggled with his assessment of President Trumps morality We dont like it he said but we look at the alternative and think it could be worse than this Michael S Williamson The Washington Post He had gotten through Thou shalt not kill the Sunday before It was not easy There were veterans in the congregation Crum had to explain how God could command people not to kill in one part of the Bible yet demand a massacre in another God does not want you to kill on your terms he wants you to kill on his terms he had concluded in his sermon So lets promote Jesus in life Lets not kill Unless its absolutely necessary Now he sat in his office where there was a metal cross on the wall and three Bibles on his desk and prayed about what the Lord wanted him to say Thou shalt not commit adultery he read again How can I get people to see the whole picture he asked himself What was the whole picture There had been a time before he became a pastor when Crum saw things differently He saw the pastor of his childhood church stealing money and as he got older he saw deacons having affairs Christians behaving in hateful ways and finally he came to see it all as a big sham I thought it was very hypocritical he said That they pretend That its all a show He gave up on church He started drinking some and went a little wild dabbling in world religions and having his own thoughts about the meaning of life until one day when he was listening to Christian radio on a truck haul He remembered the preacher talking about salvation and suddenly feeling unsure of his own So I just prayed to the Lord while I was driving he said I want to be sure The next Sunday he began attending a Southern Baptist church near Luverne where he was asked one Wednesday night to step in for the absent pastor and deliver a prayer He had just gotten off work His back hurt His feet hurt He was exhausted and as he began to pray something came over him He started crying and begging God to forgive him for his rebellion and by the end of it Clay Crum had found a new profession He felt God was telling him to go into the ministry and 10 years later here he was the pastor of First Baptist church who had gotten to where he could discern the voice of God all the time Its not an audible voice Crum said We all have a million thoughts that come in our head every day You got to know which are from God He was sure that it had been the voice of God that told him to preach on the Ten Commandments It would be a series on the seriousness of morality Crum decided because to him the biggest problem in society was that people do not want to own the wrong they do They want to excuse their actions by explaining them away he said They want to talk generally I know Im a sinner Well what is the sin And it was the same voice of God that had led Crum to vote the same way most of his congregation had voted in one of the most morally confusing elections of his lifetime A crossroads time Crum called it He did not feel great about voting for Trump who had called the holy communion wafer my little cracker who had said his favorite book was the Bible that his favorite biblical teaching was an eye for an eye and who had courted evangelical Christians by saying I love them They love me Its a hard thing to reconcile Crum said I really do struggle with it He knew what the Bible had to say about Trumps behavior Youre committing adultery thats sinful Youre being sexually abusive to women thats wrong Any of those things You can go on and on Crum said All those things are immoral He thought about whether Trump could do anything that might require the moral leader of Luverne to abandon his support or criticize the president publicly There are times when Christians have to stand up said Crum The dilemma was that Trump was an immoral person doing what Crum considered to be moral things The conservative judges The antiabortion policies And something else even more important to a small Southern Baptist congregation worried about their own annihilation It encouraged them that we do still have some political power in this country said Crum When he prayed about it that was what the voice of God had told him The voice reminded Crum that God always had a hand in elections The voice told him that God used all kinds of people to do his will Nebuchadnezzar Crum said citing the pagan king of Babylon who was advised by godly men to tear down an old corrupt order Even sometimes bad leaders are used by God He had wondered at times about the idea that God had chosen Trump and the opposite the possibility that God had nothing to do with Trump at all He wondered about it again now his Bible bookmarked to the 14th verse of Exodus Chapter 20 for the sermon Its a hard thing to reconcile he said I think ultimately God allowed him to become president for reasons we dont fully know yet Congregants leave the First Baptist Church in Luverne Ala after a Sunday service Michael S Williamson The Washington Post Sunday came and the followers of Donald Trump took their usual seats in the sanctuary Hey sugarfoot Sheila Butler said to one of her Sunday school ladies Morning Crum said welcoming the regulars They settled into the seafoamgreen cushions along the wooden pews some of which also had back cushions to make them more comfortable They opened old Bibles bookmarked with birthday cards and photos of grandchildren and after they all sang I was sinking deeper into sin far from the peaceful shore Crum walked up to the podium to deliver the sermon God had told him to deliver What is adultery Crum began Jewell Killough was listening Adultery simply stated is a breach of commitment Crum said When one person turns their back on a commitment that they made and seeks out something else to fulfill themselves He talked about the dangers of temporary satisfaction of looking at anything unclean and in the choir behind him Jack Jones nodded He talked about other kinds of adultery such as hardheartedness and avoiding personal responsibility See we dont want to look at ourselves Crum said We dont want to say Im part of the problem Someone in the congregation coughed Someone unwrapped a caramel candy The purpose of the commandment is so we can see the sin so we can repent of the sin and then fully experience the complete grace of God he said But only when we admit it Only when we repent of it And only when we return to him by faith He was at the end of his sermon If he was going to say anything about Trump or presidents or politicians or how having a Christian character was important for the leader of the United States now was the time His Bible was open He was preaching without notes He looked out at all the faces of people who felt threatened and despised in a changing America who thought Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were sent by Satan to destroy them and that Donald Trump was sent by God to protect them and who could always count on Clay Crum to remind them of what they all believed to be the true meaning of Jesus Christ that he died to forgive all of their sins to save them from death and secure their salvation in a place that was 15000 miles wide full of gardens appliances and a floor Not now he decided Not yet He closed his Bible He had one last thing to say to them before the sermon was over Let us pray Amen someone in the congregation said This story was originally published by The Washington Post Trump aide Syria withdrawal waiting on conditions Each side accusing other of giving no ground on shutdown

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