===donald trump===
Donald Trump went to Sunday school and was confirmed in 1959 at the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens. In the 1970s, his parents joined the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, which belongs to the Reformed Church in America. The pastor at Marble, Norman Vincent Peale, ministered to the family until his death in 1993. Trump has described him as a mentor. In 2015, the church stated that Trump was not an active member. In 2019, he appointed his personal pastor, televangelist Paula White, to the White House Office of Public Liaison. In 2020, he said he identified as a non-denominational Christian.
|
Netanyahu to meet President Trump on December 29 amid muted tensions over Gaza, West Bank Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump in the United States on December 29, as the two countries mull different visions for the next steps towards implementing the US 20-point plan for Gaza. It will be Netanyahu’s fifth visit to meet Trump in the US since the start of the year and comes after the prime minister said he expected the second phase of the US-sponsored ceasefire plan for Gaza to begin soon.“The meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu will take place Monday, December 29,” Shosh Bedrosian, spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office, said. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu and Trump were expected to meet twice during an eight-day visit to the United States by the Israeli prime minister. (Arab Weekly; 12.12.25)READMORE>>>>> Why is Trump slamming the door on persecuted Christians? Recently, the global church marked the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. In congregations across this country and beyond, Christians lamented the violence experienced by those we consider our brothers and sisters in Christ, one in seven of whom globally face the threat of persecution. President Trump has boldly acknowledged this plight, calling Christianity “the most persecuted religion on the planet” in his September address to the United Nations. (The Hill; 12.12.25)READMORE>>>>> What will MAGA Christianity look like in a post-Trump world? When Donald Trump read the political tea leaves and urged House Republicans to vote for the release of the Epstein files, speculation was rampant. Did this mean Trump’s hold over the GOP was beginning to weaken? Or was his Department of Justice hatching a secret plan to keep the most damning documents out of the public view? Was Marjorie Taylor Greene the first rat to flee a sinking ship, or did her departure demonstrate the futility of questioning the big man? How will Trump’s Christian base react if the Epstein files reveal the president was fully aware of his old friend’s elaborate sex trafficking network? Or, if Trump’s DOJ holds back the bulk of the Epstein material in its possession, will MAGA Christians walk away from their leader? . (Baptist News Global; 12/11/25) READMORE>>>>> Trump Shares the Gospel The annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree took place Thursday night in Washington, D.C. I hope you watched it. If not, I encourage you to do so. It was inspirational. With each passing year that Donald Trump has been president of the United States, from his first term to now, he has become an increasingly bold and direct defender of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. More so than any president in our lifetimes, if not all of American history. This is what President Trump said Thursday night on nationwide TV about the birth of Christ: (Patriot Post; 12/8/25) READMORE>>>>> Dem Senator Says Trump ‘Policies Bear False Witness Against’ God Georgia Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock criticized the policies of the Donald Trump administration in a post on X Monday, saying in part, "There are more than 2,000 verses of Scripture that tell us how to treat the poor. And none of those verses say we should take food away from hungry children, slash health care for the vulnerable, and give tax cuts to the rich.""These policies bear false witness against the God I know," he concluded. This is not the first time that Warnock has expressed criticism of the president and his use of religion in politics. Trump often refers to God and the Bible during speeches, signaling the Republican Party's alignment with Christian values. (Christian Post; 12/8/25) READMORE>>>>> Conservative says Trump needs more 'Christian' in his 'Christian Nationalism' The Trump administration and its agents with their crusader tattoos, and its supporters, adore the idea of Christian nationalism. It’s a pity they’re short on the ‘Christian’ part, says columnist Ross Douthat. “Christian nationalism” can be understood in two ways, Douthat tells the New York Times. The first emphasizes the “Christian” aspect and imagines nationalism as the vehicle through which conservative believers impose their doctrines on a pluralist society. Think inquisitions, witch trials, and the Republic of Gilead. (Alternet; 12/6/25) READMORE>>>> Would Jesus Belong to MAGA? Evangelical Christian support for President Donald Trump has been above 80% in three straight elections. Evangelicals make up the largest constituency of *maga. And they maintain a determined message that they are true followers of Jesus. This suggests the question, “Would Jesus Belong to maga?” The best way I have found to approach my rather unusual question is to investigate in a manner analogous to these religious/political parties of the Gospels. I think it will be illustrative to concentrate on how, why, and under what circumstances Jesus interacted with the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and Zealots. I have excluded the Essenes from the discussion due to their withdrawal from secular life and politics (Rolling Stone 11/24/25) READMORE>>>> The Court Case That Could Blow the Roof Off Political Spending A vocal Christian nationalist minority has been working for two decades to overturn a vital federal law that safeguards our democracy and elections. After countless failures, they may finally succeed by colluding with Donald Trump’s government. A federal court is hearing arguments on Tuesday about whether to approve a settlement between Trump’s IRS and two churches represented by Michael Farris, who sued the IRS, arguing that religious freedom means churches should be able to use their tax exemptions to benefit partisan political campaigns. Farris is a fervent Christian nationalist. He’s the former head of the Alliance Defending Freedom and founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association and also Patrick Henry College — all notable for their advancement of Christian nationalism. The settlement Farris is proposing with Acting IRS Commissioner Steve Bessent would declare that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional and prohibit the government from enforcing the rule. This would effectively neuter a crucial safeguard and turn American churches into unregulated, unaccountable Super PACs. It could make Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that gave wealthy donors and corporations enormous political influence, look tame by comparison. For all the venom directed at the Johnson Amendment, it’s pretty simple: Charitable giving should fund charitable work, not political campaigns. Nonprofits, including churches, are eligible for tax exemptions. Tax exemption is a privilege, not a right. And the government can attach strings to that privilege. One string is the Johnson Amendment. It prevents 501(c)(3) charities from endorsing or opposing political candidates. That’s it. (Rolling Stone 11/24/25) READMORE>>>> Who can tame Trump? An unlikely candidate is emerging: the Catholic church The supreme court can’t do it – it’s packed with conservatives who owe him their jobs. Congress won’t do it – Republicans slavishly follow his orders, Democrats are ill-led and divided. For today’s White House, the concept of constitutional limits on executive power is a quaint relic. The news media, or sections of it, does its best amid constant legal threats. But, too often, they pay him off. Brave reporters who insist on asking awkward questions are insulted or silenced: “Quiet, piggy.” So who will tame Donald Trump? Who will halt his rolling constitutional coup – his ongoing evisceration of US democracy, civil rights, living standards, global reputation and moral integrity? Voters may try to indirectly rein him back in next November’s midterms (as they did recently in New York and elsewhere). But those elections are a year away. The emergency is today. (The Guardian 11/23/25) READMORE>>>> Let’s get this one thing clear When I talk with conservative friends about immigration in America, the line I most often hear justifying President Donald Trump’s deportation bonanza is that all these people are criminals by virtue of being here without authorization. This reminds me of why my mother never learned to swim: Her father insisted she could not swim because she had not taken swim lessons. But in order to take swim lessons, you have to get in the water. He set up a no-win demand that kept her out of the pool her entire life. The United States has a broken immigration system that both Republicans and Democrats have refused to address even when they have had the power to do so unilaterally. The broken system benefits both parties politically. That’s cynical and disgusting. (Baptist News Global; 11/19/25) READMORE>>>> 'Poisonous to the church': Ex-Republican highlights pope's reluctant stand against Trump Pope Leo XIV doesn't want to be the anti-Donald Trump but he is, according to a conservative Sunday. New York Times columnist David French, a former writer for the conservative National Review, wrote an article on Sunday called, "Pope Leo Doesn’t Want to Be the Anti-Trump. But He Is," in which he argues that "the path past Trumpism is beginning to emerge." Clarifying that statement, the columnist argued, "I did not and do not mean that the pope will somehow enable the defeat of any particular politician or program at the ballot box." (Raw Story 11/16/25) READMORE>>>> Chris Hedges: The US Banana Republic El Presidente Trump is cast in the mold of all tinpot Latin American despots who terrorize their populations, surround themselves with sycophants, goons and crooks, and enrich themselves — Trump and his family have amassed more than $1.8 billion in cash and gifts from leveraging the presidency — while erecting tawdry monuments to themselves. “Trujillo on Earth, God in Heaven” — Trujillo en la tierra, Dios en el cielo — was posted by state order in churches during the 31-year reign of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. His supporters, like Trump’s, nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump’s con artist pastor, Paula White-Cain, offered an updated version of Trujillo’s self-deification when she warned, “To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God.” Trump is the gringo version of Anastasio “Tachito” Somoza in Nicaragua or Haiti’s François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, who amended the constitution to have himself anointed “President for Life.” One of the most celebrated images of the Haitian dictator’s long rule shows Jesus Christ with a hand on the shoulder of a seated Papa Doc, with the caption, “I have chosen him.” (Consortium News 11/12/25) READMORE>>>> Presidency denies Trump effect on NGX sell-offs as CAN seeks end to genocide The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern states has affirmed that the killings of Christians in Northern Nigeria amount to genocide, adding that the denial of Christian genocide is an injustice to victims and the faith community This is as the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Tax Policy and Fiscal Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, yesterday dismissed claims that the recent sell-off in the Nigerian capital market was triggered by foreign investors reacting to U.S. President, Donald Trump’s comments about Nigeria. Speaking on Channels Television’s Business Morning, Oyedele explained that the fluctuations in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) were part of normal market cycles rather than politically driven sell-offs. (The Guardian 11/13/25) READMORE>>>> How Christian Nationalism Is Shaping Trump’s Foreign Policy Toward Africa After threatening last weekend to go “guns-a-blazing” into Nigeria in defense of Christian Nigerians, President Donald Trump has ended protection for another group facing violence and political instability. On Wednesday, the Trump administration terminated temporary protected status shielding immigrants from South Sudan from deportation, even though the African nation has faced escalating violence, political instability, and food insecurity in recent weeks. The announcement stands in stark contrast to another recent decision from the administration to give Afrikaners priority for asylum, even as the State Department moved to severely limit refugee admission to the United States. The president has justified prioritizing white South Africans by spreading misleading claims about the persecution and killings of white farmers. While Trump’s immigration and foreign policy stances in relation to these three countries may seem disjointed, experts on white supremacy and Christian nationalism told The Intercept that it all fit into the white Christian nationalist playbook. Trump’s strategy feeds into his base’s fears over immigration and demographic change while positioning the president as a defender of Christian values. (The Intercept 11/8/25) READMORE>>>> Netanyahu once decried ‘daylight’ with Washington, but now he tolerates Trump’s glare When Benjamin Netanyahu met with Donald Trump in February, the Israeli prime minister’s first meeting with the president in his second term, he made clear that he hoped the days of “daylight” between the two countries were gone. “When Israel and the United States don’t work together, that creates problems,” Netanyahu said then. “When the other side sees daylight between us — and occasionally, in the last few years, to put it mildly, they saw daylight – then it’s more difficult.” The dig was at US President Joe Biden and the differences the Democrat and Netanyahu had over Israel’s conduct of its war with Hamas in Gaza. (Times of Israel 11/1/25) READMORE>>>> The Gospel of Donald: Flipping Through The MAGA Translation Bible A previously undiscovered version of the Christian scriptures was recently unearthed during renovations of a Mar-a-Lago bathroom. This new ‘MAGA Translation’ contains the ‘Gospel According to Don,’ ‘Book of 2 Republicans, and of course, ‘Insurrections.’ The text’s genesis is said to be around the time of the 2016 Presidential Campaign, just after Donald Trump secured the GOP nomination. They now comprise the sacred text of millions of white Evangelicals, tired of the restrictive demands of a compassionate, generous, loving Savior and looking for a Jesus-free Christianity.. (The Beautiful Mess 11/1/25) READMORE>>>> Analysis: Are you a ‘real Christian’? That depends on how you define Christianity President Donald Trump didn’t intend to spark a theological debate in his message following a brutal attack against a Michigan Latter-day Saint congregation in what he called “yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.”.But during a week of great sorrow, some online commentators couldn’t help but weigh in and try to correct the president — asserting he was indeed mistaken in labeling this body of grieving believers “Christian.” At the same time, many Latter-day Saints expressed appreciation for the president using an identifier they themselves embraced. (Deseret News 10/18/25) READMORE>>>> Pastor Doug Wilson exhorts Trump to accept Gospel amid fleeting glory: 'Just ask Him' Pastor Douglas Wilson penned an open letter to President Donald Trump this week, exhorting him to acknowledge the fleeting nature of worldly glory and accept the Gospel. Wilson, who serves as senior pastor at Christ Church (CREC) in Moscow, Idaho, added his voice to the chorus of Christians who have expressed concern for the president's soul after he seemed to question his salvation earlier this week." I don't think there's anything going to get me in Heaven," Trump told a reporter Sunday on Air Force One regarding whether bringing peace to the Middle East might earn him a place in paradise. "I think I'm maybe not Heaven-bound. I may be in Heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make Heaven." (Christian Post 10/16/25) READMORE>>>> Trump's talk of heaven and hate tests his evangelical followers The MAGA movement has spent the better part of the past decade trying to portray their leader as a Christ-like figure with a loving heart. But Donald Trump’s recent musings on hatred and his prospects for making it to heaven appear to be testing his evangelical followers. Effectively portraying Trump —an authoritarian who embraces violence and was found liable for sex abuse — as a picture of religiosity has always been a difficult task for his followers. However, the president has largely leaned into the rhetoric portraying him as evangelicals’ savior, even hawking his own Trump-branded Bibles. (MSNBC 10/14/25) READMORE>>>> 
The Christian implications of Trump’s statement are damning, to say the least. Despite professing Christianity, Trump rejects a direct command from Jesus himself to love one’s enemies, and doesn’t appear to feel any shame or embarrassment at admitting it. Cheering Trump’s hatred is tantamount to cheering Trump’s corruption and abuse because hatred is at the root of his administration’s poisonous tree. --David French
Trump's talk of heaven and hate tests his evangelical followers The MAGA movement has spent the better part of the past decade trying to portray their leader as a Christ-like figure with a loving heart. But Donald Trump’s recent musings on hatred and his prospects for making it to heaven appear to be testing his evangelical followers. Effectively portraying Trump — an authoritarian who embraces violence and was found liable for sex abuse — as a picture of religiosity has always been a difficult task for his followers. However, the president has largely leaned into the rhetoric portraying him as evangelicals’ savior, even hawking his own Trump-branded Bibles. (Yahoo 10/13/25) READMORE>>>> Christians must decide whether to follow Trump or Jesus | Opinion Last Sunday, at a packed stadium, Erika Kirk and Donald Trump gave opposite messages. She declared forgiveness for the assassin who murdered her husband, Charlie Kirk. “I forgive him,” she told the crowd to sustained applause. “I forgive him because it was what Christ did. ... The answer to hate is not hate.” She added: “The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies …” President Donald Trump contradicted her. “I’m sorry, Erika,” he said. “I hate my opponent[s], and I don’t want the best for them.” (Newport News 9/27/25) READMORE>>>> Trump task force report says Biden administration discriminated against Christians During his campaign to return to the White House, Donald Trump promised to return Christians to power and prominence in American life and to root out any anti-Christian policies in the federal government. Not long after taking office, Trump ordered cabinet members to form a task force to eliminate anti-Christian bias in their departments. “My Administration will not tolerate anti-Christian weaponization of government or unlawful conduct targeting Christians,” Trump wrote in an executive order dated Feb. 6. (Religion News 9/8/25) READMORE>>>>> US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth part of Christian nationalist faith that just moved closer to power When Pete Hegseth was nominated as US President Donald Trump's secretary of defense and was facing his confirmation hearing, he had to answer questions about his lack of leadership experience, allegations of abuse and his views on women in the military. Mr Hegseth strongly denied the abuse allegations and eventually survived the hearing, becoming only the second cabinet nominee in the country's history to be confirmed after a 50-50 tie. It was Vice-President JD Vance's vote that broke the deadlock and sent Mr Hegseth to the Pentagon. (abc.net 9/5/25) READMORE>>>>> Trump's evangelical base sick of him blaming Dems for issue they say plagues both parties In his blistering commentaries on his show "Real Time," political comedian Bill Maher often makes it clear that he considers antisemitism a problem on both the left (specially, what he calls the "woke" left) and the right. Maher, in one of his biting jokes, commented, "I'm old enough to remember when it was the conservatives who hated the Jews." The Trump administration, meanwhile, is vowing to confront antisemitism on college campuses. But according to reporting from Jewish Insider, some evangelical Christians fear that President Donald Trump and his allies are focusing too heavily on the left while glossing over antisemitism on the right. "President Donald Trump came into office with a promise to make tackling antisemitism a priority of his second term," Jewish insider reports in an article published on August 13. "So far, the focus of that effort has been almost exclusively on addressing left-wing and Islamist antisemitism, primarily tied to anti-Israel extremism — while leaving out antisemitism emerging from the political right. Now, a group of staunch Trump allies from within the evangelical Christian community is urging Republicans to also focus on countering what they describe as a growing threat of antisemitism from within their own camp." AlterNet 8/13/25) READMORE>>>>> Trump’s Christian Nationalists’ Apocalyptic Dreams, Are America’s Nightmares Apocalyptic visions are no longer confined to conferences of far-right organizations, End Times novels, small fringe obscure churches, and on movie theater and television screens. These days they are finding a home embedded in the War Room at Donald Trump’s White House. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 “calls for establishing a government that would be imbued with ‘biblical principles’ and run by a president who holds sweeping executive powers,” the Charles F. Kettering Foundation’s Maura Casey pointed out in an August 19, 2024 piece, headlined “Project 2025: The Blueprint for Christian Nationalist Regime Change.” Casey added: “Christian nationalism believes that the Christian Bible, as God’s infallible law, should be the basis of government and have primacy over public and private institutions. Its patriarchal view does not recognize gender equality or gay rights and sanctions discrimination based on religious beliefs. (Dissident Voice 8/7/25) READMORE>>>>> Trump Energizes Conservative Christians With New Religious Policies In his first half-year in office — amid his tariff campaign, government-slashing moves, and immigration crackdown — President Donald Trump has also repeatedly delivered for conservative Christians, who form the bedrock of his Republican support. While he has made overtures to Jewish, Muslim, and other religious groups, his Christian supporters have been among his most high-profile surrogates and appointees. The Trump administration has green-lit political endorsements from the pulpit and encouraged religion in the federal workplace. Trump has established faith-focused entities with numerous influential Christian appointees. He’s energized supporters with assaults on cultural and academic targets long seen as liberal bastions. His administration and his Supreme Court appointees have expanded areas for religious exemptions and expression in the public square. (Word and Way 8/7/25) READMORE>>>>> Why Evangelicals Couldn’t Care Less About Trump’s Epstein Scandal In October 2016, when an audio recording surfaced of Donald Trump bragging to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush that he could kiss and grope the genitals of any woman he pleased because he was a star, one of America’s most venerated evangelical scholars withdrew his endorsement of Trump’s presidential run. It’s impossible to overstate the impact of Wayne Grudem’s reversal. Pastors, theologians, and academics revered the Harvard and Cambridge-educated ethicist, co-founder of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and translator of the English Standard Version of the Bible. Just three months before the tape was released, Grudem had penned an essay for the politically conservative publication Town Hall titled “Why Voting for Donald Trump Is a Morally Good Choice.” In it, he wrote, “I did not support Trump in the primary season. I even spoke against him at a pastors’ conference in February. But now I plan to vote for him. I do not think it is right to call him an ‘evil candidate.’ I think rather he is a good candidate with flaws.” His first reason justifying this support was what Clinton would do to the Supreme Court. Three months later, after the tapes were released, he told the same publication that Trump’s remarks were “morally evil.” (Mother Jones 8/8/25) READMORE>>>>> Gentile Giants: Trump energizes conservative Christians with new religious policies In his first half-year in office — amid his tariff campaign, government-slashing moves and immigration crackdown — President Donald Trump has also repeatedly delivered for conservative Christians, who form the bedrock of his Republican support. While he has made overtures to Jewish, Muslim and other religious groups, his Christian supporters have been among his most high-profile surrogates and appointees. The Trump administration has green-lit political endorsements from the pulpit and encouraged religion in the federal workplace. Trump has established faith-focused entities with numerous influential Christian appointees. He’s energized supporters with assaults on cultural and academic targets long seen as liberal bastions. His administration and his Supreme Court appointees have expanded areas for religious exemptions and expression in the public square. (Parkersburg News & Sentinel 8/8/25) READMORE>>>>> Trump misleads West Virginians regarding drug prices for seniors Over three-fourths of West Virginians are Christians. And over a fourth go to religious services regularly. Many are older evangelicals. President Donald Trump’s general lack of honesty (and morality) has been clear from the start, and yet nationally 80% of evangelicals support him. Many of these evangelicals are seniors, concerned with drug costs — as well they should be. But Trump is attempting to restrict efforts to reduce their prescription drug costs, which is the opposite of what older West Virginians want. Via a recent executive order, Trump is now trying to do away with a program set up a few years ago by Congress to lower drug costs for seniors. Per one advocacy group, “This (executive order) would permit drug manufacturers to set prices unchecked for an additional four years, boosting industry profits at the expense of Medicare and Part D enrollees.” But he is telling the public the opposite — that the Biden administration is somehow to blame, and he is fixing the problem. (West Virginia Watch 8/6/25) READMORE>>>>> Close to Home: Christian nationalists on the march Enabled by the Trump administration and the U.S. Supreme Court, Christian nationalists, those who believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation, are surging right now, pressing their case to eviscerate the First Amendment and the separation of church and state. The notion that church and state should be discrete entities was a novel idea late in the 18th century when the new nation was being formed. The founders were well aware of the religious conflicts that had roiled England and Europe — the Wars of Religion in France and the English Revolution — and they wanted to avoid that kind of contestation. In addition, they confronted the extraordinary religious diversity in the colonies, from Baptists and Congregationalists in New England to Quakers, Dutch Reformed, Presbyterians and Jews in the Middle Colonies. If the United States were to establish a state religion, which would it be? (Press Democrat 8/3/25) READMORE>>>>> Trump Administration Lets Federal Employees Promote Religion at Work Federal employees can talk about and promote their religion at work, the Trump Administration said in new guidance released on Monday. The memo, from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), outlines examples of “permissible religious expression in the workplace.” It cites the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to religious freedom and prevents the government from favoring a particular religion. “Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a press release. “This guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are restoring constitutional freedoms and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not sidelined.” (Time 7/28/25) READMORE>>>>> Republicans rally behind Trump as US strikes Iranian nuclear sites, enters Israel-Iran war After the United States carried out coordinated strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday, several congressional Republicans praised President Donald Trump for bringing the country into Israel’s war with Iran, a move that has sparked fears of a broader regional conflict. Trump confirmed the attacks Saturday evening, saying American forces had “completely and fully obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear facilities. The Pentagon said the strikes targeted Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, using bunker-buster bombs dropped by B-2 stealth bombers and Tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. submarines, according to The Associated Press. (Christian Post 6/22/25) READ MORE>>>>> 
Opinion | The Christian argument for joining a "No Kings" protest against Donald Trump
“I don’t feel like a king,” President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers at the White House on Thursday in advance of the “No Kings” rallies happening around the country on Saturday. Lest you think the president was acknowledging the restraints on his power, it actually sounded more like he was bemoaning those constitutional guardrails and giving voice to kingly ambitions. He has made his kingly ambitions known on social media this year. “LONG LIVE THE KING!” he posted on Truth Social in February. The White House account on X upped the ante by posting an AI-generated image of a coronated Trump on the cover of Time magazine with the headline “LONG LIVE THE KING!” In March, he reposted an AI-generated image of a lion wearing a crown labeled MAGA with the caption “Kings!” (Yahoo 6/14/25) READ MORE>>>>> |
February 13, 2025: Winnepeg Free Press reported: Christianity is by far the largest faith in America, and Christian conservatives have a strong grip on the levers of government. That dominance is leaving many to question why President Donald Trump’s new task force on eradicating anti-Christian bias is needed. Critics see the task force initiative as unnecessary and pandering to Trump’s base. But some Christian supporters said it is overdue, claiming the Biden administration had discriminated against them through actions and inactions. The two-year task force, chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi and composed of Cabinet and other government representatives, is assigned to review and “identify any unlawful anti-Christian” actions under the Biden administration, change any objectionable policies and recommend steps to rectify any past failures.
February 14, 2025: Bitter Winter reported: President Trump’s executive order of February 6, 2024, ostensibly aims at cancelling discriminations and persecutions toward American Christians under the First Amendment to the Constitution.Under Amendment 1 to the federal Constitution, the US establishes freedom of religion, creed, or belief (FoRB) as the first political human right. Liberty of religion is in fact not only freedom to a private faith, but also—and with no mediation—the right to its public expression in all forms that do not violate positive and natural law. For this reason, the federal state cannot interfere in any form with religion. It cannot establish a federal state religion, it cannot favor one religious group (or a few) at the expense of others, it cannot curtail or deny the personal and public religious liberty of any member and any group, and it cannot violate its equidistance to all faiths.
February 18, 2025: Commonweal reported: Evangelical support for Donald Trump in the face of his many well-documented personal failings can no longer come as a surprise. Despite—or, in at least some cases, one suspects, because of—his numerous criminal indictments and thirty-four felony convictions in New York, exit polls found that around 82 percent of white evangelicals voted for the Trump/Vance ticket. This was in line with the roughly 80 percent who backed Trump in 2016 and 2020. A few commentators still cling to the argument that this support is not enthusiastic and that many evangelicals “hold their noses” when they cast their ballots for Trump. Still, when given the option of supporting bona fide evangelical Mike Pence in the 2024 Republican primary, they preferred Trump. And empirical research has cast doubt on the idea of the reluctant evangelical Trump voter. Political scientist Paul A. Djupe surveyed voters in 2016 and found that “evangelical feelings toward their standard bearer are statistically no different than others.... Evangelicals who voted for Trump felt the same warmth toward him as did other Trump voters.”
March 17, 2025: The Guardian reported: Christian evangelical organizations instrumental in creating the US program that has saved millions of lives from HIV/Aids are pressing the Trump administration to rescue the scheme from crushing cuts to foreign assistance. The state department has said that the two-decade-old President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), which is estimated to have prevented 25m early deaths, is exempt from the cancellation of most US overseas aid. But the program is heavily reliant on logistical support from the US Agency for International Development (USAid), which has seen most of its projects killed off.
ED NOTE: If they were so concerned they should not have voted for and campaigned for Donald Trump. March 4, 2025: Anglican Journal reported: Amid the rising international tensions and overwhelming flood of executive orders under the new Trump administration, it is the duty of Anglicans in Canada to speak up for the marginalized and vulnerable, says Canon Maggie Helwig, rector of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church in Toronto. In a phone interview she took while multitasking on preparations for the church’s homeless drop-in program, Helwig told the Anglican Journal her goal was to bring that message to her parish. “We need to keep speaking so that people understand that welcoming the stranger is a fundamental Christian value, so that people understand that vulnerable people—including trans people, who are being heavily targeted—are the people the church is most called to value and protect,” she says. Helwig is one of many Anglicans in Canada who are deeply concerned about the effects Trump’s presidency will have both in the United States and Canada. Like Helwig, Archbishop Anne Germond, acting primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, encourages Anglicans to speak up on behalf of marginalized people. Asked by the Journal what she thought Anglicans should bear in mind during the Trump administration’s early days, she encouraged those suffering and struggling to remember God has not abandoned them.
May 29, 2025: MSN Reported: A far-right political activist was fired from a senior leadership role at the Kennedy Center just hours after CNN started asking about his past anti-gay statements and conspiracy theories about Barack Obama. Floyd Brown, whose appointment to the role was never formally announced, previously called homosexuality “a punishment” against the U.S. and condemned the legality of gay sex, in addition to calling Obama a Muslim and questioning his birth certificate, and CNN's KFile reported that he was ousted after those past statements were publicized. January 2, 2024: Religion News Service Reported: The current dispute over former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to run for office poses a moral as well as a legal and political dilemma. While the Constitution, our sacred rulebook, indicates that he may have disqualified himself with his actions on and around Jan. 6, 2021, there’s a powerful sense that, in a democratic republic, it should be up to the voters to decide whether he did or not, or whether they want him for president anyway. At issue is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars from public office anyone who, having taken an oath to support the Constitution, “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
January 16, 2024: Breitbart reported: The Lincoln Project’s Tara Setmayer said on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that Evangelicals “failed this country” by “following their golden orange god,” referring to former President Donald Trump. Discussing a new anti-Trump ad released by her group, Setmayer said, “The target audience is actually everyone, because I think that at this point a lot of people are not paying attention. It’s not necessarily the MAGAs who are in the death cult, the religious Christian nationalists death cult, because obviously they’re unmovable.”
January 17, 2024: Brianne Pfannensteil (Des Moines Register) reported: Iowa Republicans credited stellar field operations with helping propel Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis in Monday’s GOP caucuses — sending Trump over the 50% threshold and boosting DeSantis ahead of rival Nikki Haley. Trump had downplayed expectations in Iowa in the days leading up to the caucuses, suggesting after months of boasting about his lead in the polls that he might not finish with a majority of support.
January 17, 2024: BollyInside reported: Former President Donald Trump received overwhelming support from Iowa Republicans in the nation’s first primary, solidifying his grip on the party despite facing numerous lawsuits and felony charges. Young Republican voters also showed increased support for Trump in 2024 compared to 2016. Since 2016, Trump has consolidated support among evangelical Christian voters, with evangelicals making up 53% of his supporters in the 2024 Iowa caucuses. This support can be attributed to a deal struck between church leaders and Trump in 2016, granting evangelicals institutional power in his administration in exchange for their support and endorsements.
January 21, 2024: OPB Reported: White evangelical Christians show no signs of backing away from Donald Trump. That appears to be one takeaway from Iowa's Republican caucuses, where the former president won a decisive victory over several challengers. In 2016, there was a lot of head-scratching about evangelical support for Trump - given his divorces, allegations of both extramarital affairs and sexual assault, and his insults toward women, immigrants, and others.
January 25, 2024: Christian Post reported: Christ is worthy of His Bride, the Church. And Christians, those who comprise the Church, owe our Groom an unapologetic and uncompromised commitment to His Word. This biblical worldview should be the blueprint of our lives, including our political postures — both in policy and messaging. A Christian vote for Trump is easily justified. In 2016, a large majority of Christians, myself included, voted for Trump as a means to an end. Considering the impending Supreme Court vacancies and Hillary Clinton as the alternative, Christians’ support for Trump was largely about the issues, not the person.
March 30, 2024: Christian Post reported: Former President Donald Trump's promotion during Holy Week of the leather-bound "God Bless the USA" Bible has prompted mixed reactions from Christian scholars and activists, drawing accusations he is inappropriately mixing politics and religion. In a statement posted to Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump displayed the Bible he's promoting with musician Lee Greenwood, whose song "God Bless the USA" often features during Trump's rallies. The Bible, which costs $59.99, features the King James Version and contains the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and the handwritten chorus to Greenwood's song.
July 24, 2024: Breathing Space reported: People are asking—Does Trump’s wounded head mark him as the Antichrist? The answer is no. And nobody else is the Antichrist, either.I don’t take apocalyptic literature in the Bible literally (I do, however, take it seriously). If I did take it literally, I might be persuaded that Trump is the Antichrist. When I was young, my parents raised me to interpret the events of the Book of Revelation as a literal prediction of future events. I must admit that occasionally my Fundamentalist side rears up and causes me to think that Trump is the perfect candidate for the Antichrist. (
August 27, 2024: AlterNet reported: Donald Trump — the former president responsible for the end of Roe v. Wade — last week claimed in a post published to Truth Social that if he wins the White House in November, he will turn into a reproductive rights advocate. "My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights," he wrote, worrying staunch pro-life Republicans, like Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence. NPR noted that the ex-MAGA official "called Trump’s comments 'concerning,'" and, "In a statement to the National Review, Pence said, 'The former President’s use of the language of the Left, pledging that his administration would be ‘great for women and their reproductive rights’ should be concerning for millions of pro-life Americans.'
 Mckay Coppins
To understand the evolving psychology and beliefs of Trump’s religious supporters, I attempted to review every prayer offered at his campaign events since he announced in November 2022 that he would run again. Working with a researcher, I compiled 58 in total, the most recent from June 2024. The resulting document—at just over 17,000 words—makes for a strange, revealing religious text: benign in some places, blasphemous in others; contradictory and poignant and frightening and sad and, perhaps most of all, begging for exegesis.
There are many ways to parse the text. You could compare the number of times Trump’s name is mentioned (87) versus Jesus Christ’s (61). You could break down the demographics of the people leading the prayers: 45 men and 13 women; overwhelmingly evangelical, with disproportionate representation from Pentecostalism, a charismatic branch of Christianity that emphasizes supernatural faith healing and speaking in tongues. One might also be tempted to catalog the most comically incendiary lines (“Oh Lord, our Lord, we want to be awake and not woke”). But the most interesting way to look at these prayers is to examine the theological motifs that run through them. The scripture verse that’s cited most frequently in the prayers comes from 2 Chronicles. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Ryan Burge, a Baptist minister and political scientist I asked to review the prayers, told me that this verse—which is quoted 10 times—is regularly cited by evangelicals to advance a popular conservative-Christian narrative: that America, like ancient Israel before it, has broken its special covenant with God and is suffering the consequences. “The Old Testament prophets they’re quoting talk about sin collectively instead of individually—the nation has fallen into wickedness and needs healing,” Burge said. “The way they use this verse presupposes that we’re spiraling down the tubes.” -McKay Coppins; The Atlantic; The Most Revealing Moment of a Trump Rally; September 2024 October 1, 2024: Politi-zoom reported: If Franklin Graham appears to be giving the old side eye to ex-resident dotard in the photo above, it may be because drumpf loudly took credit for Graham’s charitable organization, Samaritan’s Purse, rolling truckloads of Hurricane relief supplies into town during their appearance in Valdosta, Georgia yesterday. In addition to slandering President Biden by accusing him of not doing his utmost to provide relief, Trump first stated that he brought the truckloads of supplies himself, while camera were rolling, before later in his statement credited Graham with doing so. Of course right wing news sources amplified Trump’s original claim while ignoring his later demurral: Just a few days ago, Trump started using the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to hold political events and attack his political opponents. In a press release on Sunday, the Trump campaign stated Trump would be visiting Valdosta, Georgia to “facilitate the distribution of relief supplies.”
“We will protect Christians in our schools and in our military and our government,” he said. “We will protect God in our public square. … I will protect the content that is pro-God.”
-Trump to national Religious Broadcasters Convention 2024 December 4, 2024: Religion News Service reported: The current dispute over former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to run for office poses a moral as well as a legal and political dilemma. While the Constitution, our sacred rulebook, indicates that he may have disqualified himself with his actions on and around Jan. 6, 2021, there’s a powerful sense that, in a democratic republic, it should be up to the voters to decide whether he did or not, or whether they want him for president anyway. At issue is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars from public office anyone who, having taken an oath to support the Constitution, “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
On the one hand, Francis’ emphasis on the importance of pastoral outreach would put him in the oikonomia camp, as he most recently showed himself to be in permitting priests to bless same-sex couples (while insisting on the rule that marriage is only for opposite-sex ones). Likewise, his embrace of democracy might lead him to recommend a relaxation of the strictures of Section 3. And yet he, like many of us, might wonder whether kicking Trump off the ballot would create worse consequences for democracy than his serving a second term. Both sets of consequences are hypothetical. Against a clear constitutional mandate, how much do hypotheticals weigh? --Mark Silk |
America's Christians should support the ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump
“I don’t feel like a king,” President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers at the White House on Thursday in advance of the “No Kings” rallies happening around the country on Saturday. Lest you think the president was acknowledging the restraints on his power, it actually sounded more like he was bemoaning those constitutional guardrails and giving voice to kingly ambitions. (MSNBC 6/14/25) READ MORE>>>>>
“I don’t feel like a king,” President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers at the White House on Thursday in advance of the “No Kings” rallies happening around the country on Saturday. Lest you think the president was acknowledging the restraints on his power, it actually sounded more like he was bemoaning those constitutional guardrails and giving voice to kingly ambitions. (MSNBC 6/14/25) READ MORE>>>>>
Faith in Trump’s White House: An open door to evangelical Christians
The Roosevelt Room echoes with a cappella hymns, voices rising like a revival tent under a starry sky. In the Cabinet Room, pastors proclaim prayers “in Jesus’s name,” invoking divine favor over a nation they believe has strayed. And in the Oval Office, hands stretch toward President Donald Trump, as evangelical leaders anoint him with Bible passages about kings established by God. This isn’t a megachurch in Tulsa or a tent meeting in rural Georgia. This is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and in Trump’s second term, it’s becoming a cathedral of conservative Christianity. (Washington Times 6/13/25) READ MORE>>>>>
The Roosevelt Room echoes with a cappella hymns, voices rising like a revival tent under a starry sky. In the Cabinet Room, pastors proclaim prayers “in Jesus’s name,” invoking divine favor over a nation they believe has strayed. And in the Oval Office, hands stretch toward President Donald Trump, as evangelical leaders anoint him with Bible passages about kings established by God. This isn’t a megachurch in Tulsa or a tent meeting in rural Georgia. This is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and in Trump’s second term, it’s becoming a cathedral of conservative Christianity. (Washington Times 6/13/25) READ MORE>>>>>
Trump posts meme saying he’s ‘on a mission from God’ featuring alt-right symbol Pepe the Frog
Co-opting a famous phrase from the 1980 John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd classic The Blues Brothers, Donald Trump posted a cryptic meme on Wednesday night declaring that he is “on a mission from God” which also features an alt-right symbol in the background. Showing the president walking down a dark city street, the image includes the caption “nothing can stop what is coming.” While the meme itself could be interpreted as the president’s response to the U.S. Court of International Trade striking down the majority of his “Liberation Day” tariffs, it was the image’s inclusion of Pepe the Frog – and the fact that it originated from a “groyper” account – that has drawn the most attention. (MSN 5/29/25) READ MORE>>>>>
Co-opting a famous phrase from the 1980 John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd classic The Blues Brothers, Donald Trump posted a cryptic meme on Wednesday night declaring that he is “on a mission from God” which also features an alt-right symbol in the background. Showing the president walking down a dark city street, the image includes the caption “nothing can stop what is coming.” While the meme itself could be interpreted as the president’s response to the U.S. Court of International Trade striking down the majority of his “Liberation Day” tariffs, it was the image’s inclusion of Pepe the Frog – and the fact that it originated from a “groyper” account – that has drawn the most attention. (MSN 5/29/25) READ MORE>>>>>
May 1, 2023: Raw Story reported: Allies of former President Donald Trump, including Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, are backing a far-right Christian group designed to keep evangelicals in the former president's camp for 2024 — but more mainstream Christian denominations are standing up and fighting back, reported
The Guardian on Monday. The group, Pastors for Trump, is drawing sharp rebukes from mainstream Christian leaders for being extremist, distorting Christian teachings and endangering American democracy, by fueling the spread of Christian nationalism," reported Peter Stone. "The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based evangelical pastor and businessman Jackson Lahmeyer leads the fledgling Pastors for Trump organization. Lahmeyer told the Guardian it boasts over 7,000 pastors as members and that he will unveil details about its plans on 11 May at the Trump National Doral in Miami, an event Trump will be invited to attend."
The Guardian on Monday. The group, Pastors for Trump, is drawing sharp rebukes from mainstream Christian leaders for being extremist, distorting Christian teachings and endangering American democracy, by fueling the spread of Christian nationalism," reported Peter Stone. "The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based evangelical pastor and businessman Jackson Lahmeyer leads the fledgling Pastors for Trump organization. Lahmeyer told the Guardian it boasts over 7,000 pastors as members and that he will unveil details about its plans on 11 May at the Trump National Doral in Miami, an event Trump will be invited to attend."
May 11, 2023: CBN reported: Jordan Peterson has backed Donald Trump to secure election success, but admits he is not his “preferred” candidate. The former US President is surging in the polls when it comes to the Republican nomination, but whether he is more popular than the incumbent remains to be seen.
Terry Amann
“If he can extract himself from the legal morass that he's in, he'll be a force to be reckoned with. But it just remains to be seen how that's all going to go.............I would say they've learned from the first and second go-around. I'd say they're very highly organized and structured, and I think they'll be impressive.” --Pastor Terry Amann on Donald Trump & his campaign in Iowa 7.7.23
Now if you are a QAnon believer, this all fits together: America is controlled by the pedophile satanists of the Democratic Party. Trump will liberate their victims (presumably in chains awaiting their destruction by blood-drinking global cabalists) and with them their country. And the 45th president has never lifted a finger to disabuse these people of their dangerous and psychotic delusions.
But even among the uninitiated, the Trump-trafficking nexus can be seductive. Human trafficking has been a major preoccupation of conservative evangelicals in recent years, perhaps as an undeniably worthy target of those whose all-purpose sexual puritanism is no longer fashionable. So Trump’s identification of trafficking with lax Democratic policies and promises to save children resonate, making this cruel man a liberating “Moses” figure.
Before Trump and his conservative evangelical fans get too comfortable with this idea, they might want to read their Bibles (or in Trump’s case, have someone read to him from their Bibles) and recall Moses’s ultimate fate. After leading the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt, Moses was barred from entering the Promised Land because of his willful defiance of an edict from God. Instead a younger successor, Joshua, took over leadership of his people. Lord knows Trump is a willful defier of every godly law, and right now younger MAGA conservatives (e.g., the 44-year-old Ron DeSantis and the 37-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy) are bidding to succeed him. Maybe King Cyrus is a safer role model for the former president after all.
--Ed Kilgore; Intelligencer; ‘New Moses’ Is the Latest Sign of the Christian Right’s Trump Confusion Trump used to be their unwitting agent of God. Now he’s a religious leader? 7.23.23
But even among the uninitiated, the Trump-trafficking nexus can be seductive. Human trafficking has been a major preoccupation of conservative evangelicals in recent years, perhaps as an undeniably worthy target of those whose all-purpose sexual puritanism is no longer fashionable. So Trump’s identification of trafficking with lax Democratic policies and promises to save children resonate, making this cruel man a liberating “Moses” figure.
Before Trump and his conservative evangelical fans get too comfortable with this idea, they might want to read their Bibles (or in Trump’s case, have someone read to him from their Bibles) and recall Moses’s ultimate fate. After leading the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt, Moses was barred from entering the Promised Land because of his willful defiance of an edict from God. Instead a younger successor, Joshua, took over leadership of his people. Lord knows Trump is a willful defier of every godly law, and right now younger MAGA conservatives (e.g., the 44-year-old Ron DeSantis and the 37-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy) are bidding to succeed him. Maybe King Cyrus is a safer role model for the former president after all.
--Ed Kilgore; Intelligencer; ‘New Moses’ Is the Latest Sign of the Christian Right’s Trump Confusion Trump used to be their unwitting agent of God. Now he’s a religious leader? 7.23.23
Donald Trump
“I will implement strong ideological screening of all immigrants. If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you don’t like our religion (which a lot of them don’t), if you sympathize with jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country and you are not getting in.”
-Donald Trump at New Hampshire Rally 8/28/23
-Donald Trump at New Hampshire Rally 8/28/23
David Conde
The four indictments of Trump is encouraging the notions of his potential role as the Antichrist that many believe is a prominent element of the last days. This is because, as the threat of conviction and imprisonment become a probability, the authoritarian style he exhibits requires his followers to carry out acts of loyalty and exaggerated devotion to his persona.
Many Evangelical Christians believe that this practice is idol worship and a person-centered cult mentality. It convinces some that Christ is being replaced by Donald Trump.
During my childhood practice of Evangelical Christianity I was taught that the every individual in the congregation needed to develop a personal relationship with God. This relationship was expressed in testimony before the membership in church services.
The relationship was not to be interrupted by outside influences because they could lead a person away from the covenant. In this regard, it is ironic that Evangelical church leaders are exposing believers to outside guidance that can lead to potential alternatives to Christ. A major consequence of this is the exposure to people that seek to substitute themselves in place of what one holds most sacred. In this sense Donald Trump can be a criminal, go to jail and be considered a martyr. Question for Trump Evangelicals. Where is Jesus in this? -David Conde; LaVoz Colorado; Evangelicals new take on inmate #PO1135809 8/30/23
Many Evangelical Christians believe that this practice is idol worship and a person-centered cult mentality. It convinces some that Christ is being replaced by Donald Trump.
During my childhood practice of Evangelical Christianity I was taught that the every individual in the congregation needed to develop a personal relationship with God. This relationship was expressed in testimony before the membership in church services.
The relationship was not to be interrupted by outside influences because they could lead a person away from the covenant. In this regard, it is ironic that Evangelical church leaders are exposing believers to outside guidance that can lead to potential alternatives to Christ. A major consequence of this is the exposure to people that seek to substitute themselves in place of what one holds most sacred. In this sense Donald Trump can be a criminal, go to jail and be considered a martyr. Question for Trump Evangelicals. Where is Jesus in this? -David Conde; LaVoz Colorado; Evangelicals new take on inmate #PO1135809 8/30/23
September 21, 2023: MSNBC reported: At this year’s edition of Pray Vote Stand, the Christian right’s most influential political gathering, activists previewed their campaign to further cement Trump’s Christianization of the federal bench. The Center for Judicial Renewal, which is run by the political arm of the far-right American Family Association, presented a list of lawyers and judges who it says adhere to “Christian faith” and a “biblical worldview,” according to a report by Peter Montgomery at People For the American Way’s Right Wing Watch. The list includes Kristen Waggoner, Supreme Court litigator and president of the Christian right legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom; current federal appellate judges James Ho, Kyle Duncan and Lawrence VanDyke; and current and former deans of the nation’s top evangelical law schools at Regent University and Liberty University. If Republicans regain the White House and the Senate in 2024, they will have additional opportunities to further one of Trump’s top achievements in the eyes of his loyal evangelical base: stacking
the federal courts with Christian nationalist ideologues
the federal courts with Christian nationalist ideologues
Scot Loyd
Donald Trump once famously claimed that even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York City, his supporters wouldn’t abandon him. A recent survey by CBS News suggests he might be right. The survey, conducted during the week of August 16th, 2023, focused on people likely to vote for Trump in the Republican Presidential Primaries. It found that these voters trust Trump’s words more than other sources like conservative media, religious leaders, or even their own friends and family. This strong support for Trump doesn’t surprise me anymore, but it still disappoints me that many American evangelicals continue to back him in his third run for the Presidency.
Like 2016 and 2020, when about 80% of evangelicals reportedly voted for Trump, it appears that a significant number of them are again planning to support him in 2024. And now as Trump takes a commanding lead in the GOP Primary polls, even among four criminal indictments to date, I’m reminded of a question an ancient leader asked Jesus: “What is truth?” Jesus, the embodiment of truth, was asked this by Pontius Pilate, and unlike some American Christians and most politicians today who claim to follow him, Jesus didn’t feel the need to defend himself. The disposition of Jesus contrasts sharply with the behavior of many of his supposed followers in American evangelicalism.
For instance, Russell Moore of Christianity Today recently spoke with NPR and expressed his frustration with the current state of GOP politics that are so closely aligned with evangelicalism. Moore reported that many pastors citing the Sermon on the Mount in their sermons would then have those messages dismissed by some parishioners as “liberal talking points.” Considering this admission and the CBS News Poll results, it seems that many Trump supporters trust Trump’s words more than they do the teachings and example of Jesus.
I believe most of the people who support Trump mean well, but they’ve been influenced by years of fear-driven messages. These messages have convinced them that their faith, status, and safety are under threat. These perceived threats are often categorized as an “attack on religious liberty,” which politicians use to rally support for themselves or their policies. This is true for Trump and those who share his views. They tap into the fears of white majorities who feel their power is diminishing amidst changing American demographics.
-Scot Loyd Sept 2023
Like 2016 and 2020, when about 80% of evangelicals reportedly voted for Trump, it appears that a significant number of them are again planning to support him in 2024. And now as Trump takes a commanding lead in the GOP Primary polls, even among four criminal indictments to date, I’m reminded of a question an ancient leader asked Jesus: “What is truth?” Jesus, the embodiment of truth, was asked this by Pontius Pilate, and unlike some American Christians and most politicians today who claim to follow him, Jesus didn’t feel the need to defend himself. The disposition of Jesus contrasts sharply with the behavior of many of his supposed followers in American evangelicalism.
For instance, Russell Moore of Christianity Today recently spoke with NPR and expressed his frustration with the current state of GOP politics that are so closely aligned with evangelicalism. Moore reported that many pastors citing the Sermon on the Mount in their sermons would then have those messages dismissed by some parishioners as “liberal talking points.” Considering this admission and the CBS News Poll results, it seems that many Trump supporters trust Trump’s words more than they do the teachings and example of Jesus.
I believe most of the people who support Trump mean well, but they’ve been influenced by years of fear-driven messages. These messages have convinced them that their faith, status, and safety are under threat. These perceived threats are often categorized as an “attack on religious liberty,” which politicians use to rally support for themselves or their policies. This is true for Trump and those who share his views. They tap into the fears of white majorities who feel their power is diminishing amidst changing American demographics.
-Scot Loyd Sept 2023
Some of Donald Trump 's top rivals for the Republican presidential nomination addressed a large gathering of influential Iowa evangelical Christians on Saturday night, hoping to woo them away from the former president at an event he is skipping.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was attending the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual banquet and town hall in Des Moines along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Also speaking were Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, as well as Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd.“Once again it starts in Iowa and it depends on you,” Republican Iowa Gov. Reynolds told the crowd. “Are you ready to take our country back?”
The crowd of more than 1,000 also heard Iowa Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson play “Amazing Grace” on her violin with many singing along. It featured many devout and well-connected social conservatives whose ranks are large enough to play a decisive role in Iowa's first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses in January. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz used strong appeals to evangelical Republicans to win the GOP's 2016 caucuses.This time, however, Trump's rivals face a much tougher task as he has built a large early GOP primary lead. That's despite his skipping the event and many of the gatherings that attract most of the other candidates. He's also remained popular with evangelical Christians and social conservatives in Iowa and elsewhere who were delighted to see his three picks for the U.S. Supreme Court vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision last year and erase a federally guaranteed right to abortion.
“No president has ever fought for Christians as hard as I have, and I will keep fighting for Christians as hard as I can for four more years in the White House,” Trump said at the Family Research Council’s annual Pray Vote Stand conference in Washington on Friday night. He added, "Every promise I made to Christians as a candidate, I delivered.” --News-Press Now; Trump skips Iowa gathering of evangelical Christians. His rivals hope for a chance to gain ground 9.16.23
Former Vice President Mike Pence was attending the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual banquet and town hall in Des Moines along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Also speaking were Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, as well as Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd.“Once again it starts in Iowa and it depends on you,” Republican Iowa Gov. Reynolds told the crowd. “Are you ready to take our country back?”
The crowd of more than 1,000 also heard Iowa Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson play “Amazing Grace” on her violin with many singing along. It featured many devout and well-connected social conservatives whose ranks are large enough to play a decisive role in Iowa's first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses in January. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz used strong appeals to evangelical Republicans to win the GOP's 2016 caucuses.This time, however, Trump's rivals face a much tougher task as he has built a large early GOP primary lead. That's despite his skipping the event and many of the gatherings that attract most of the other candidates. He's also remained popular with evangelical Christians and social conservatives in Iowa and elsewhere who were delighted to see his three picks for the U.S. Supreme Court vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision last year and erase a federally guaranteed right to abortion.
“No president has ever fought for Christians as hard as I have, and I will keep fighting for Christians as hard as I can for four more years in the White House,” Trump said at the Family Research Council’s annual Pray Vote Stand conference in Washington on Friday night. He added, "Every promise I made to Christians as a candidate, I delivered.” --News-Press Now; Trump skips Iowa gathering of evangelical Christians. His rivals hope for a chance to gain ground 9.16.23
David Gushee
“I don’t think that—in the United States today—there is any other single figure who poses as big a threat to democracy and who has anything like the hold on people’s loyalty that we see in Donald Trump,” said Gushee in an interview this week about his new book. “Donald Trump will be a threat to American democracy for as long as he is alive. I think at this point he could be sent to prison and, even in his jail cell, millions of his followers would continue to support him...........That fine-tuning of the terminology used to describe this danger is one of the major points in Gushee’s new book that is intended to further develop warnings found in books by sociologists of religion that include:
- Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States by sociologists Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry
- American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church by Whitehead
- The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy by sociologist Philip S. Gorski with Perry as co-author.
October 4, 2023: NBC News reported: “School prayer is banned, but drag shows are allowed to permeate the whole place,” former President Donald Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference last year. “You can’t teach the Bible, but you can teach children that America is evil and that men are able to get pregnant.” In another speech this spring in North Carolina, Trump — the front-runner in polls for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination — marveled at the power of this new talking point to rile up supporters. “I talk about transgender,” he said, “everyone goes crazy.” Trump, like other GOP politicians, is tapping into an ascendent evangelical movement that rejects church-state separation as a false doctrine and views LGBTQ acceptance as a threat to America.
"We’re dealing with lots of different faiths, religions. And I felt for a long time that if a country doesn’t have religion, doesn’t have faith, doesn’t have God, it’s gonna be very hard to be a good country. You know, there's no reason to be good. I want to be good because you want to prove to God so you go to that next step, right? So that's very important to me." -Donald Trump; October 6, 2025
October 26, 2023: Newsweek reported: White Evangelicals More Open to Political Violence Than Non-Christians. Earlier this month, political analyst Brian Klass, a frequent Trump critic, warned that a "small subset" of the ex-president's supporters were "highly likely" to attempt to kill others before the 2024 presidential election. During an MSNBC appearance, Klass lamented the "normalcy and routine of Trump saying things that could get people killed."
October 29, 2023: The Wire reported: In 2017, when the US moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Donald Trump openly declared that it was done for Christian evangelists. “And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the evangelicals. You know, it’s amazing with that — the evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people. That’s right, it’s incredible,” Trump announced in August 2018. Although Israel considers Jerusalem as its capital, the world, however, treats it as an international city according to the UN Partition Plan.
November 20, 2023: MSNBC reported: GOP presidential candidates' appearance at a “Thanksgiving family forum” hosted by a Christian conservative group signals the far-right’s power — and more specifically, Christian nationalists’ power — over today’s Republican Party. Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis agreed to appear at the Family Leader's roundtable discussion in Iowa. Donald Trump was invited but did not attend. The reason for the front-runner's absence is unclear, though one possible motivation could be that Family Leader President Bob Vander Plaats has said it's time for someone to replace Trump as the party's de facto leader.
November 21, 2023: Just The News reported: "As a pastor in Iowa, I believe President Trump has demonstrated a profound understanding of the issues that are crucial to us," Crossroads Church Senior Pastor Joseph Hall said. More than 150 faith leaders in Iowa have thrown their support behind former President Donald Trump ahead of the state's primary contest, potentially helping him to shore up a key voting bloc in Hawkeye State.
Peter Wehner
"He demanded that the parent company of MSNBC and NBC be investigated for 'treason' over what he described as 'one-sided and vicious coverage'…. 'We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country — that lie and steal and cheat on elections,' Trump said toward the end of his speech in Claremont, New Hampshire. 'They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream......Trump's white evangelicals supporters remain loyal to him. "Trump's support among white evangelicals is still extremely high: 81 percent hold a favorable view of him, according to a poll taken in June — after Trump was indicted for a second time," "The evangelical movement in America has been reshaped by the sensibilities of Trump and MAGA World…. It is a rather remarkable indictment of those who claim to be followers of Jesus that they would continue to show fealty to a man whose cruel ethic has always been antithetical to Jesus' and becomes more so every day…. Far too many Christians in America are not only betraying their humanity; they are betraying the Lord they claim to love and serve."
-Peter Wehner; Have You Listened Lately to What Trump Is Saying? The Atlantic 11/22/23
-Peter Wehner; Have You Listened Lately to What Trump Is Saying? The Atlantic 11/22/23
David Gushee
“If evangelical gatekeepers can swallow keeping children in cages, mocking the Sermon on the Mount, and following leaders in thrall to Trumpist bigotry, why would anyone respect their discernment, value their praise, or fear their critique?”
― David P. Gushee, After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity
― David P. Gushee, After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity
November 24, 2023: Raw Story reported: Former President Donald Trump's support among Christians is by no means universal in the United States, where he has plenty of opponents who identify as Catholic or Mainline Protestant. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) and the Rev. Al Sharpton are Protestant ministers and scathing Trump critics; President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) are practicing Catholics who have nothing good to say about the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner. Yet Trump remains popular among a particular group within Christianity: far-right white evangelicals. If he wins the Republican presidential nomination next year, he will do it with a lot of help from that demographic.
November 24, 2023: Newsweek reported: In the heat of the Republican primary of 2016, then-White House hopeful Donald Trump called Iowa evangelical supporters of Senator Ted Cruz "so-called Christians" and began to believe there was a "conspiracy among powerful evangelicals," a new book says. The Guardian published excerpts from Atlantic reporter Tim Alberta's upcoming book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in a Time of Extremism, on Thursday that provided a behind-the-scenes look at Trump's response to the criticism he received nearly eight years ago when he named "Two Corinthians" as his favorite Bible verse instead of "Second Corinthians."
November 24, 2023: Newsweek reported: In response to Mike Johnson recently becoming the new House speaker, over 12,000 people have signed a Christian petition condemning the congressman as a "false prophet" among other Republican Party members.
Faithful America, an online Christian group that supports social justice causes, released their second-annual "False Prophets Don't Speak for Me" campaign featuring a list of top Christian-nationalist leaders in both church and politics along with a petition on Tuesday. The list, which in addition to Johnson, identifies former President Donald Trump, pastor Mark Burns, self-proclaimed prophet affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Julie Green, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, conservative activist and radio talk show host Charlie Kirk, pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, Texas' Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Archbishop Carlo Viganò, self-proclaimed prophet affiliated with NAR Lance Wallnau, and co-founder of Moms for Liberty and school board chair in Sarasota, Florida, Bridget Ziegler as "false prophets."
Faithful America, an online Christian group that supports social justice causes, released their second-annual "False Prophets Don't Speak for Me" campaign featuring a list of top Christian-nationalist leaders in both church and politics along with a petition on Tuesday. The list, which in addition to Johnson, identifies former President Donald Trump, pastor Mark Burns, self-proclaimed prophet affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Julie Green, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, conservative activist and radio talk show host Charlie Kirk, pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, Texas' Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Archbishop Carlo Viganò, self-proclaimed prophet affiliated with NAR Lance Wallnau, and co-founder of Moms for Liberty and school board chair in Sarasota, Florida, Bridget Ziegler as "false prophets."
November 25, 2023: Newsweek reported: Former President Donald Trump called evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats a "scammer" after he announced his endorsement of Ron DeSantis, noting payments the leader had received from the Florida governor's 2024 presidential campaign and its associates. Vander Plaats is an influential evangelical leader among Republican voters in Iowa, the first state to hold a race in the GOP primary cycle and a key target for aspiring candidates. Vander Plaats became the latest notable Iowa public figure to endorse DeSantis for president over Trump, though the impact of the decision has been debated.
December 14, 2023: Religion News Reported: Here’s un-closeted white supremacist Nick Fuentes—a friend of the GOP who has literally called for a “white uprising” to get Trump back in office—saying that when conservatives are back in control of the country, atheists, “devil worshipers,” many people from the “Jewish community,” and anyone else who doesn’t support a Christian theocracy in America should be put to death, and that the act would even be more important than stopping “non-white people” from migrating here.
December 15, 2023: Yahoo reported: Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Iowa evangelical leader, said he doesn’t believe recent polling that shows evangelical voters still support former President Trump. “I don’t believe them, and there’s a reason I don’t believe them – because it does not match up at all to what I’m hearing on the ground,” Vander Plaats told The Washington Post .
Martyn Percy
It was Franklin Graham who told millions of America’s evangelicals in 2016 that they could vote for Trump with a clean conscience, since Trump was comparable to the ancient Persian ruler Cyrus from the Old Testament. Cyrus the Great was an all-conquering Persian king. Around 550BC he overthrew the tyrannical Babylonians who had persecuted the Jews, driving them into captivity and stripping them of their freedoms and customs.
Having conquered the Babylonians, Cyrus released all their captives. Moreover, he respected the traditions and religions of the lands he captured. His regime offered liberation and devolved government to former captives of Babylon. Cyrus also ruled with a lean, decentralised administration.
For American evangelicals and fundamentalists, the government of Cyrus, 2,500 years ago, was one that worked to the advantage of all its subjects—and especially God’s chosen people. Cyrus is the only foreign ruler referred to as “Messiah” (literally “His anointed one”) in the Old Testament (see Isaiah 45:1), and is the only non-Jewish figure in the Bible to be given this accolade.
In claiming Trump is Cyrus, Franklin Graham was saying that Evangelicals and fundamentalists could now rid themselves of a once dominant, centralising liberal hegemony and reclaim their religious freedoms. They could do this by voting for someone who doesn’t share their evangelical faith and values. Trump is presented as simultaneously pagan and the messiah-ruler. Washington DC is often portrayed in evangelical press and social media as a simulacra of a centralising Babylon. And you don’t need to be a genius to work out that Trump is the Cyrus who delivers all God-fearing Americans from that awful prospect of the Whore of Babylon (Book of Revelation, chapters 17 and 18) living in the White House. “Drain the swamp” and “lock her up” were implicit religious rallying calls, not just injudicious hate-speech. These were the chants of the self-proclaimed righteous—chants that swung across the bandwidth of rage, hate and exuberant joy.
--Martyn Percy; Prospect: The Roots of Trumps Religion; 12/23/23
Having conquered the Babylonians, Cyrus released all their captives. Moreover, he respected the traditions and religions of the lands he captured. His regime offered liberation and devolved government to former captives of Babylon. Cyrus also ruled with a lean, decentralised administration.
For American evangelicals and fundamentalists, the government of Cyrus, 2,500 years ago, was one that worked to the advantage of all its subjects—and especially God’s chosen people. Cyrus is the only foreign ruler referred to as “Messiah” (literally “His anointed one”) in the Old Testament (see Isaiah 45:1), and is the only non-Jewish figure in the Bible to be given this accolade.
In claiming Trump is Cyrus, Franklin Graham was saying that Evangelicals and fundamentalists could now rid themselves of a once dominant, centralising liberal hegemony and reclaim their religious freedoms. They could do this by voting for someone who doesn’t share their evangelical faith and values. Trump is presented as simultaneously pagan and the messiah-ruler. Washington DC is often portrayed in evangelical press and social media as a simulacra of a centralising Babylon. And you don’t need to be a genius to work out that Trump is the Cyrus who delivers all God-fearing Americans from that awful prospect of the Whore of Babylon (Book of Revelation, chapters 17 and 18) living in the White House. “Drain the swamp” and “lock her up” were implicit religious rallying calls, not just injudicious hate-speech. These were the chants of the self-proclaimed righteous—chants that swung across the bandwidth of rage, hate and exuberant joy.
--Martyn Percy; Prospect: The Roots of Trumps Religion; 12/23/23
December 23, 2023: Prospect reported: It is feasible Trump will be back in the Oval Office in less than year. Yet when I mention to colleagues that I have been researching Trump’s religious faith, reactions vary from mild scoffing (“I thought he was his own religion?”) to bafflement and surprise. But Trump has a faith. Let us start with Trump’s inauguration. Not many people will have heard of Pastor Paula White, but she was one of the clergy nominated to pray for Trump at his inauguration in 2017. Pastor White is a leading exponent of the (so-called) “health, wealth and prosperity” movement. She preaches the “prosperity gospel” which teaches that God wants people to be rich, and that he makes them wealthy as a blessing. Conspicuous wealth is evidence of God’s personal reward for those with faith.
December 26, 2023: AzCentral reported: Less than a year away from what is surely the most fateful presidential election in American history, warnings about the threats to democracy associated with right-wing extremism and Trumpist authoritarianism dominate media’s attention. Meanwhile, at the local level, a related movement, Christian nationalism, constitutes an equally serious creeping threat to democracy, pluralism and diversity. Its driving force is the National Association of Christian Lawmakers.
|
December 27, 2023: Raw Story reported: Many American evangelical Christians have taken on an apocalyptic view of the world in which they see former President Donald Trump as their sole savior against demonic forces, according to journalist Tim Alberta. In an interview with New York Times columnist Jame Coaston, Alberta discusses how evangelicals came to rationalize designating Trump as their savior despite his decades of documented un-Christian behavior.
|
"I think when you spend so much time swimming in these waters of ‘The end is near, they’re coming for us, brace yourself for this collision between the forces of good and evil,’ you actually start to not only anticipate it, but you start to look forward to it," Alberta explained |
December 28, 2023: ABC News reported: In November, Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis netted what seemed to be a key evangelical endorsement in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses -- now just less than three weeks away. Bob Vander Plaats, president of the FAMiLY Leader organization and a major evangelical figure in the Hawkeye State, endorsed the governor in an interview on Fox News, calling DeSantis a "bold and courageous leader."
October 30, 2022: Texas Tribune reported: Despite the agency’s limited enforcement, Trump promised shortly after he took office that he would “totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.” As president, Trump tried unsuccessfully to remove the restrictions on church politicking through a 2017 executive order. The move was largely symbolic because it simply ordered the government not to punish churches differently than it would any other nonprofit, according to a legal filing by the Justice Department. Eliminating the Johnson Amendment would require congressional or judicial action.
Earl Chappell
In preparing for a Bible study lesson recently, I was referred to Proverbs 6:16-19. Within the six things that God hates, two involve “a lying tongue” and “a false witness who utters lies.” Fully one-third of a human’s traits that God hates involves human lies. Why are my fellow Christians who are attached to Trump willing to ignore God? Shouldn’t we “hate” what God hates? -Earl Chappell; Baptist news Global; Reading BNG’s news this year made me think of the Antichrist 12.28.21
Rob Grayson
America is an empire, which means the biblical forebear with which it should rightly be most closely associated is not Israel but Babylon. Such is the contention of Missouri-based pastor and author Brian Zahnd in his most recent book Postcards from Babylon: The Church in American Exile, released January 2019. Postcards is also an undeniably political book. I don’t, of course, mean Zahnd advocates for any particular party or policy line; rather, he calls those who profess to follow Jesus to let their politics be shaped first and foremost by the politics of Jesus, otherwise known as the kingdom of God. It is to this, rather than to any nation or flag, that our undiluted allegiance must be pledged. So that there might be no doubt, the book even includes a chapter titled “Trumped”, in which Zahnd spells out just how diametrically opposed the forty-fifth president is to all that Christ and his reign stand for. To be so outspoken about Trump might well draw fire from some quarters of US evangelicalism, but someone has to do it; and here again, Zahnd’s priority is to summon a church that has become enamoured with power and influence at any cost back to faithfulness rather than simply to berate a divisive and dangerous political leader. All in all, Postcards from Babylon is a bold and timely book delivering a call to faithfulness that is as concerned and compassionate as it is clear and uncompromising. Although, as its subtitle indicates, it is squarely and unashamedly aimed at American believers, readers from other countries will also find plenty to inspire and challenge. Let the one who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches!
--Rob Grayson; Faith Meets World: Book review: Postcards from Babylon by Brian Zahnd 2.10.19
--Rob Grayson; Faith Meets World: Book review: Postcards from Babylon by Brian Zahnd 2.10.19
Dr O Wesley Allen Jr
Differences in religious, physical, psychological, social, and political contexts call for different sorts of homiletical analogies and/or applications. I argue that such a radical shift in our socio-political situation as has occurred with the election of someone whose campaign included a degree of bigotry and hate speech we have not witnessed in a presidential run since the likes of George Wallace requires that preachers must strive to shape new analogies and applications of the gospel in their sermons or fail to serve the full relevance of the gospel.
Second, there is also a sense in which I agree with that element of logic that I presume to be behind the comment that it is appropriate to preach the gospel in every era—that is, that the gospel is eternal and unchanging regardless of the historical circumstances. I would certainly argue that at the core of the gospel is an ethic of love of neighbor that should be preached in every era. Had it been preached fully and forcefully in the era leading up to the 2015-16 election cycle, then there would have been no way so many churchgoers could have played such a large role in putting into the White House a candidate and his staff who use such vile and hateful language in service to racism, homophobia, ableism, Islamophobia, and sexism! The Christian ethic goes far beyond the weak standards of political correctness in its demands on the way we view and treat others, and Christians should strive to elect leaders whose speech and actions most reflect that ethic.
Notice, I am not making an argument that Christians must be Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or progressives. I am not concerned, in this instance, with whether the federal government should be larger or smaller. I certainly recognize that Christians can come down on different sides of policy debates specifically because of their Christian faith.
But I struggle to understand how those who claim to embrace the radical ethic of the Christian faith—the gospel ethic of caring for the disenfranchised, marginalized, and oppressed “others” of society—can claim to have voted for Trump out of Christian values when there were other Republican and Democratic candidates from whom to pick. Voters are used to choosing between “the lesser of evils,” but there is no serious Christian standard by which Trump can be argued to be that choice.
I certainly believe that books promoting the proclamation of the gospel in relation to any age defined by different forces would be appropriate. Perhaps every four years we should get scholars on different sides of the theo-political spectrum to write such books. But scholars and preachers across the whole range of theo-political positions should be on the same page when it comes to responding to the person in the most powerful office in the world making fun of the disabled, stereotyping Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, appointing advisors who have published hate speech against African Americans and homosexuals, and feeling he has the right to assault women simply because he is a celebrity.
--Dr O. Wesley Allen Jr; Faith Forward; Preaching in the Era of Trump 2.27.17
Second, there is also a sense in which I agree with that element of logic that I presume to be behind the comment that it is appropriate to preach the gospel in every era—that is, that the gospel is eternal and unchanging regardless of the historical circumstances. I would certainly argue that at the core of the gospel is an ethic of love of neighbor that should be preached in every era. Had it been preached fully and forcefully in the era leading up to the 2015-16 election cycle, then there would have been no way so many churchgoers could have played such a large role in putting into the White House a candidate and his staff who use such vile and hateful language in service to racism, homophobia, ableism, Islamophobia, and sexism! The Christian ethic goes far beyond the weak standards of political correctness in its demands on the way we view and treat others, and Christians should strive to elect leaders whose speech and actions most reflect that ethic.
Notice, I am not making an argument that Christians must be Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or progressives. I am not concerned, in this instance, with whether the federal government should be larger or smaller. I certainly recognize that Christians can come down on different sides of policy debates specifically because of their Christian faith.
But I struggle to understand how those who claim to embrace the radical ethic of the Christian faith—the gospel ethic of caring for the disenfranchised, marginalized, and oppressed “others” of society—can claim to have voted for Trump out of Christian values when there were other Republican and Democratic candidates from whom to pick. Voters are used to choosing between “the lesser of evils,” but there is no serious Christian standard by which Trump can be argued to be that choice.
I certainly believe that books promoting the proclamation of the gospel in relation to any age defined by different forces would be appropriate. Perhaps every four years we should get scholars on different sides of the theo-political spectrum to write such books. But scholars and preachers across the whole range of theo-political positions should be on the same page when it comes to responding to the person in the most powerful office in the world making fun of the disabled, stereotyping Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, appointing advisors who have published hate speech against African Americans and homosexuals, and feeling he has the right to assault women simply because he is a celebrity.
--Dr O. Wesley Allen Jr; Faith Forward; Preaching in the Era of Trump 2.27.17
November 9, 2016: The Tennessean reported: Now is the time for humility — not brazen celebration from Donald Trump and his supporters — if there is any chance for healing the deep division in the country exacerbated by this fraught election season, says one Nashville pastor........Jedidiah Coppenger, lead pastor of the Redemption City Church in Franklin, said the election highlighted areas the church needs to work on, including better understanding the pain people are going through on either side of the ideological divide. But he thinks the church is poised to be a voice of hope and reconciliation by following Jesus' lead. "He listens to them and hears them and speaks to what they're really wrestling with, whether they agree or disagree," Coppenger said.