Donald and the Evangelicals
So many commenters the last few days have been just amazed at the number of Evangelical leaders, and the members of their flocks, that seem to be just fine with Donald Trump, no matter what kind of indecent, disgusting and yes clearly anti-Christian things he does.
Well, it has not surprised me at all and I shall now explain (as I have done before ) why that is.
The fact is that Evangelical Christianity, at least as it has existed in this country for the last few decades, is not a religion at all, but rather a pseudo-religion; a fake religion.
Anyone who knows a thing about Jesus knows how much he demands of his followers; to care for the poor, the sick, prisoners, and the strangers among us. This requires real commitment and sacrifice, and that does not sit well with those who, as Evangelicals, claim to be his flock on earth. Instead, a new religion has emerged; one that glorifies greed and hatred of strangers and contempt for the less fortunate. For followers of this religion, the things that are important are hating gays and members of other religions, prayer in the schools, fighting abortion (a subject never mentioned by Christ) and denouncing evolution in favor of a fairy tale story of the origins of our world. What is important about these is that not one single one of them demands a thing from anyone. And this is the key: they have invented a false religion, which allows them to tell themselves that they are the moral ones, the elect, the chosen in the eyes of God, while freeing them to indulge in lives of the most base self-interest.
And here is the important thing to remember: The deception is not intended for the rest of us; they do not care about us. The deception is aimed at themselves; it provides them with great comfort, and for that reason there is virtually no way to get them to give it up.
The test of a theory is its predictive value. I will be so bold to state that this explanation of Evangelical Christianity, which I have made before, and only this explanation, could have predicted accurately the Evangelicals' ignoring of everything their Bible tells them, in order to continue supporting a figure of such manifest evil as Donald Trump. The values that the rest of us were taught to respect- truth, decency, concern for the welfare of others- mean absolutely nothing to these morally bankrupt people, who care only about sating their own greed and hatred. Their religion is nothing but a cover, to hide their true nature.
To show respect for their "religion" is to respect dishonesty, and the selfish values that it serves. To grant them a position of respect because they adhere to this sham is to concede defeat in this major front of the battle between decency and unbridled self interest, which is tearing this country apart.
No more. I, for one, will never again grant them the right to cite their sham beliefs as a justification for the evil they promote. These people are wrong and they are evil, and if we do not stand up to them, they will destroy us.
Well, it has not surprised me at all and I shall now explain (as I have done before ) why that is.
The fact is that Evangelical Christianity, at least as it has existed in this country for the last few decades, is not a religion at all, but rather a pseudo-religion; a fake religion.
Anyone who knows a thing about Jesus knows how much he demands of his followers; to care for the poor, the sick, prisoners, and the strangers among us. This requires real commitment and sacrifice, and that does not sit well with those who, as Evangelicals, claim to be his flock on earth. Instead, a new religion has emerged; one that glorifies greed and hatred of strangers and contempt for the less fortunate. For followers of this religion, the things that are important are hating gays and members of other religions, prayer in the schools, fighting abortion (a subject never mentioned by Christ) and denouncing evolution in favor of a fairy tale story of the origins of our world. What is important about these is that not one single one of them demands a thing from anyone. And this is the key: they have invented a false religion, which allows them to tell themselves that they are the moral ones, the elect, the chosen in the eyes of God, while freeing them to indulge in lives of the most base self-interest.
And here is the important thing to remember: The deception is not intended for the rest of us; they do not care about us. The deception is aimed at themselves; it provides them with great comfort, and for that reason there is virtually no way to get them to give it up.
The test of a theory is its predictive value. I will be so bold to state that this explanation of Evangelical Christianity, which I have made before, and only this explanation, could have predicted accurately the Evangelicals' ignoring of everything their Bible tells them, in order to continue supporting a figure of such manifest evil as Donald Trump. The values that the rest of us were taught to respect- truth, decency, concern for the welfare of others- mean absolutely nothing to these morally bankrupt people, who care only about sating their own greed and hatred. Their religion is nothing but a cover, to hide their true nature.
To show respect for their "religion" is to respect dishonesty, and the selfish values that it serves. To grant them a position of respect because they adhere to this sham is to concede defeat in this major front of the battle between decency and unbridled self interest, which is tearing this country apart.
No more. I, for one, will never again grant them the right to cite their sham beliefs as a justification for the evil they promote. These people are wrong and they are evil, and if we do not stand up to them, they will destroy us.
Comments
I think you're omitting the word "White" in "White Evangelical." There are extremely few Black Evangelicals who support Trump.
Here's a Fred Clark post which argues that the trouble with white evangelical faith goes back for several centuries. He claims it was designed to defend slavery as an institution.
Clark ends with these paragraphs:
"John Newton became a born-again white evangelical Christian on March 10, 1748, but he did not cease to be a slave trader. He simply became a slave-trader who no longer drank, swore or gambled.
That was the effect of Bible Christianity. But this was not a side effect, it was the purpose of the thing. This was the effect that the anti-hermeneutic of Bible Christianity was designed to produce — a form of Christian piety that defended unjust structures, slavery in particular. Bible Christianity defended slavery because that was what it was designed to do."
This type of Christianity does have a strict moral code that demands obedience. However, this moral code: (a) is extremely preoccupied with surface appearances, and (b) emphasizes individual salvation instead of social justice.
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If you have a lot of time, take a look at his series of posts about the Left Behind series. Because the Antichrist in these books claims to be interested in peace and social justice (but doesn't promote either), it follows that anyone who talks about peace and social justice just might be the Antichrist. It's safer not to take the risk.
For these white evangelicals, they can rest comfortably knowing that, since Trump has no interest in such things as social justice, he can't be the Antichrist.
Christian egomaniac she replaced and the overtly Christian dullard who replaced her (till such time as the public worked out that he was an idiot).
With the Murdoch press feeding a constant and false narrative that she was “untrustworthy”, her marital status (unmarried in a committed relationship) became the basis of innuendo.
Attacks on her had a heavily misogynistic undertone.
But your evangelicals make our religious groups sound like Richard Dawkins.
Not saying anything you don’t already know, but what passes for the leadership of this element trust – foolishly – that Trump will deliver on their banner issues while also being fearful that the next Supreme court appointees could move America away from the positions they demand.
Probably the fear counts more than the trust... the latter is just stupidity or self-deception - Trump is gaming them like he games everyone.
But in such an America their power and their wealth will be greatly diminished. They would get into bed with Satan himself to stop that happening. They keep their eyes on that mark, nothing else matters, they don’t care about anyone else anyway.
And they would do anything to stop a woman, that second class human that gave Adam the apple, from being commander in chief.
They are unreasonable, venal people. And, deep down, the smarter among them know it.
Magpie: "Probably the fear counts more than the trust... the latter is just stupidity or self-deception - Trump is gaming them like he games everyone."-of course, people brought up as evangelicals are bred to be deceived. This is mainly to make them easy marks for their pastors, but a skilled con man like Trump can easily take advantage of their inbred gullibility. As, I guess, Gene points out.
Gruad: the smarter among them are the ones who are plundering the less smart ones.
The sad fact is no matter how many women come forward confirming Donald Trump's self-admitted allegation of forcing himself on them conservative will never believe it.
And they don't care! This election is chance for white power to be advanced in America. This election is a chance for the creation or re-creation of second and third class citizenship. They'll not let this chance slip.