The Jesus described in the Bible warned us about men like Donald Trump.
I have been critical of American Christians who treat Trump as the God-provided leader.
Jesus said don't be cruel. Don't be selfish. Don't hate. Don't hit. Don't seek gold and other riches. Help the poor. Heal the sick. Pay workmen what they've earned. Turn the other cheek. Be like the Good Samaritan.
Trump is a popular political figure. He won two elections. He is nothing like the Good Samaritan.
I have depicted images of those American Christians who follow what I consider to be a false idol. They are people apparently comfortable with their privilege. Prosperous, powerful, victorious, and usually White.
I have published images like these:
A reader raises a fair question: Am I being fair? Am I pointing out religious hypocrisy only among the comfortable White Christians -- an easy target? What about Trump-supporting Christians among groups coded left? Would I feel free to criticize them, too?I got this letter from Thad Guyer. Guyer is an attorney with an international reputation as an advocate and litigator on behalf of whistleblower clients.
"Hi Peter. I regularly read your blog. When you write your anti-Christian posts, I have always assumed that you're talking about White Christians who voted for Trump thinking that in some way God is working through him. And then it occurred to me in church today, maybe I am wrong, maybe Peter has the same political perspective for LGBTQ Christians, Hispanic Christians, Asian Christians, even Jews who voted for Trump. You have the same opinion of all of them too, right? We aren't supposed to just imagine White men in MAGA hats when we read your disparaging words on this; Christians in marginalized groups are included, am I correct? I would just like to know that the basket of deplorables you have put me in is multi ethnic, Judeo-Christian, and diverse."
Guyer is correct in his reading of this blog. I have focused on comfortable White Christians. I don't think I have ever pointed out regligious hypocrisy among LGBTQ Christians, Hispanic Christians, Asian Christians, or Jewish supporters of Trump. Guyer is right to question me on this.
But the truth is, I am unaware of any organized or individually prominent LGBTQ, Hispanic, or Asian supporters of Trump who tie their support of Trump to their membership in that identity. "Lesbian Christians for Trump"? I haven't seen or heard of such a group, nor seen one in White House photos, although I am sure that there are, in fact, lesbian Christians who voted for Trump. I have seen thousands of political T-shirts and photographed hundreds of them. I have never seen anything remotely like "I am gay and Jesus is my savior. Trump is my president." So, no, I have not addressed LGBTQ Christian support for Trump.
The Methodist church I attended as a youth considers itself a "welcoming" church, which signifies that it considers nontraditional gender and sexual orientation as fully consistent with Christian beliefs. If there were organized support for Trump by pastors or representatives of those churches, I would happily point out the apparent contradiction. I have not seen it.
I have addressed Hispanic support for Trump. My sense is that most Hispanics are cultural Roman Catholics. I don't consider it self-contradictory for them to support Trump because of two issues, and I have been critical of Democrats for being blind to this. People who come here legally and become citizens go through a complicated, time-consuming maze. Democrats were foolish to think that Hispanics would vote in solidarity with an ethnicity of people from multiple cultures, instead of solidarity with law-abiding citizens. Lawbreaking Hispanics injure the reputation and safety of Hispanic citizens.
Moreover, many Catholics are single-issue anti-abortion voters. Trump's position on abortion is inconsistent, but Trump is the better anti-abortion choice than would be any Democrat. It makes sense for anti-abortion voters to vote for Trump. So, no, I have not criticized Hispanic Christians for supporting Trump.
Asians who came here legally and became citizens have every reason to protest scofflaw immigrants from Asian countries. It raises the risk that citizens of Asian heritage will be treated with suspicion by ICE. I have not pointed out the difference between Jesus and Trump in an Asian-American context because I subsumed Asian Christians generally along with White Christians.
I have not addressed "Jews for Trump," but I will do so in a future post. I will simply say here that a right-populist leader who picks out minority ethnicities and calls them subhuman, Low-IQ, garbage, sneaky, and treasonous has a very bad history for Jews. There remains in America a reservoir of anti semitic feeling, exacerbated by the success of people perceived as elites who are identifiably Jewish in the visible fields of finance, law, entertainment, and government. Trump roused up a constituency that accepts demonization of the "other." Yesterday's post on chimpanzee xenophobia described the danger of human instincts here. Jews are visible targets. Jews who support Trump are playing with fire.
I was brought up Christian but am no longer one. I am not hostile to Christianity. I bemoan the fact that Christians have abandoned the Jesus I learned about in my youth. I think our current Pope generally reflects Jesus' beliefs, as bureaucratized into an institution designed to perpetuate the faith. I think that Trump is a frank, overt contradiction of everything Jesus preached.
But the self-contradiction of seeing Trump as a God-sent leader is not the sole province of White Americans. Guyer is correct in pointing out the narrow focus of my observations. It must appear to some that I am only criticizing comfortable White Christians. Trump contradicts Jesus, regardless of who carries the Trump-Christian flag. Hereafter, when I see Asians, Hispanics, and LGBTQ Americans joining in the celebration of Trump as God's chosen leader, I will be certain to include them.
If readers send me examples of organized support for Trump from those groups, I will happily include them in comments or a future post.
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4 comments:
It's easy to acknowledge that Trump has lots of warts. Boy, does he ever!! It's impossible for Democrats to acknowledge that Joe Biden (or Kamala Harris) had MORE warts than Trump does. There's no debate on that. The simple solution is that Democrats have to present a better candidate than Trump (or Vance), and presently they don't have anybody who fits that bill. Further, their venture to the woke far-left has killed their chances with the average voter, who is turned-off by abortions, high taxes, and sex-change operations for children. If you want to win, then you have to be in the middle where most of the voters are, and right now the Democrats aren't there. If you want to win, then you have to change what you stand for.
"We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid." - Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)
As it stands, Republicans stand for a brutal dictatorship; Democrats stand for a democratic republic. Trump was elected because too many people were stupid enough to believe the pathological liar when he told them he'd lower prices on day one. How's that working for you?
There is a group called Gays For Trump, but my guess is that they're heavily outnumbered by Gays For Gaza. Some cognitive dissonance either way....
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