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The religious right's hypocrisy now on full display

But the only "religious freedom" Trump supports is extremist, RW, so-called Christian religious freedom of hate and bigotry.
 
Trump's administration deported a Christian man who had lived in the US since he was 6 months old to Iraq, where he died homeless on the street.
 
I actually find it plausible that the biggest evangelic pastors are calling to heap praise on him. They've had a good symbiotic relationship.
 
WFFaithful said:
Gross
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Pretty sure Jesus would be here...

Graham’s preaching tour featured another touch, one more reminiscent of a political rally: counter-programming from evangelicals on the left. An hour outside of Greenville, a group of progressive Christians led by the Rev. William Barber and his Poor People’s Campaign held a “Red Letter Revival” this week to offer an alternate vision of policymaking aligned with Biblical values.

That revival aims to redefine public understanding of issues of faith, encompassing an inclusive immigration agenda as well as more focus on helping the poor and the environment, explained Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, a liberal evangelical preacher helping to organize it.
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I'll be so glad when his "Decision America" tour is over - I'm sick of seeing those damn billboards and signs all over the place. Especially given that it's obviously little more than a thinly-veiled Trump rally for next year's election. IMO, he's no better than Jerry Falwell, Jr. or Joel Osteen or Robert Jeffress or any of these other "worthies" of the Religious Right. Like Falwell, he's living off his daddy's name to enrich himself and peddle his hypocritical political and social views. Basically, he's little more than a right-wing pharisee, like most of the rest of them.
 
From the comments on this piece:

"Pompeo is an evangelical Christian, steeped in the very dictums that Trump has spent a lifetime mocking with both his words and his deeds."

Pompeo defends Trump because of his values, not in spite of them.

As Katherine Stewart wrote in the Times on December Dec. 31, 2018:

"A lot of attention has been paid to the supposed paradox of evangelicals backing such an imperfect man, but the real problem is that our idea of Christian nationalism hasn’t caught up with the reality. We still buy the line that the hard core of the Christian right is just an interest group working to protect its values. But what we don’t get is that Mr. Trump’s supposedly anti-Christian attributes and anti-democratic attributes are a vital part of his attraction."

"Today’s Christian nationalists talk a good game about respecting the Constitution and America’s founders, but at bottom they sound as if they prefer autocrats to democrats. In fact, what they really want is a king."

"I have attended dozens of Christian nationalist conferences and events over the past two years...the gist of the proceedings almost always comes down to the belief that (Trump) is a miracle sent straight from heaven to bring the nation back to the Lord. I have also learned that resistance to Mr. Trump is tantamount to resistance to God."

"The Christian nationalist movement today is authoritarian, paranoid and patriarchal at its core. They aren’t fighting a culture war. They’re making a direct attack on democracy itself."
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And...

Just a month before the 2018 midterm elections, over a thousand theaters throughout the U.S. screened "The Trump Prophecy".

The film tells the story of one Mark Taylor, a former firefighter, who claims that God told him in 2011 that Donald Trump would be elected president to save the Christian world.

In the central scene of the film, the actor representing Mr. Taylor collapses in the flashing light of an epiphany that Donald Trump is to be Christianity's pagan savior and then picks up a Bible which opens to the description of the anointment of the pagan King Cyrus by God.

In the very next scene of the movie, Trump is heard being interviewed on the evangelical Christian "The 700 Club". (Every rational person should find this terrifying).

It would be comforting to think that those like Mike Pompeo or Mike Pence simply sold out their principles, because that would mean they're just morally weak hypocrites who could easily abandon Trump if he weakens. However, it's untrue.

Christian Nationalists truly believe that Donald Trump has been chosen by God to save Christianity from destruction and is engaging in a war, on their behalf, against heathens. It is why the more Democrats try to hold Trump accountable for any wrongdoing, or restrain his unconstitutional and undemocratic authoritarianism, they're regarded by Christian Nationalists as nothing but an army of evil unbelievers resisting the will of God, and God's chosen instrument, Donald Trump.
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And...

good points here. Instead of continually calling them "Evangelical Christians", we should perhaps be calling them "Apocalyptic Christians". It better reflects the absence of the Christian values of humility, sacrifice, and charity that are not present in the current Trumpian version of this religious stream.
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And...

"Today’s Christian nationalists talk a good game about respecting the Constitution and America’s founders, but at bottom they sound as if they prefer autocrats to democrats. In fact, what they really want is a king".


Indeed. I have read in years past in their own publications that they preach that the "Kingdom of God" is NOT a democracy. It's just that: a KINGDOM. Hence, their authoritarian tendencies.
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And...

"Pompeo is an evangelical Christian, steeped in the very dictums that Trump has spent a lifetime mocking with both his words and his deeds."

As is Mike Pence. One can't understand the story without delving into the psychology of evangelicals, who have almost unanimously converted to devout Trumpism. Obviously, the impulse driving the process is far stronger than the pious strictures of mere conventional Biblical morality. Equally obviously, a narrative of Biblical necessity has emerged to justify the egregious moral deviation. Evangelicals do not approve of Trump's immoral actions; rather, they have found a way to neutralize such actions within the framework of a bigger and more important story.

The subliminal impulses are embedded in a perceived threat to traditional rural culture and its conservative values. One encounters here the usual suspects: impending loss of white hegemony; alienation from secular urban culture; opposition to feminism in all its manifestations, including gay and transgender rights. The American rural way of life is under mortal assault. Being a war for survival, excessive queasiness about tactics and alliances is deemed counterproductive.

The Biblical narrative is constantly evolving. New insights are provided on demand by the prophetic dreams of TV evangelists. Apocalyptic themes are never far from the surface. And Old Testament pagans such as Cyrus provide convenient models for fathoming God's inscrutable use of Trump as a tool of Divine Will.
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And...

"Better to be a wretched part of history than no part at all." Yup. The Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and MLK's Dream speech have led us the wrong way: toward liberty, equality and justice. That means an ever widening opportunity for all Americans (and even all people), right? The Pompeos, Trumps, et al, don't want that! Yikes, they say. How can we now twist the Constitution to mean something entirely different, not this heresy of access to power by the likes of those that used to be oppressed. Now we see a redirection based on doubling down on authoritarian patriarchy -- the only thing that matters. Not Jesus; rather the God of the 1st testament -- angry (Genesis), vengeful (Noah), violent (Abraham), and deal making (David).
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And../

Agree. Though I'm sure there are some fundamentalist Christians who are nice, generous, even tolerant people (I have in fact known a few), for many self-anointed Christian Evangelicals, their "saving" is often a matter of psychological convenience: a short cut to a feeling of superiority that they would otherwise have to work to achieve or in many cases simply lack the talent to achieve at all.

I'd note that adopting an anti-abortion or anti-gay stance is an equally easy path--this to seeming virtue.

The operant word in both cases is "easy." And nothing is easier for someone who wishes to rise socially or poliitically than going along, regardless of the path, just to get a little farther along the way.

I often wonder if the Pences and Pompeos of the world, who make such a show of virtue, every get down on their knees and apologize to their god for what they have done.

I suspect not. It's hard for one of the chosen to be wrong.
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And, finally...

The author thinks that people are selling their souls and I will admit that trump is an acquired taste but actually most of his policies are main stream moderate to conservative Republican policies that have been in place for years. So if you're a moderate conservative you really do believe there should be no open borders and people should get into this country illegally. I believe in free enterprise and the purpose of government is limited. You believe in a strong defense And the best government is the least amount of government that you can possibly get. Trump has delivered the best economy and 60 years he is trying to stop the crazy open border philosophy of the Democratic Party doesn't believe and 60 and 70% tax rate where you're basically a surf working for the government and doesn't would believe that the Should control medical care with a single pair system. They believe that this country is the greatest country ever created because of its judeo Christian heritage which they want to maintain over the secular Tilt of the far left Democratic Party. I think why the far left of the Democratic Party are so upset against trump is because hes delivered on promises mainstream conservative republicans have promised for decades and never delivered such as one of the most conservative supreme courts and the last 60 years which I think you will find is posed to and do a lot of what the far left has implemented. These people have not sold their souls
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And from this piece...


The ‘Never Trump’ Coalition That Decided Eh, Never Mind, He’s Fine: They signed open letters, dedicated a special magazine issue to criticism of him and swore he would tear at the fabric of this nation. Now they have become the president’s strongest defenders.


Few changes of heart have been as head-spinning as the social conservatives and evangelical Christians who now consider Mr. Trump a hero. Many of the conservative women who once saw him as a boor have come to believe that for too long they were focused on the wrong qualities in presidential candidates. They wanted someone pious when they should have been looking for someone who could throw punches.

“I endorsed Rick Santorum in 2012. And Mike Huckabee,” said Penny Young Nance, who signed the statement in 2016 of anti-abortion activists opposing Mr. Trump. “But at the end of the day, I’m not sure those guys I love and admire would have had the guts to do what Trump has done,” she added.

Among the other considerations of “late adopters,” as Ms. Nance called herself, is how Mr. Trump relentlessly and savagely attacks the left and its leaders. “American women want a street fighter,” she said, “and this is the guy who puts the knife in his teeth and swims the moat.” She called Mr. Trump “a gutsy New Yorker,” resisting the urge to use a less polite term that Mr. Trump might have used himself. “I could use a different word, but I won’t.”

For the few remaining holdouts, the willingness of so many conservatives to support Mr. Trump’s behavior is troubling. “I’ve heard from countless people who argue and believe that this is an existential moral moment and if a Democrat wins, darkness will descend on the land,” Peter Wehner, a speechwriter in the second Bush White House, said. “If that’s your mind-set, then of course you’ll engage in a lot of unholy alliances to defeat Satan.”

“I’m trying to determine what’s the limiting principle for a person when it comes to casting a vote for Donald Trump,” Mr. Wehner added. “And I’m not sure there is one.”
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Great stuff. I’ll comment on that last one. They’re potentially right. If Democrats win, it should end the 40 year reign of Reagan conservatism and usher in a new era of progressive politics.
 
PhDeac said:
Great stuff. I’ll comment on that last one. They’re potentially right. If Democrats win, it should end the 40 year reign of Reagan conservatism and usher in a new era of progressive politics.
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Should, but likely won't. They will be stonewalled by a likely GOP Senate and then in 2022 GOP will lie about Pres. Warren/Biden/Sanders "not being able to get things done". Or, if some progressive things do get done, we will get Tea Party 2.0 and the rubes will fall for it again. Rinse, repeat.
 
AsesinoDeTortugas said:
Should, but likely won't. They will be stonewalled by a likely GOP Senate and then in 2022 GOP will lie about Pres. Warren/Biden/Sanders "not being able to get things done". Or, if some progressive things do get done, we will get Tea Party 2.0 and the rubes will fall for it again. Rinse, repeat.
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Look no further than the grand master plan after the 2012 loss. It’s exactly the opposite of trump. The GOP knows what it needs to do to survive. Its base just wants the opposite.
 
AsesinoDeTortugas said:
Should, but likely won't. They will be stonewalled by a likely GOP Senate and then in 2022 GOP will lie about Pres. Warren/Biden/Sanders "not being able to get things done". Or, if some progressive things do get done, we will get Tea Party 2.0 and the rubes will fall for it again. Rinse, repeat.
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Democrats win included the Senate. If Democrats don’t win the Senate after all this Trump corruption, the 2020 election will be a failure.
 
Evangelicals need to believe in a God-like authoritarian to tell them it’s ok to live in direct conflict of Jesus’ teachings.
 
Tobacco Road said:
Evangelicals need to believe in a God-like authoritarian to tell them it’s ok to live in direct conflict of Jesus’ teachings.
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That's a great way to put it.
 
 
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