Why some Christians love the meanest parts of Trump

[TexasBushwhacker]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/08/ben-howe-evangelical-christians-support-trump/596308/?utm_medium=offsite&utm_source=yahoo&utm_campaign=yahoo-non-hosted&yptr=yahoo

"Ben Howe is angry at evangelicals. As he describes it, he is angry that they didn’t just vote for Donald Trump in record numbers, but repeatedly provide moral cover for his outrageous failings. He is angry that leaders of the religious right, who long claimed to be the champions of American morality, appear to have gladly traded their values for power. He is angry that Christians claim they support the president because they want to end abortion or protect religious liberty, when supporting Trump suggests that what they really want is a champion who will mock and crush their perceived enemies."

[nycbos]

1. As Gandhi said...

... I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

[PandoraAwakened]

3. +1 for truth. n/t

[JDC]

6. This

[Upthevibe]

19. Perfect quote and unfortunately so true....N/T

[MustLoveBeagles]

2. This is what turned me away from organized religion

Not all religious people are like this obviously, but far too many of them are. I couldn't stomach the hypocrisy. I had to get away from it.

[Caliman73]

23. It lends itself to authoritarianism.

Unless it is specifically and aggressively countered, religion will often lead to authoritarianism. If you think about it, the point of religion is to organize and prescribe behavior in people toward the dogma of the religion. Like you said, it doesn't always lead to authoritarianism and hypocrisy, but it certainly lends itself to the prospect. Any leader who becomes infatuated with power, or who is a zealot for certain causes, already has a built in structure from which to dictate action to followers. They are entrusted as the "representatives to God on earth" so they hold the keys so to speak. If they tell you that condoms are bad, or withholding your donations to the church, or Black people are bad, and you reject it, then you are rejecting God in some way.

[tirebiter]

4. Watch "The Family"

It’s not about morals. It’s about power. He was chosen to achieve their ends

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I'm watching it now. Scary, weird stuff.

[keithbvadu2]

7. To his evangelicals/Christians, Trump is so devout

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[Xolodno]

8. Fire and Brimstone.

There's a large segment of Evangelicals, if they went to a church that preached love, tolerance, forgiveness, etc. They would stop attending.

But if they hear hell fire, crushing enemies, etc. They eat it up and then think its up to them to do God's work...when its pretty clear God will handle it and all that a Christian has to do, is get out of the way.

[lindysalsagal]

34. I think you are so right. Religion would be nowhere if it weren't so sexy.

[Skittles]

9. no real Christian could support Trump

NO.FUCKING.WAY.

[zaj]

12. They're can't be a real Christian, IMO.

Because it is a proselytizing, it's very nature is defined as failure unless you defeat every other belief system.

Islam, Judaism, science... Anything that conflicts with the spread of 2000+ year old information... must be defeated.

That creates a moral greed. That greed corrupts the person.

The non-proselytizing religions have a chance at being sustained moral examples for people.

[Mariana]

21. Right, only non-Christians support Trump. nt.

[Skittles]

30. and PHONY Christians

[Mariana]

32. Phony Christians are non-Christians, by definition.

So, only non-Christians support Trump, right?

[Skittles]

33. certainly not in THEIR minds

[Mariana]

36. They think they are Christians, but you don't agree, yes?

That means you consider them to be non-Christians, doesn't it? Only non-Christians support Trump.

[Skittles]

37. LOL

anyone who supports a lying, pussy-grabbing conman who digs putting kids in cages can NOT be Christian, but I don't think them as "non-Christians", they are just deluded assholes

over and OUT

[Caliman73]

25. kind of like no true Scottsman.

I understand what you are saying but the reality is that Christianity comprises at least 2 if not more Major traditions (Catholic & Protestant) that is if you lump the Orthodox faith traditions in with the Catholic (since their split was not as complete). Within the Protestant traditions there are thousands of denominations and styles of worship each of which have liberal and conservative factions.

Each of the above have some kind of belief that they are the "correct" way of following Christ and the others are "misguided".

So, the idea that "no real Christian ... " is a bit complicated.

[Karadeniz]

10. Fake Christians.

[zaj]

11. They preach morals and Christianity to gain power...

... and have control, not to help people.

Modern proselytizing religion is the most powerful social weapon of control ever invented.

It promises to answer every deepest fear and larhest mystery, if you surrender everything you have or ever will have to the most powerful man in the universe, so sayeth... ....any random dude who wants power, fame, wealth and control.

Every generation has 1000's of those random dudes seeking abuse the Innovation of modern religion.

[TlalocW]

18. I like to say religion offers you a crutch

After it's done everything it can to convince you you're lame.

TlalocW

[pnwest]

26. That's kinda brilliant.

[TlalocW]

28. I wish it were mine

TlalocW

[Thunderbeast]

13. They worship an imaginary king in the sky

They wanted one here on Earth.

[Vogon_Glory]

14. When the winds turn, these so-called "Christians" deserve no pity

I have no sympathy for the fundies who twisted the words in both the Old Testament and the New into giving blanket support for someone as un-Christian as that man in the White House.

As far as I'm concerned, their slavish devotion to Donald Trump ought to be remembered for the remainder of his time in office and for decades afterwards.

[Capt. America]

15. God or mammon? I think the evangelicals have chosen.

[defacto7]

16. It's one of the oldest tricks in history and I mean ancient.

Monotheism or polytheism with one all powerful deity over one emperor who rules as the arm of their god on earth. Thousands of years of this documented by the ruling elites in waring cultures as a tool of control and humans still don't get it.

[TlalocW]

17. I am constantly bringing up to my religious friends and families

That Nones - those who identify as not belonging to a religion and flat-out atheists - are now the same percentage of the population as evangelicals and Catholics, and it's their own damn fault. The latter refuse to do the one moral thing when it comes to abusive priests and that's to turn them over to the police, and the former have abandoned everything they supposedly stood for in order to prop up Trump.

TlalocW

[lindysalsagal]

35. How many xtians think they're "pro life" but are really "pro-death" because they put gun ownership a

above everyone else's safety?

LOTS

[uponit7771]

39. +1, The article acknowledges this too and that they feel like they're loosing the moral battle

... in America.

Well no shit !!!

Humans don't generally like pious, hate filled racist who abuse children

[smirkymonkey]

20. K&R

[Downtown Hound]

22. "when supporting Trump suggests that what they really want is a champion who will mock and crush

their enemies."

Um, mock...yes. Crush? LOL. Their whole movement has done nothing but lose ground since they sold their souls to Trump. Church attendance is way down. Trump's poll numbers are way down. More Americans are calling themselves atheists or agnostics. And the Democrats retook the House and made huge gains in state governments. And Republicans can no longer deny (at least not with any credibility) the rampant racism in their party. And they sure as hell can't claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility.

Is that what being crushed feels like? Well, I'll take more of it.

[Caliman73]

24. It is what they "want" not what they are getting.

Some types of Christians have wanted to maintain or expand their social control for a long time and have sought to do so in different ways. I think that as our understanding of things grows, the space for religion will tend to get smaller and I think that a lot of people understand that. I don't have a problem with people having religion to guide their own behavior but the problem is that people have gotten so used to Christianity being the default lens by which things in the US have been seen, that they are reacting to the loss of dominance.

Christian dominance is slipping and some people are desperate so they reach out to a person who boasts about retaining the dominance and installs certain Dominionists into his circle of power. It isn't necessarily about what they are getting, but about how they feel about getting it. There will be a "let down" after Trump is gone from office.

[walkingman]

27. As Molly Ivans once said, "The trouble with Baptists, they didn't hold them under long enough"

[Mc Mike]

29. They love the wrath and punishment parts of their 'faith'.

[progressoid]

31. Interesting read. Thx.

[Hortensis]

38. This is key: "their belief that they are engaged in an existential struggle against

a wicked enemy -- not Russia, not North Korea, not Iran, but rather American liberals and the left. Many white evangelical Christians, then, are deeply fearful of what a Trump loss would mean for America, American culture, and American Christianity. If a Democrat is elected president, they believe, it might all come crashing down around us."

It's a big clue to so much of what we don't understand. It's also important to realize that though they started with a natural disagreement, contempt for and misunderstanding of liberalism, seditious forces have worked for years now to turn weaknesses of understanding into passionate convictions.

These aren't our brightest bulbs, and they are among our most passionately anxious and sincere. Btw, while we're at it, note the very strong resemblance between them and their attitudes toward liberals/Democrats to those of their similarly passionately sincere anti-democratic counterparts on the farther left.