Religion
Related: About this forumDonald Trump Declares a Vision of Religious Nationalism
At the annual prayer breakfast in Washington, the president focused on the violent, ideological threats to America.
EMMA GREEN
FEB 2, 2017
When Donald Trump looks out on the world, he sees a landscape of potential threats to the United States and its values. Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but also a right under threat all around us, the president said at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. The world is under serious, serious threat in so many different ways, he went on, but were going to straighten it out. Thats what I do. I fix things.
He laid out a vision of what it means to end these threats to United States: Stop terrorism. End the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians. Defend the countrys borders from those who would exploit that generosity to undermine the values we hold so dear. Religious Americans also feel threatened within the U.S., he said: That is why I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment, a provision of the tax code that prohibits religious leaders and institutions endorsing or opposing political candidates, and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. Repealing the Johnson Amendment would theoretically allow houses of worship and religious leaders to openly advocate for political candidates while retaining their tax-exempt status, while also allowing them to funnel religious donations into explicitly political efforts.
Trump is championing an agenda of religious nationalism. Along with key White House staffers like Stephen Bannon, he believes America represents a set of values, rooted in the countrys religious identity. While theres little evidence that Trump himself is religiously devout, he has benefited from affiliations with largely white evangelical leaders such as Jerry Falwell Jr.
During his speech, Trump argued that Americas religiously grounded values are being attackednot just through acts of violence, but through ideological erosion. We will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread in our nation, Trump said on Thursday, seeming to refer to the radical Islamic extremism he has emphasized in past speeches. You look all over the world and see whats happening. He will defend these values, he said, because thats what people want: one beautiful nation under God.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/donald-trump-national-prayer-breakfast/515445/
RegexReader
(416 posts)appointing an American Pope?
rug
(82,333 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,262 posts)You're one of the last people I'd expect to hear that from. You'd rather have a separate pope for America, rather than the global one? And you'd think it better, even if Trump appointed him?
rug
(82,333 posts)I was being facetioius.
mindem
(1,580 posts)That is precisely what is happening with rightwing, evangelical fundamentalism. There needs to be freedom from religion. What is going to happen if I start to refuse to do business with fundamentalist Christians because I find their belief system repugnant and contrary to mine? Can I refuse to do business with them based on MY religious beliefs?