Despite his disgraceful life rampant with woman-abuse, lies and unfaithfulness Trump is faithful to his racist creed. Thus Trump embodies the religious right’s core racist values. They are sticking with him however many “other shoes” drop- from paying off porn stars, to collusion with Russia, to daily torrents of lies.
As Michelle Goldberg writes in The New York Times:
In 1958, the Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell, who would go on to found the Moral Majority, gave a sermon titled “Segregation or Integration: Which?” He inveighed against the Supreme Court’s anti-segregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education, arguing that facilities for blacks and whites should remain separate.
“When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line,” he wrote, warning that integration “will destroy our race eventually.” In 1967, Falwell founded the Lynchburg Christian Academy — later Liberty Christian Academy — as a private school for white students.
The Lynchburg Christian Academy, in Virginia, was one of many so-called seg academies created throughout the South to circumvent desegregation. In the 1970s, these discriminatory schools lost their tax-exempt status. Feeling under siege as a result, conservative Christians started organizing politically. This was the origin of the modern religious right, and it helps explain why a movement publicly devoted to piety has stood so faithfully by Donald Trump.
In his 2014 biography of Jimmy Carter, the Dartmouth historian Randall Balmer quotes the conservative activist Paul Weyrich: “What caused the movement to surface was the federal government’s moves against Christian schools. This absolutely shattered the Christian community’s notions that Christians could isolate themselves inside their own institutions and teach what they please.” (This should sound familiar to anyone who has heard Christian conservative outrage over being forced to accommodate gay marriage.)
Tony Perkins, leader of the so-called Family Research Council, told Politico that Trump gets a “mulligan,” (a do-over) on his past moral transgressions, because he’s willing to stand up to the religious right’s true enemy: liberals. Evangelicals, Perkins says, “were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists. And I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.”
Conservative evangelicalism has been associated with bigotry, for a long time. But back in my day as a religious right leader/sidekick to my famous evangelical father Francis Schaeffer, we hoped we were about more than reaction and hate. But as I describe in my new book “Letter to Lucy-a manifesto of creative redemption for the age of Trump, fascism and lies” Trump has simply revealed the movement’s true priorities.
As I note in my book I preached from Falwell’s pulpit in the early 1980s. (My father inspired Tony Perkins to get involved in politics.) By then Falwell Sr., was ranting about the “Homosexual assault on our values” and abortion. He maintained that he was no longer a segregationist and was all about family values… and “returning America to God.”
Returning America to God seems quaint now from the party that supported Roy Moore and supports Trump. The 2016 election proves – once and for all – that the religious right is clinging to its founding racist “principles.” It’s “Moral Majority” phase was just a passing craze. It is about Trump now and power. Family values be damned!
As of 2018, the religious right has dropped even a pretense that theirs is a movement about moral values, let alone the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The mask is off. Trump may do as he pleases, whores, lies, abuse, porn stars, betray our democracy to Russia, attack the poor, strip children of medical care, make the rich richer… as long as he keeps alive the spirit of Jerry Falwell senior’s racism and segregation, updated with code words for the present tense.
Some individual evangelicals Trump supporters may still sincerely believe in Jesus, even in righteousness, mercy and compassion. But it is clear now that the evangelical movement as a whole was never really about morality, but simply an extension — by other means — of the racist white nationalism forever embedded in the Bible Belt.
Discover my new book Letter to Lucy: A Manifesto of Creative Redemption—In the Age of Trump, Fascism and Lies, a multi-touch book about art, love and parenting, from the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the prophetic music of Green Day and everything in between. Read the first chapter for free on your kindle fire or iOS device. Available now on iBooks and Amazon.
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13 Comments. Leave new
The Evangelical Mulligan ?
More like another moment of evangelical */christofascist The Ends Justify the Means hypocrisy …and to hell with the Bible they claim to adhere to and the Constitution they claim to defend
Oh well … at least we can all take a bit of pleasure and momentary schadenfreude this week as Davos makes a fool of Trump with his each and every move … making deals excluding the US right under his bloviating proboscis … showing ‘ Pink Hat ‘ protest videos in the hall just before he speaks .. Macron using a bit of diplomatic hyperbole to in essence telling Trump where to shove it ( explicit directions included ) ..
… and the world in general taking the stance that they are moving on without us ( US ) and Trump .
Sad thing is .. Trump in Davos is making us … look like even bigger fools by the minute .
Not that he needs much help mind you what with us being in our current state of
” The Collective Stupidity of America ”
* a majority of Roman and Eastern Orthodox Catholics focusing solely on one single issue … abortion are giving a Mulligan to Trump as well … begging the question … why do any of them even bother to own a Bible .. never mind claim to adhere to it … or read it .
” Some individual evangelicals Trump supporters may still sincerely believe in Jesus, even in righteousness, mercy and compassion ”
Actually Frank .. assuming they remain in support of Trump … Id say logically , theologically philosophically and more importantly Biblically …. that is an outright impossibility .
To have been fooled by Trump’s con games initially and later regretting doing so is one thing . But to remain in support of him still is a volitional act of outright Biblical rebellion in the Protestant sense … a Mortal sin according to the fundamentals of the Roman Catholic tradition …. and just plain blatant sin in Orthodox theology
But wait … there’s ( one ) more … e.g. … making a fool of Trump
Heard the one this week about the Guggenheim ? Seems ole no brow , zero culture Drumpf requested to borrow a Van Gogh for his bedroom .
Upon which the Guggenheim refused .. offering instead Maurizo Cattelan’s ” Golden Toilet ”
( yes its a real fully functioning golden toilet )
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/an-art-critic-explains-what-the-guggenheim-was-really-saying-when-it-offered-trump-a-golden-toilet/2018/01/26/953b49c4-021c-11e8-bb03-722769454f82_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_kennicott-1133am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.3772c894853c
Quite the appropriate response from the Guggenheim if you ask me .
😎
Dear Frank Schaeffer:
I keep wondering when these clowns will be recognized as the apostates that they are.
Epiphany blessings!
Just got off the phone with my Evangelical pal as he was super angry with his middle income tax increase under the “Trump tax cut” as I told him they were going to raise your taxes.
We talked about the Republican party and how there is now a huge difference between the two parties now and my friend is so very fact resistant even with money directly coming out of his pocket and transferred to the billionaire class.
His answer? Oh, you mean I should have voted for crocked Hilary?
What does Hilary have to do with Trump but I don’t watch Fox news or listen to Sean Hanity as my evangelical pal does and he is so fact resistant and it is amazing to behold.
I went to the Evangelical church tonight to visit the extended family and I had this feeling of anger towards them as I worked a union Job and have a pension and am old and on Social Security now and these people voted for a party that wants no pensions at all and cuts to Social Security and I simply despise them all now but Jesus did say one should love ones enemy.
When will they wake up? Never! And so we must get people registered to have a protest vote even if you are a Republican! To do the right thing now one must vote for the Democrats if for nothing else to simply shut these idiot Evangelicals up and hope that the Republican party moderates its views and throws these people to the dogs as that is the only thing to do with these folks….
“and the people bowed and preyed to the neon god they made”
Paul Simon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4
Nine
Dear Nine:
Never ‘give up’ believing that your family can change.
Decades of social attacks, the erosion of living standards, wages, pensions, the disintegration of law, justice, equity, truth and the very premise of public decency – these are but a few of many conditions that give cause for anger toward the status quo. Exhausted, leaderless, your relations are also thoroughly disoriented politically. I often depict the public like the drunk who is spun round and round on his heels by his so-called ‘friends.’ Every turn or so, one or another takes a swing at him. Unable to see clearly or respond effectively, he becomes more battered and bruised by the minute.
My recommendation would be that you leave off the talking points. Difficult as it is, you must find a way to craft another narrative which incorporates their grievances while rising above petty partisan bickering and bigotries. Their lot is not destined to improve; it will worsen immeasurably with the ongoing drive to censor, repress and ultimately criminalize dissent as preparations for the drive to World War III.
It’s easy to marginalize such talk as madness. It’s easy to deny the possibility of such horror. But it is coming. Demand forcefully now the recognition of the existential threat this poses to humanity’s existence and that the working class must refuse to fight WW III and your protest will be remembered as their denials and mocking comes to an end with the recognition that you were indeed correct on those points where you were deemed mad and speaking the impossible.
The development of crisis into ever-ending war will force reality upon the whole working class. The choice is between world war or world revolution that puts power in worker hands in order to stop the next world war. The only question is which will come first.
Epiphany blessings!
gdd – Thinking about your constant communist manifest rhetoric … I’ve come to the conclusion that above and beyond your delusions , hypocrisy and dare I say it heresy ( even within the context of liberation theology ) …
… the fact is you are genuinely a clueless and stupid individual verging on suicidal .
Why is quite simple .
I dare you to stand before the ‘ working class ‘ you claim to represent … say in … Moore’s Alabama …. eastern Penn … Cleveland Ohio … oh hell … lets be nice about it .. western Kansas … spouting off your delusional communist manifest rhetoric
Because if you did … guaranteed ….
1) If you were extremely lucky you’d get the ___ kicked out of you and run out of town
but ..
2) If your luck was on the wane … you’d get that ___ kicking along with an extended stay in the local jail
.. and ..
3) If your luck had run out entirely … they’d string you up from the highest tree .
Because THAT … is what the working class you pretend to understand thinks about communism
How convinced am I as to the above prognostication ? Suffice it to say I’d wager a cool $25k cash .. on top of paying your travel expenses
PS ; Funny thing how you’ve ignored Nine’s question …
Suffice it to say .. I’ll answer it for you
gdd is neither a registered voter nor has he/she/it ever voted in a US election … begging the secondary question …. does gdd even live in the US ?
Dear TJ Martin:
Here’s a thought.
I suggest you approach UAW members and explain that although corporate money greased Holiefield’s hands as he negotiated company-friendly contracts, those contracts none the less remain binding.
As you indicate, I’ve addressed Nine’s question repeatedly. I assumed this was Nine pointing out in his gracious way that I hadn’t done so. Why would you have assumed anything else? When have I hidden that?
You too often call ‘foul’ whenever served a question you would have preferred not be asked and explain what makes it so that anyone is duty-bound to violate conscience by lesser evil voting. Nor have you explained how it is that you are [apparently] not in a church when reformed polity does not allow withdrawal of membership. Nor have you said if the reason you’re not in church currently is because you’re fleeing ecclesial discipline, or have been excommunicated from your church because you are an unrepentant narcissist. You’ve been unable to conjure even a meek apology for your behavior toward our friend Gary B and his family, even though you have been asked to do so repeatedly. You substitute subterfuge for substance, and try to hold others responsible for your slant on whatever issue you care to address.
Thankfully, no one else is responsible for what you write but TJ Martin.
Epiphany blessings!
My dearest gdd are you registered to vote and will you vote? Course careful how one answers as we have our dear attack dog Dr. Martin to come after you if you answer incorrectly as I might join him (in love of course) but its the only thing allowed a protest vote for the dems and to vote out the republican idiots and then go from there…
We do not need a revolution just vote out the idiots….
Nine
Nine … by his/her own admission gdd is not a registered voter nor has he/she ever participated in a US election ..
…. because … in his / her words … gdd is too morally superior within the depths of his/her own fantasies and delusions to vote for any candidate who in gdd’s opinion does not live up to his/her tired and worn communist manifesto ideologies
.. which as a reminder has been one of my consistent bones of contention with gdd
e.g. One is NOT entitled to a political opinion nor the giving of advice when one refuses ( cannot ? ) vote
PS; … Attack dog … me likes 😎
Dear Nine:
Refusing to transfer the capacity to wage WW III to the working class, you condemn yourself to that war. IF WW III and almost certain thermo-nuclear holocaust in which millions or even billions will die seems the preferable option to you, I really can’t help you.
TJ Martin’s posts reveal him to be a malignant narcissist and a sociopath. As such he is not only unhinged. He has a very substantial propensity toward violent crime. His reply to the response you addressed contains violent imagery. In using the imagery he does, TJ Martin tacitly approves of lynching those who disagree with the standard narrative [the ‘string you up from the highest tree’ reference]. He has no tolerance for dissent beyond the boundaries that HE proscribes, and reasonably can be assumed to support fully the Google/Facebook/Twitter/etc. censorship of socialist and left websites.
Many issues ‘rile folk; but none more than truly independent political action that spurns official narratives/actions. Such action is reviled because it touches the power to command/rule. Dissent is must unnerving to those who much control.
China, Russia and Africa – war is demanded to forestall the collapse of our system of political economy. The last thing the US working class wants/needs is another world war. Therefore this cannot happen without shifting government to a thoroughly totalitarian basis. THAT is why you get the hysterical anti-Russia claims, the pretense that anyone who does not support ‘approved’ political lines is therefore a foreign agent, or has been acquired as a foreign asset.
In Iran, Tunisia, Romania, Greece, India, Germany and more experience labor unrest. The nervousness of the ruling class is seen in that 2018 began with a US police reign. Already four score lie dead, slain by police. Twice in the last century the ruling class drove the nations to world war. They are doing so again. Our political milieu is entirely consonant with such actions. So again – it isn’t a question of spurning revolution understood as transferring to the working class the capacity to wage war. The question is whether you will have that revolution or have World War III.
By rejecting one, you embrace the other.
Epiphany blessings!
An excerpt from a fine Evangelical blogger I am reading:
“As a middle finger raised boldly for all to see, Donald Trump is the true sum of conservative Evangelical Christianity and a clear sentiment of its dark soul of spiritualized hate, self-righteousness, duplicity, and greed. Though conservative Evangelical Christianity might not ever say “FU” to the world in those specific words, their messiah Donald Trump is gladly doing it for them—loud and clear.
Make no mistake and be not deceived, much of conservative Evangelical Christianity is a monster, that monster has a middle finger, and that middle finger has a name—Donald Trump.
Grace is brave. Be brave.”
http://chriskratzer.com/trump-the-middle-finger-of-conservative-evangelical-christianity/
As our Frank rants on video this dear man rants in writing and its good stuff….
Nine
Yards of yada yada—I hate time-wasters in comment sections of blogs. I don’t hate THEM. What I mean is I hate their arrogant perspective.
You are very right Frank. As usual. 😜😂💜💙💚❤️ Much love to y’all Schaeffer & EJG2 Family & Friend bases. Onward bound to Chapter 3 in my review of “Letter to Lucy”. Wondering what mischief you two guyz cooked up in chapter tres.