Stop Walking on Religious Eggshells
the picture gets clearer as the Republican Party gets nastier
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind — 1 Peter 2:1
Irrespective of my personal relationship with Christianity over the past 72+ years, I understand and appreciate its basic messages as credible guides to personal and other human relationships. And even Christianity acknowledges that we’ll all fail to live up to those standards now and then. The key is to recognize and accept those failings, learn from your experience and try to do better going forward. In fact, Christians are expected to constantly question their appearance to the secular world. The Apostle Paul in Titus 2: 7-8 says, to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 1 Peter 3:15 implores Christians, we should conduct ourselves with gentleness and respect, not in angry, boastful tones.
Perhaps this responsibility as representatives of Jesus was behind the difficulties and conflicts in 2016 that white Christians far and wide experienced in eventually coming around to support Donald Trump, particularly after his “grab ‘em by the pu$$y” comments just weeks before the election. But Trump apologized and white Christians rationalized their way out of that corner and promptly voted overwhelmingly for Trump, 77% among evangelicals. And so, with that overwhelming support of white Christians, we had Trump as President — his tsunami of lies every day, a constant assault on the constitution (the free press as “enemy of the people”), separating from their parents (and losing track of) thousands of children, justifying neo-Nazi marchers, demeaning the disabled, and an every single day circus of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. At its conclusion there was COVID with its own brand of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind accented by hundreds-of-thousands of preventable deaths.
At precisely that point, in November of 2020, white Christians and evangelicals carefully considered the options, having clearly observed Trump’s despicable- self on full display for four long years, and voted once again almost 60% and 84%, respectively, for Donald Trump, who had squeaked past his own COVID death by a whisker himself just a month before. They would, however, be disappointed to find that malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind proved an ineffective strategy in 2020 even though Trump’s share of white protestant and evangelical votes increased from 2016 and from the 2018 midterm elections.
The new year 2020 immediately brought an organized attempt to overturn the election by white and evangelical Christians in the congress and in selected states around the country by spreading easily debunked lies about election fraud and, as a last gasp, beating and pepper spraying police officers, defiling the very seat of democracy, seeking to execute the Vice-President and other officials, and offering up prayers of thanks in the trashed and defaced and abandoned halls of congress.
As the earliest years of the 2020’s passed, white Christians and evangelicals watched as Trump was found civilly guilty of both election fraud and sexual abuse, was indicted on multiple counts for stealing and sharing highly classified information and for his role in the January 6, 2020 attempted coup, turned his back on those he had lured into his coup attempt and continued to spread an even more vulgar brand of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. They have watched over the past few weeks as once faithful governing partners — his evangelical Vice President, Defense Secretaries, Chief of Staff, Attorney General, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and hundreds of others — not only opposed his 2024 candidacy for President, but also called him thoroughly “unfit” to hold the office of President and warned of his fascist tendencies. White Christians clearly understand his intent to deport millions of immigrants (including children), and to use the power of the federal government to prosecute his “enemies.” They are fully aware of the undercurrent of violence, and of Trump’s threat to set the military against fellow citizens. And, in the latest polling from September, even as the flood of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind worsens, white Christians and evangelicals stand firm with their guy….61% and 82% respectively. No hesitation, no second thoughts, no regrets — full speed ahead. Fu#k Peter and Paul — Trump sets the standards now!
So, what are we to make of this? First, it’s worth reviewing the intent of the apostles’ insistence that Christians put their best face forward — in part to secure the reputation of early Christianity (more correctly for that era, the followers of Jesus), as quoted earlier — to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us (Titus 2: 7-8). Are we to believe that this component of their faith — protecting the reputation of Christianity — has even crossed the minds of the great majority of white Christians-at-large and white Christian leaders in particular over the past 8+ years? By any objective standard this is laughable. Today, even as Christianity bleeds followers by the minute, there is seemingly no instinct to reconsider how this embrace of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander reflects upon the “faithful” (I use that term very loosely for reasons that should be obvious by this point).
So, as it stands the infamous “moral majority” has cast aside its self-proclaimed moral “leadership” and found their own individual morals incredibly flexible among a huge majority to seize this grand opportunity to shove their “pretend” standards up our collective asses (read Project 2025). I find that incredibly unsettling and, frankly, monumentally depressing. Should they manage to carry their “King Cyrus” into the Presidency, however, white Christians will undoubtedly find that the mythological fable of Icarus was prophetic, as Donald Trump will toss them unceremoniously, having outlived their usefulness, into historical infamy. There will, however, be little satisfaction for the rest of us by that time.
In the broader view of this decade of shame, I do not understand why the long “story” of Donald Trump consistently fails to identify THE group most responsible for his daily presence in our lives. White Christians make up more than 80% of Republican voters, and yet our media rarely touches upon this stark exposure of hypocrisy in white communities of faith. Why the “hands off?” We wonder how the young will vote, or about the voting gap between males and females. Is the Latino vote migrating? Will young black men exceed expected participation rates? Who’s winning mail-in ballots? The real question about going beyond malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind in politics is, when will white Christians step back and take look in the mirror? And as we come to the fifth election cycle with Donald Trump sitting in for Jesus as moral compass the 2024 polling suggests that answer is never.
Should Kamala Harris prevail 4 days from today we cannot overlook what brought us to the brink — white Christians. If white Christians eventually claim too much was expected of them, the response is obvious — you have always demanded from others to possess that highest seat of moral authority. And along those same lines, as we limp forward from Donald Trump we should not fail to notice from the charts I have included that in the long run atheists have proven to have a much sharper eye for recognizing what a moral choice actually looks like.
My frustration with the religious in today’s politics has shown its face in these previous posts
Indecent Exposure
What’s Worse — the Cults of the Cucks?
“Pro-life” is a Joke
White Christians Share Something With Donald Trump
And Jesus Said Unto Them- “Stop Digging”
The Parable of the Good Samaritan