#evangelicals #trump #2020Election
I’ve written a few articles here on religion, one about its possible genesis and another on the power it has over our decisions and choices. Today I was listening to a new episode from Throughline (below) where their focus was on the birth of what we have come to know as religious evangelicals in the US.
To be fair, the word refers to anyone that preaches and follows a Christian faith (there are various denominations), and seeks to convert others in the process. Which means that it’s pretty silly to cast a wide net across “evangelicals” with any level of fairness. Not all evangelicals think, or are, alike.
Instead, I thought it was interesting how certain “evangelicals” (those willing to distort their truth for power), have risen in the current political arena all the while claiming to be faithful and demanding it in return. I’m referring to that group of “evangelicals” that continue to support Trump even after he’s shown to be someone with little in the form of faith or scruples. When the 2016 election gave us a choice of a bad vs. worse, I can understand our wanting to pick the best of the two. In a binary choice, it’s difficult to argue over nuances. I get it. But how do you align your faith with a corrupt official when the evidence presents itself. Let’s not call him a liar, OK. A liar knows he’s lying, Trump is morally deficient. It has been 2.5 years since his election and what have you gotten in return? Ah yes, two supreme court justices in exchange for no environmental protections, a crisis at the border (of his own doing due to his stupidity on social media), a possible conflict with two nuclear countries (so far), trade issues with the second (soon to be first) largest economy, and becoming the laughing stock of the world.
When the rapture happens and God asks, “what did you do to make the world better?“, make sure you focus on your contributions and don’t make the mistake of mentioning your continued support for some that was well described in the scriptures as a con man. After all, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…
Enjoy the episode, it’s full of new nuggets of historical information like the sinking of the titanic, desegregation, a poster-child evangelical for the people vs. a non-evangelical with the promise of more power, and fighting for 1000 years of peace before Jesus would return but choosing to throw all of that away for power instead.
I could not resist this quote from the end of the episode by an evangelical woman: “In every word he speaks, I see the hand of God upon him (Trump)”
