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thomhartmann

(3,978 posts)
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 11:52 AM Apr 2021

Republicans & Trump have thrown Evangelical Christianity into a full-blown crisis

Last edited Tue Apr 6, 2021, 01:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Can Depraved Evangelical Christianity Reform Itself or Should It Just Go Away?

(I'd clicked the wrong folder and posted this in DU Lounge; just deleted that and reposted it here in General Discussion)

Republican politicians are doubling down on exploiting religious people, and its now killing churches - and people! - in a way not seen in living memory.

We’ve watched absolute depravity wash across our politics over the last few decades, promoted by the same politicians who wave a religious banner to get votes. It ranges from a stolen election in 2000, to being lied into two wars, and having four years of a presidency with nothing to show for it except a tax cut for billionaires, the destruction of international relationships, and 500,000 dead Americans.

We had a president who raped women; made fun of mentally disabled people; tried to take away Obamacare, Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and unemployment from American citizens; and intentionally tore America apart racially and religiously just for money and power.

He ripped children from their mother’s arms on the border, and then tortured those kids for years, killing at least seven of them. He called Nazi white supremacists “very fine people,” tried to eliminate healthcare for poor Amerians, and vilivied refugees — all in the name of Christianity.

Prominent among the mob that attacked the US Capitol on January 6 were “Jesus 2020“ flags and Christian iconography. One group carried a large wooden cross, and hundreds of people knelt to pray before attacking the capitol on that terrible day.

The day before, January 5, a group of religious Trump supporters held a “Jericho March” in DC, carrying oversize crosses and singing hymns as they paraded in circles around the capital as if they were Joshua circling the ancient city of Jericho so its walls would supernaturally collapse.

This is not what Jesus would have done; supporting politicians was anathema to his ministry. He preached morality, not politics.

Throughout my lifetime, church attendance had been fairly steady, ranging from a high of 73% when I was born in 1951 to a low of around 65% when George W. Bush was sworn into office. This year, though, it hit 47%.

Fewer than half of Americans now attend church. Organized religion is collapsing across our nation.

Republican strategist Rick Wilson wrote a book titled Everything Trump Touches Dies. He’s right, and religion is the latest casualty.

Back at the founding of our republic, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison had a running debate about religion and government throughout most of their lives.

Jefferson, like Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin and George Washington, was a Deist, essentially an atheist. He was convinced that one of the biggest threats to what he called “a republican form of government” was religion.

He was terrified that ministers or priests might run for political office, and even proposed what became Article VI of the Constitution, which says, “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

Madison, a churchgoer, believed that America would be just fine with Christians in charge, but that the biggest threat to religion and our country’s churches would be their corruption by the government.

When he became President, Madison‘s first veto was to reject a piece of legislation that would’ve given a federal subsidy to a church in Washington DC to feed needy people.

No government should be giving money to churches, Madison said, regardless of purpose, and the proposed law he vetoed would, he wrote in his veto message, “be a precedent for giving to religious societies as such a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civil duty.” He insisted the money go straight from the government to the poorhouses and not run through the churches, because he was convinced it would corrupt them.

Turns out they were both right. And the GOP has promoted both the harm to government and the harm to organized religion.

The Republican Party has been cynically manipulating Christians for political gain, particularly white evangelicals, ever since Ronald Reagan and his Vice President George HW Bush hired Bush‘s son, George W., to do “outreach” to the white Evangelical community.

In exchange for their votes, Republicans have repeatedly promised — and delivered — to block IRS enforcement of laws that a church cannot maintain their tax-exempt status if they engage in politics.

They’ve also poured literally billions of taxpayer dollars into churches to provide services from foster care to daycare to meals to medical services, all in ways that would’ve given President and “Father of the Constitution” Madison a heart attack.

Churches and multimillionaire televangelists, for their part, have returned the favor by preaching Republican politics from the pulpit and on thousands of religious radio stations across the country.

Rightwing pastors have become a fixture in Republican politics, as Jeff Sharlet chronicles in his book The Family. From $100,000 heated dog houses to multiple multimillion-dollar mansions to private jets, their embrace of the GOP has corrupted their own ministries and confused their followers.

And now, at the behest of Donald Trump and the Republican party, white Christians are literally killing each other. White evangelicals are the one, identifiable single group in America with the highest probability of refusing to get a vaccine.

Having lived inside the Reagan/Bush/Trump cult for decades, they’ve been conditioned to believe any old bullshit Republican politicians feed them.

So when Trump and his fellow homicidal Republican governors told them that wearing masks was not a good thing, and cast doubts on the vaccine (Trump and his wife got vaccinated, but in secret during the last weeks of his presidency), they were primed and completely vulnerable to crazed conspiracy theories promoted on the internet by hustlers and narcissists in America and hostile foreign governments pretending to be Americans.

As a Christian myself, and a person who agrees with John Donne’s sentiment that “every man’s death diminishes me,” this saddens me deeply.

On the other hand, setting aside the unnecessary deaths, it might be a good thing. The rot in today’s version of white Evangelical Christianity has grown so deep and so destructive that a wake-up call is necessary. Indeed, a reformation is needed, both in religion and politics.

From the days that Reagan was cutting deals with a generation of television preachers mostly interested in mansions and private jets through today’s preachers pushing politicized vaccine misinformation, the corruption of religion by Republican politicians has become a full-blown crisis for many parts of the church and her followers.

The depravity of Republican politics is killing religion, or at least what we today call religion. At the same time, conservative “religious leaders” have done their best to fleece Republican parishioners.

Will Republican politicians stop exploiting religion for their own gain? Will people of faith turn away from the modern-day Republican Caesars whose gnarled, depraved fingers are reaching out to them every Sunday?

Or will America end up like most Scandinavian and Northern European countries, with churches relegated to ceremonial spaces for weddings and funerals and political parties avoiding the subject of faith?

I don’t have an answer, but asking the question is vital.

Original source with links: hartmannreport.com
36 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Republicans & Trump have thrown Evangelical Christianity into a full-blown crisis (Original Post) thomhartmann Apr 2021 OP
Thanks again, Thom! IrishAfricanAmerican Apr 2021 #1
Sorry - they did it to themselves malaise Apr 2021 #2
"Let us prey" - nice! Pinback Apr 2021 #9
Here they call it the prosperity gospel malaise Apr 2021 #13
The collectors of PG seem to do much better in the prosperity than the donors. keithbvadu2 Apr 2021 #23
well as the joke goes malaise Apr 2021 #28
A "religion" that worships Trump is exactly NOT Christianity. dchill Apr 2021 #3
It's the "prosperity gospel". SergeStorms Apr 2021 #24
The Religious Right have become total rageaholics. Girard442 Apr 2021 #4
GOP worships antiChrist. blm Apr 2021 #5
This is why my denomination doesn't have flags in the sanctuary gratuitous Apr 2021 #6
Excellent post! redstatebluegirl Apr 2021 #7
No crazy like religious crazy. twodogsbarking Apr 2021 #8
and continues to prove it. Amen. Evolve Dammit Apr 2021 #14
Human's will use superstition to justify anything. Contradictions are swept aside by "faith" in the jalan48 Apr 2021 #10
I think the better question to ask is when will religion stand up for what is truly right vs. wrong? SWBTATTReg Apr 2021 #11
Never seta1950 Apr 2021 #25
Great questions! n/t AwakeAtLast Apr 2021 #29
Great post. dalton99a Apr 2021 #12
I have a $100,000 heated doghouse. lagomorph777 Apr 2021 #15
This From Trump Toady Jenna Ellis: Collimator Apr 2021 #16
FUCK Evangelicals! Joe Nation Apr 2021 #17
Honesty - a lot of these great christian patriots Cosmocat Apr 2021 #18
Cognitive Dissonance Marcuse Apr 2021 #19
Great Read! Sane1 Apr 2021 #20
There has always been those who use religion for power NullTuples Apr 2021 #21
Call me a cynic Thom but I'll say that's a big no yonder Apr 2021 #22
Roe V Wade in 1973 was the opportunity that the GOP exploited andym Apr 2021 #26
the fake Pisstians did this to themselves, their continued denial reveals total guilt bringthePaine Apr 2021 #27
It has seeped into the church I attend. AwakeAtLast Apr 2021 #30
The churches near me are doing fine. Maybe that is because no-one needs to go hungry. marie999 Apr 2021 #31
One of my "favourite" anecdotes from the Previous Guy was between the election and his inauguration. BobTheSubgenius Apr 2021 #32
QAnon under a different name. They've been off the rails for 40 years. BlueNProud Apr 2021 #33
Credit where it's due, that's a great article, Thom. OnDoutside Apr 2021 #34
Evangelical Christianity turned into a death cult so fast I didn't really notice. Initech Apr 2021 #35
Kickski Snarkoleptic Apr 2021 #36

malaise

(267,796 posts)
2. Sorry - they did it to themselves
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 12:08 PM
Apr 2021

This has long been the Let us Prey movement full of snake oil salesmen and women. They merely merged with the other leading Cons and grifters.

Pinback

(12,134 posts)
9. "Let us prey" - nice!
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 01:26 PM
Apr 2021

Don't think I've seen that one before.

Just this morning I was looking again at the excellent "Supply Side Jesus" comic from Al Franken's book Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (illustrated by Don Simpson). First published in 2003, it's still relevant today:

https://www.beliefnet.com/news/2003/09/the-gospel-of-supply-side-jesus.aspx

malaise

(267,796 posts)
13. Here they call it the prosperity gospel
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 01:35 PM
Apr 2021

Both the leadership and many of their followers are the same.
I've been using 'Let us Prey' and 'Blessed by the Tithes that Bind' here for ages

malaise

(267,796 posts)
28. well as the joke goes
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:52 PM
Apr 2021

the owners of the collection plates throw them all up to their various gods and whatever comes back down (all) is theirs. In this instance they love gravity although they teach the opposite and promise their faithful (read those who pay the tithes and remain obedient and subservient ) a flight into the heavens while carrying dead weight - the opposite of their money scam. The money comes down for the money changers and the faithful get the promise of milk and honey in the sky. And we wonder how Trump fooled them? :ëvilgrin:

dchill

(38,315 posts)
3. A "religion" that worships Trump is exactly NOT Christianity.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 12:11 PM
Apr 2021

And the Golden Rule has nothing to do with what your toilet is made of.

SergeStorms

(18,882 posts)
24. It's the "prosperity gospel".
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:38 PM
Apr 2021

For many so-called "christians" this is the only christianity that exists. They see no conflict with actual Christians on this, and certainly no shame in worshipping their real deity, which is money.
Supply-side jesus is their leader, and they'd follow supply-side jesus over a cliff, if that's where he led them.

Girard442

(6,059 posts)
4. The Religious Right have become total rageaholics.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 12:24 PM
Apr 2021

One would hope they could kick the addiction before they destroy us all.

Maybe they should ask for help from a Higher Power.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
6. This is why my denomination doesn't have flags in the sanctuary
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 12:38 PM
Apr 2021

Too many people get politics confused with their faith, and sooner or later (usually sooner), they come to love one master while despising the other or despise one master while loving the other. If only they'd been warned.

jalan48

(13,797 posts)
10. Human's will use superstition to justify anything. Contradictions are swept aside by "faith" in the
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 01:27 PM
Apr 2021

superstition. I think it was the Calvinist's who justified rich vs poor by saying if you were rich it meant God liked you better. Superstition will NEVER prove to be a rational solution to anything.

SWBTATTReg

(21,856 posts)
11. I think the better question to ask is when will religion stand up for what is truly right vs. wrong?
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 01:33 PM
Apr 2021

When will organized religion quit being a tool and when will organized religion start policing itself, since apparently, there are no rules to flinging open the doors and declaring oneself a pastor and their building a church, and then start collecting donations? One can see the nutbag pastors out there today in droves.

No wonder percentages are down among those who claim to go to church, participate in services, etc. And guess who did it? The churches themselves. No one else did it, we don't see demons running amok in this Country, only the false prophets that god warned us amply about in the Bible.

lagomorph777

(30,613 posts)
15. I have a $100,000 heated doghouse.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 01:55 PM
Apr 2021

But I live in it with them.

In this part of the country, it's a pretty cheap house.

Collimator

(1,639 posts)
16. This From Trump Toady Jenna Ellis:
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:09 PM
Apr 2021

Literally no one worships Trump. Maybe you need to be more than “reasonably familiar” with the Gospel. I’d be happy to introduce you to the real Jesus and true Christianity, Joy. DM me. Or start by reading Romans and the Gospels.

— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) April 5, 2021


Dang, girl! You forgot the little Copyright mark after "real Jesus" and the trademark symbol after "true Christianity". As in

True Christianity™.

Joe Nation

(961 posts)
17. FUCK Evangelicals!
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:09 PM
Apr 2021

They have used their access to politics to make the rest of us the victims of their idiotic belief system. FUCK THEM!

Cosmocat

(14,543 posts)
18. Honesty - a lot of these great christian patriots
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:09 PM
Apr 2021

are neither.


NOW, no doubt pretty much the entire religious community in this country has been corrupted by conservative politics, so if it is 47% who actually drag their butts to church, the vast majority are going to vote R if they show up to vote.

But, I know more than a few who fancy themselves as christian who don't much go to church or really in any other way act the part other than getting the vapors about liberals.

Sane1

(92 posts)
20. Great Read!
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:14 PM
Apr 2021

I think the author should have at least mentioned "He Screwed a Porn Star", since evangelicals despise porn.
And also the whole "We have to Open Up the Economy", over killing grandma because we have to show that wearing a mask denies us of our freedom argument.

NullTuples

(6,017 posts)
21. There has always been those who use religion for power
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:14 PM
Apr 2021

My opinions:

"Will Republican politicians stop exploiting religion for their own gain?"


No, because it's a mutual effort matched from the side of evangelical leaders and has been for decades (see: Dominionism).

"Will people of faith turn away from the modern-day Republican Caesars whose gnarled, depraved fingers are reaching out to them every Sunday?"


Some will, some won't. Those who have an emotional need to have power over someone else, anyone else will stay with the GOP religions. Especially when that power is based on sexism, ableism, racism and so on.

"Or will America end up like most Scandinavian and Northern European countries, with churches relegated to ceremonial spaces for weddings and funerals and political parties avoiding the subject of faith?"


That does seem to be a stable, non-intrusive, respectful way for religion to exist in a non-uniform, diverse society. But I have no doubt it's the last thing GOP religious leaders want.

yonder

(9,631 posts)
22. Call me a cynic Thom but I'll say that's a big no
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:14 PM
Apr 2021

to your rhetorical question:

"Or will America end up like most Scandinavian and Northern European countries..."

I wish it could be different but this country is on a hellbound train of sorts.

Thanks for posting this.

andym

(5,441 posts)
26. Roe V Wade in 1973 was the opportunity that the GOP exploited
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 02:48 PM
Apr 2021

The right to an abortion is the key issue that the GOP has used to attract evangelicals starting in the 1970s. It is a wedge issue that guarantees evangelical support. It is not negotiable for evangelicals AFAIK. They don't seem to care about whether their religion is corrupted by the likes of Trump.

AwakeAtLast

(14,112 posts)
30. It has seeped into the church I attend.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 04:04 PM
Apr 2021

It's not even Evangelical, but United Methodist.

I love being a Methodist and what it stands for. However, I live in one of the reddest counties in Southern Illinois, and most of my brethren have gone batshit nutty.

They became incensed about wearing masks, social distancing, and not coming to church at all when the virus was really bad. They blamed the pastor and the bishop for requesting and advocating for these things. They now want to completely separate from the Methodist Church altogether. They were really mad when they found out that the building is owned by the Methodist Church. In other words, it's not going to be that easy.

Other churches in our area never shut down, never required masks, and never distanced themselves from each other. They bring this up all the time. Never mind the fact that people in this church have contracted the virus and some have died, including my uncle. I have asked many times when people discuss this about stewardship and what that means. Evidently these people don't know the definition of the word.

I'm afraid I am going to have to find a different Methodist Church to attend and I'm sad. I grew up in this church and have many wonderful memories there. Unfortunately the bad memories are starting to outweigh the good.

 

marie999

(3,334 posts)
31. The churches near me are doing fine. Maybe that is because no-one needs to go hungry.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 04:12 PM
Apr 2021

There is plenty of food at the food drives. No one has a leaky roof or anything else wrong with their home because the churches have volunteers who are carpenters, electricians, and plumbers and their members donate whatever is needed to fix their homes. Somebody sick in your home, you have people coming in to help 24 hours a day. We know because for the week our daughter lay dying in our home all our needs were taken care of by family, friends, and some people we didn't really know. Maybe that is what religion is supposed to be.

BobTheSubgenius

(11,535 posts)
32. One of my "favourite" anecdotes from the Previous Guy was between the election and his inauguration.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 05:49 PM
Apr 2021

At one point in the campaign, he had been asked to which denomination, if any, he belonged. He answered "Presbyterian," but it soon became evident that he was just giving an answer he thought might score him a point or two, or at least not lose any.

Very pleased to hear this, two high-ranking Presbyterian clerics made an appointment to meet with him. During their conversation, Drumpf told them that he had done really well with "you evangelicals."

More than a little taken aback, but not as much as they were about to be, they hastened to explain that they were not evangelicals, but Presbyterians.

Drumpf, obviously having forgotten his campaign revelation, was a bit confused, but gathered his wits enough to say "But you're Christians, right?"

OnDoutside

(19,906 posts)
34. Credit where it's due, that's a great article, Thom.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 06:49 PM
Apr 2021

The one quibble I would have is where you say

"The depravity of Republican politics is killing religion"

One could argue that Republican politics is exposing the depraving of religion. Those who control denominations in Christian America, have been there for decades. The GOP and ultimately Trump, have hooked them on the drug of Anti Abortion, and they've given them the space to compromise and expose their moral disintegration.

Here in Ireland, Mass attendance went from about 90% in the 70s and 80s, to low 30s just before Covid. And it's never going to return to those levels, largely because the moderates have largely left the Catholic Church, leaving hardliners to run the show. Their attitude is that if you don't follow the rules that they impose, then you have no place in the Church. So people left. When the Evangelical church goers eventually figure out that they have been played for fools, I'm certain the same thing will happen in the US.

The longer term problem though is how society copes without some sort of a moral compass, that replaces what is currently there now.


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