AN INTERESTING QUESTION....

[Trust_Reality]

23. My wife and I have been pondering that question for years.

We both grew up in deep fundamentalist evangelical communities/families. It took us many years to escape the brain washing.

Regarding Trump... He is a highly skilled con man. But he is helped a lot by preachers. A friend of ours said her 8 year old grandson reported that a playmate friend told him Trump is Jesus. Did a preacher help create that belief? If so, why? It is quite possible that a preacher did not. I think many evangelical fundamentalist preachers are personally (secretly) less radical than the nutty members of their congregations. So there is some hypocrisy for you, right there at the top, for not trying to reign in over the top nonsense.

Of course there are all kinds of social media permitting the distribution of craziness.

Religious people live inside a bubble based on various stories that are repeated over and over. The stories become their "facts". Their reality. ("Our facts" - Credit to Kelly Ann Conway for creating the term.) So, Trump and others create their own "facts" and repeat them. Seems perfectly normal to religious believers. MAGA is a bubble that holds people tightly, especially the religious.

Fear is a fundamental feature of Christianity. They need a savior. Trump can spot an opportunity like that from miles out.

Christianity is an either-or way of thinking. It is good OR evil. No compromising, fear of compromising, actually. God might not approve. Fear of making decisions that are not black and white. God might not approve. This way of thinking brings us absolute abortion restrictions that are totally cruel and inhumane. It brings us refusal to compromise regarding immigration policies -- that together with racism and fear.

Conservatism is basically fearfulness. So there is a natural confluence of fundamentalism or evangelicalism with conservatism.

Sad and confusing when observing from outside the bubble.

I know there are many people who are believers AND decent human beings who have the courage to be humane and try to understand and even appreciate people who are not functioning in their closed minded bubble, people who believe differently, people who look different, people who are different. So, we can hope they prevail.

And there are other religions about which I know little except when they engage in blatant brutality. So, my apologies to humane and open minded persons who benefit from some form of religious based philosophy. You deserve kindness and understanding just as everyone else - except Trump and people like Trump.