Unholy Week: Trump and the Bible
Mr. Trump, Bible and Christian Nationalism: It’s time for this Bad and Dangerous Synergy to Be Spoken Against Soundly Now And Defeated at the Polls in November.
Just how much of the absurdity and now, if not too before, may I say the idolatry, of the former President Trump, are we to withstand?
We cannot let Trump’s comments about the sale of the Bible and his “endorsement” of the Bible and his attachment of such sale and bible reading to the support of a Christian nationalistic America go unanswered.
Trump’s latest foray into sales and endeavors for support for his candidacy is blatantly a grab for support for a Christian nationalism that is anything but about being a Christian or about being our American nation, for that matter.
America is a nation because of the liberties ensconced in the U.S. Constitution, not because of the Bible. And in that Constitution we clearly state that this nation will not, by law, in governing, favor one religion over another nor prejudice one religion against another.
But it’s not about Trump’s Constitution raging that really riles me today. It is Trump’s use of the Bible, the narrative that supports anything but Trump’s personal lifestyle (what we know of it!) nor his politics and policies therein. The Christian Bible is concerned about God’s mission of blessing and healing the world in Jesus Christ. It is not concerned with supporting nation-states and their agendas (not even today’s Israel nation-state, mind you, but that is for another discussion). Of course people that are “blessed and healed” live in nations. And the national politics of each nation-state affect the people. But the Bible is not a nation-state document and supports no nation-state.
The Church of Jesus Christ, across all denominations, need to condemn Christian Nationalism for what it is: a hijacking of the Christian faith in order denigrate many and elevate some. And we need to repudiate Trump’s abuse of Scripture for his own political gain as well as how in his abuse he decimates the actual and real value of the Biblical Narrative.
I read recently (The New Yorker, “Maga Mike,” March 25, 2024) that back in 2017, not long after Trump’s inauguration, now House Speaker Mike Johnson finished a conference call with Trump by promising to pray for Trump and that Trump responded by saying, “Tell God I said hi.” It’s possible, of course, that that comment was friendly repartee between two very familiar with conversations with God. But do you really think so? I do not. Trump, in merchandising the new “God Bless America Bible” called on Americans to pray again (“Make America Pray Again!”). I’m thinking Trump does not do that praying but appreciates God as one he can parlay as important so that others who actually do pray might think that he, Trump, is about the things that God is about. Let me get really cynical and say that I doubt that Trump could recite, from memory, the Lord’s Prayer. And even if he could, what do you think Trump thinks about calling on God’s kingdom to come to earth instead of Trump’s empire to expand?
“Tell God I said hi.” My goodness, we so need to stop this nonsense, no, bad sense, of Trump’s campaign for election by speaking out again his use of the Bible as a campaign brochure and the Christian faith as belief in an American nation, and showing up at the polls and defeating him soundly. .
