Why do conservative evangelical Christians admire and worship trump?

[mwb970]

As devout Christians, these people are no doubt familiar with the Fruits of the Spirit as laid out in Galatians 5:22-23. These are nine characteristics that are deemed necessary for the well-lived Christian life. Here they are:

"love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"

My question for the evangelical trump lovers is, which of these do you see trump exhibiting on a regular basis in his public and private life?

[secondwind]

1. Because he tells them what they want to hear. He's a liar, a cheat,

a panderer, etc.

[JI7]

2. They are White Supremacists

being Christian dissent make one a good person.

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. They love the blatant racism?

Hell if I know. He is the antithesis of anything that is printed in red in the Bible.

[Mariana]

20. Well, except for when Jesus encountered the Canaanite woman

Matthew 15:21-28, Jesus is hateful toward a woman who asked him to heal her child because, he said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel" and she was of a different ethnicity. He compares her to a dog begging for scraps, and only relents after she grovels enough to suit him, and agrees with his dehumanizing characterization of her.

[Effete Snob]

47. Or the woman at the well

"Get me some water. By the way, you're a slut."

[JHB]

4. Because when you get down to it, they worship power, especially superficial displays of power...

...and most of all, displays of power that show other people who is boss. It's "Woim syndrome", the vicarious thrill a bully's toady gets when he's cheering "yeah! get him!" as the bully beats up somebody else.

[Siwsan]

5. Because he looks and sounds just like their preachers?

[Zambero]

6. He bears the mark of the Enabler

Enabling racism, sexism, homophobia, religious persecution, and xenophobia, while enabling tribal instincts. And he was "sent by God". And of course, God works in mysterious ways.

[Mariana]

18. The Bible is stuffed with stories about depraved and disgusting men

whom God put in positions of great power over others, and showered with his favor and his blessings. It's not the least bit out of character for the god of the Bible to raise up someone like Trump to rule over the United States.

[LastDemocratInSC]

26. Imperfect vessels, as they say.

[JohnSJ]

7. As a non-Christian, from what I observe is that many of those self-identified Christians who follow

trump’s ideology, which promotes racism, sexism, and bigotry, fail to recognize that they are actually representing the “anti-christ” concept, that they profess to abhor.

There is sure seems to be a lot of hate emanating from a group that identifies as followers of “the prince of peace”

Just an observation from a non-Christian

[Maine Abu El Banat]

8. For these people

The Bible is a prop to shake at gay people. Reading takes time, and there is a Duck Dynasty marathon on!

[newdayneeded]

9. they've got me convinced

this is actually what Jesus is really like. He would come back wearing a MAGA hat saying "fuck the libs".

[Effete Snob]

41. Consider the "woman at the well"

Jesus rolls into town, tells a woman to get him water and then calls her a slut.

He casts demons out of some farmer and then drowns all his livestock.

Then, on his way into town, he kills a fig tree and steals a horse.

Some peoples' reading of the story is highly selective.

[Bettie]

10. That is not what white evangelical churches talk about

being inside one sounds more like one of TFG's speeches than the Fruits of the Spirit.

They are also self-identified at "Christians" but the only thing they do is show up at church on Sunday.

Way back in the early 90's, my DH's parents' preacher railed against "feminism" and women trying to move above their station by working and wearing clothing the minister didn't like.

Evangelicals aren't following the teachings of the New Testament, they are following a version that encourages them to be more like Trump than Jesus.

Heck, if I see a "Jesus Fish" on a business window or in their ad, it tells me to steer clear because they will not do business honestly. This is from experience.

ETA: I also know some people who are good and decent, who try to live as that book says they should. They are a minority and don't usually attend the loud evangelical churches.

[GoCubsGo]

33. I have long considered their churches to be primarily social clubs.

Especially the mega churches. Granted, that kind of holds true for any churches. It's about who is on your team. Yes, there are some that actually live by the teachings of Jesus, but there are a whole lot more who are just "on the team," and they're on it because that's the team to which their families belong, and they were born into it. I say that as someone who was drafted a Catholic.

I also consider the "Jesus Fish" to be a red flag. I avoid any business that uses one like the plague. It's a sure sign you're about to be screwed.

[tanyev]

11. Pfft. They don't have time for any of that New Testament woke Jesus crap.

They prefer the Old Testament "Christianity" where God helps his people take what they believe is rightfully theirs.

[sop]

12. Their support is all transactional.

In return for their support of Trump, he fulfills their extremely narrow political wish list. They don't care how flawed he is, for them Trump is simply a vehicle sent by God.

[PJMcK]

13. Because they aren't Christians

There’s nothing in their behavior that reflects the teachings of the carpenter from Nazareth.

Nothing.

They are hypocrites of the highest order. Of course they support Trump!

[JI7]

16. Many Christians are horrible people and they have done horrible things throughout history

Is the Catholic Church not Christian ?

This doesn't mean all Christians are bad but that being Christian itself doesn't make anyone a good person.

[tenderfoot]

49. I've yet to meet an Evangelical "Christian" that isn't a searing miserable asshole

eom

[Effete Snob]

48. I dunno

The "carpenter from Nazareth" seems to be clear on "believe me or go to Hell." John 14:6

[PJMcK]

50. Sure

But Jesus also taught about personal behavior and responsibility. He spoke of humility and helping those in need. He condemned hypocrisy particularly with regards to religion. These are not attitudes reflected by many of today’s Evangelicals.

Frankly, I’m an atheist do I don’t have a lot of respect for these people who are filled with hate, greed and personal ambition over helping their fellow man. I’ve studied the Bible extensively and I’m not impressed by these “Sunday Christians.”

[Effete Snob]

51. To be fair...

...a good deal of them are assholes 24/7 and not just Sunday.

[rampartc]

14. trump breaks more commandments than moses did

and regularly whines that there are only 7 deadly sins to commit.

according to the prosperity gospel trump's very riches are a sign of god's favor or, more likely ...

trump has "pool boy" level kompromat on all the televangelists.

[Mariana]

15. Religious beliefs aren't rational, by definition.

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. +1!

[Marius25]

17. Power and money

They're morally bankrupt and just use religion as a means to an end. They don't actually follow Christian teachings.

[MissMillie]

19. the answer is that you're framing the question incorrectly

Any "evangelical Christian" worshiping TFG is no such thing. I'm not even sure they're true conservatives.

The folks worshiping TFG are just plain clueless about what he's all about.

He's all about himself, of course.

[atreides1]

21. Because they have no faith in their God!!!

In truth they are not devout, that would require them to show a deep religious feeling...and they don't do that!

You're also making the assumption that they read the Bible...most will just mouth the word that they've heard during a church service...taking the word of a pastor/preacher.

Current conservative religious belief has no room for, "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"...they believe in power, control and judgement!

What they see from Trump is a man who they believe will give them what they want...a theocracy!!!

[GoCubsGo]

22. Because he hates the same people they do.

Also, just because they claim to be "devout Christians," it doesn't mean they are either devout or Christian. The vast majority of them haven't read the BuyBull beyond the cherry-picked stuff from the Old Testament that supports their hateful views. They would hate Jesus if they actually paid attention to what he preached. Or, if he was just a guy and not the "Son of God."

[Deuce]

23. They are Evil...JMO

[LakeArenal]

24. Because he suits there purpose.

Imposing their Christian dogma on the rest of us.

[Ray Bruns]

25. Because they have never read the book, that's why

[rustbeltvoice]

27. well, yes as many of you write

but, what allows for this anti-social, and anti-Christ behaviour also flows from the American version of Calvinism. The German historian Leopold von Ranke said and wrote, "John Calvin was the virtual founder of America."

You may disagree, fine. To shorten this: predestination, and once saved always saved. Man is totally depraved, and God elects those that He saves. Once you are "in", saved: you can do any damn thing you want, and it doesn't matter.

American "exceptionalism" gels well with this sort of theology.

[leftstreet]

36. +1

[Lars39]

29. To answer your subject line...

they were taught from the pulpit that Trump is their King Cyrus, sent by God.

To answer your last question…they don’t care if he exhibits any of those nine characteristics because King Cyrus was full of faults, but he accomplished God’s will nonetheless.

[Hotler]

30. A trump supporter being interviewed by msnbc at a campaign rally.

"He's our chance to hurt democrats."

[Johnny2X2X]

31. Violence towards women

Evangelicals read the bible and don't see, "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control". They see vengeance, they see a way to subjugate people, and above all, they see violence towards and control of women.

They don't love Trump in spite of the fact that he's a serial sexual assaulter who disrespects women, they love him because of it. Trump has a record of rape and sexual assault as well as physical assaults on women, this is the natural order of the world to them, one where women are treated like property and blamed for most of the world's problems.

Trump is their hero because he cheats on his wives and rapes women. That's the ideal for a man based on the way they read the bible. This is the natural order of things to them. They really are not much different than ISIS. And if left to their own devices and given more control, they'd start pursuing the same practices that ISIS does. They ran a candidate in my home US House district who literally wrote that women shouldn't be allowed to work out of the home, and they shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Your version of Christianity isn't their version. Their version is violent and vile. Their version would see women stoned to death for daring to question their husbands. Their version would see petty thieves have their limbs cut off. Their version would relegate women to being little more than livestock for men to beat and use. That's their version of Christianity and they can back it all up with the Bible.

[brewens]

34. The deal is that once they kill off all the people they hate, they can then exhibit

those characteristics. That makes it gods will to make it so.

[Bettie]

35. BUT FIRST!

The war between the various flavors of "Christian"...who will win, Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists...there are so many!

[maxrandb]

37. His supporters shoot and kill a bunch of folks at Synagogues and LGBTQ Nightclubs

So there is that...

[treestar]

38. My theory always has been

They mean white. White people church. They don’t know much about the actual religion. It spread through Europe and was the dominant religion of the original colonists.

[maxrandb]

39. They haven't made it past the Book of Leviticus in their Bible Study class nt

[Amishman]

40. because they hate us and we hate him

He pisses off the people who piss them off.

It's essentially a bizarre case of schadenfreude.

[MatthewG.]

42. Because he furthers their interests.

He picked judges that gave the Religious Right everything they want. That’s basically why. There’s also a heavy overlap between membership in conservative churches and reactionary populist foolishness in general, and Trump plays to that.

I know one or two educated Evangelical conservatives who acknowledge that Trump’s a sleazy hustler, but they’ll say getting the right judges appointed is what matters to them.

There’s also a solid tradition among religious conservatives of believing that God uses “sinners” to serve his purposes. In practice, this basically translates as: “the ends always justify the means. if someone not allied with us doesn’t follow our strict moral codes, we’ll condemn them loudly. If someone allied with us doesn’t follow our strict moral codes, that’s not at all a problem. Liberals consider hypocrisy a sin, but we consider it a good thing.”

The main lesson for progressives here, at least to my mind, is to abandon moral purity tests in politics. If a candidate hasn’t killed anyone or committed an actionable crime, and they’re willing to make progressive appointments or enact decent laws, we should basically always unite to support them in a general election however flawed their life or record.

[Mad_Machine76]

43. It blows my mind

My guess though is that many the "Christians" that support him don't exhibit those aforementioned traits either and know that Trump will pander to their bigotry.

[Blue Owl]

44. They choose blind faith over the critical thinking required to see he's obviously a con man

[Happy Hoosier]

45. I mean, in my experience....

Most Conservative Evangelicals use relgion as a prop. Most are unfamiliar with the actual texts of their religion, mostly knowing isolated passages and whatever their pastor tells them it says.

I mean, how many conservative evangelicals are even aware how much the 4 Gospels disagree with each other? Or that scholars, even Christian scholars, believe that a large amount of the "pailing letters" were not, in fact written by Paul at all.

They use fragments of Christian doctrine to justify their world view, rather than shaping their world view by what their religious texts would suggest.

[0rganism]

46. 3 reasons immediately come to mind

Justice Gorsuch
Justice Kavanaugh
Justice Barrett

Trump is seen not as a Christian paragon, but as a flawed conduit through which their god fulfills their idea of His plan

[LeftInTX]

52. The Supreme Court

[roamer65]

53. Because they aren't Christians.

They are fascists.