Watching a woman stand up and ask Donald Trump how his religious faith has deepened since 2015 has settled the debate around whether there are in fact stupid questions. There are. Here was Donald Trump’s answer to the following question: “How has your faith grown since you decided in 2015 to run for president, and who has mentored you in your faith journey? Remember before watching that he has been credibly accused of sexually assaulting 26 women, and was found liable of sexual abusing E. Jean Carrol and disparaging her.
This is precisely why I just “can’t” anymore with religion. How any religious person in their right mind can support this heretic is beyond my comprehension. He is the Devil Incarnate, and those who follow him, his acolytes.
These 'faith' healing videos were heart-wrenching to watch. I was raised, from the ages of 3 to 13, in a violent 'Christian' cult (Wide World Church of God) and experienced what no child should ever have to endure. When I was 6 years old, my little friend of the same age in this cult, accidentally dipped a cup in a sink full of bleach. In this 'Christian' cult, seeing medical doctors was not allowed. I remember this innocent and very sick little girl being raised high by the minister in front of the congregation with many followers around with their hands up, singing and praying, and the minister preaching loudly. The next week, my little friend was gone. She died. This is one of so many horrible things I saw and experienced. One of the tenets of this violent 'Christian' cult was to discipline your children, physically, so they wouldn't do anything wrong. Terrifying. Later the cult leaders were caught on video with prostitutes, and were found to be corrupt in numerous ways. The cult went underground, changed its name and rose up as something else. The damages they did, though, live on. We must Rise Up against this insanity. There is NO LOVE in these cults. Benny Hill was violent!
Trump is VIOLENT! These are tithing business, political opportunists. Thank you Steve, for speaking out on this insanity and bringing attention to the politicization of 'Christianity'. Trump is Evil.
You know Steve, try as I might.... I just don’t get it. How our fellow countrymen & women listen and believe in this nonsense is beyond my comprehension. Growing up in the 70’s as a kid in Wyoming I was surrounded by people who believed in this horse shit. I found it terrifying then - it was truly scary to a 10yr old ranch girl in pigtails. I still have vivid memories of how frightened I felt around people like this, never mind that they felt it their personal responsibility to tell a child she was not saved yet and would be devoured by all evil on this planet. I see nothing has changed.
I am a Christian. I am an evangelical Christian. I am a “Southern Baptist.” I am a 70 year old white man from Texas.
Thank you for what you do and have been doing, Steve. Please keep on keeping on.
I am a pastor’s son and have been around Baptist, etc. preachers my whole life. I am a lawyer though, not a professional cleric. There have always been outright charlatans, hustlers, and outright perverts like Paula White, Benny Hinn, et al., especially in the more extreme versions of Christianity in general, and the evangelical wing in particular. Almost all, really all I knew, garden variety evangelicals saw the televangelists for what they were---and are.
While Billy Graham was not a perfect man by any means, and he had his own unhealthy fascination with the political and powerful, I do not believe for one second he would have done what his son has done with Trump. It breaks my heart and drives me almost to despair. It is literally unbelievable. Graham and Robert Jeffress and sadly, many, many others like them, have sold their birthright for a “mess of pottage.”
Thank you for quoting Jesus from the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. Most of the evangelical world in America has thoroughly sold its soul to Trump---Donald freakingTrump!!!!---and for what? Political power? Supreme Court judges? Owning the Libs? Being given permission to be cruel to immigrants and anyone else you do not like? They appear to believe they have gained the whole world, but they truly have lost their own souls. Mark 8:36.
I have my own non scientific theory about people like Franklin Graham, Mike Lindell, and yes, RFK, Jr. Drugs in earlier days, even long ago, shortcircuits the brain somehow, so some, at least, and many I think, lose some part of their reasoning and analytical and even “common sense” abilities. They all seem to be so susceptible to “crazy talk” and have totally lost their minds and need serious help. Why does no one close to them see that? These people are not operating in reality as I know it.
Of course, I guess it is not just recovering drug addicts. Many millions of my supposed fellow Christ followers have decided one of the most despicable, perverse, evil and pathetic human beings who ever lived, is their new leader and “savior.” That is insane!
It is amazing to me how such people cannot take a step back, and think about 50-100 years from now. What will secular (and Christian)history say about the Franklin Grahams and Lindsey Grahams of our present age? It will not be pretty, nor should it be. They will be relegated to the dustbin like Father Charles Coughlin, and governors like Orval Faubus and George Wallace, powerful men of the 20th century, who are now rightly seen as relics of a racist and evil past.
The political and moral cowardice of the last 8 years has been breathtaking to behold.
I finished reading “A Fever in the Heartland” a couple of weeks ago. About the rise of the Klan in the 20’s, specifically in Indiana. It is a shocking book. I live in Indiana. But, one interesting part was about all the preachers that were bribed by the Klan to preach the Klan gospel. Some things never change
The biggest mistake the United States made on January 21st 2021 was not to declare the events of January 6th 2021 an act of war..Thereby defining those responsible as enemy combatants and proceed accordingly..
Hannity listening to Trump has to think to himself “what a fucking idiot and I have to support this shit.” Sorry about my language but I have no better way to describe it.
It’s remarkable that having have been made great during Dolt 45’s brief reign, America abruptly became ungreat upon his departure from office. Imagine how super-ungreat it’ll become upon his incarceration.
The "Prosperity Gospel" more accurately characterized as the "Elmer Gantry swindle." Despite having observed it remotely with disgust and amazement for years, it's still hard to believe that so many people can be so profoundly stupid as to literally "buy into" it. The lights are on, but no one's home. To paraphrase HL Mencken "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American People."
Thank yo so much, Steve for this article. Off topic a bit...I’m in GA this weekend spending my money to thank Georgians for voting in Ossof & warnock. Sole purpose of our trip! Just doing what we can to help!
Thank you for holding up the Sermon on the Mount and what a good mirror it is to evaluate personal behavior.
Throughout history there have been spiritual ego-strokers. The two named follow in a long-tradition of those in both the Old and New Testament who aligned "spiritual" with political power. It was true in Medieval Europe, and the whole Sun and Moon argument. It is never a good mix. The writers of the Constitution knew the history of religious wars in Europe, and built the walls to separate church and state. We need to hold these wall in place and strengthen them.
Thank you for sharing. Earlier in my Republican life I spent a number of years in Charismatic Megachurches. The hucksters are rampant in them and in their media and television empires. I worked for one of the then more reputable ones in the early 1990s while in seminary. Since then its founder went totally Right Wing Trump, spouting all kinds of BS about Trump being anointed by God as President. These people are horrible. They represent the absolute worst of American Christianity, which if you read my book, “Mine Eyes Have The Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond”, you will know, doesn’t have the greatest history to begin with.
Thanks for transcribing part of Trump’s response. I try to listen to his voice as little as possible.
This is precisely why I just “can’t” anymore with religion. How any religious person in their right mind can support this heretic is beyond my comprehension. He is the Devil Incarnate, and those who follow him, his acolytes.
These 'faith' healing videos were heart-wrenching to watch. I was raised, from the ages of 3 to 13, in a violent 'Christian' cult (Wide World Church of God) and experienced what no child should ever have to endure. When I was 6 years old, my little friend of the same age in this cult, accidentally dipped a cup in a sink full of bleach. In this 'Christian' cult, seeing medical doctors was not allowed. I remember this innocent and very sick little girl being raised high by the minister in front of the congregation with many followers around with their hands up, singing and praying, and the minister preaching loudly. The next week, my little friend was gone. She died. This is one of so many horrible things I saw and experienced. One of the tenets of this violent 'Christian' cult was to discipline your children, physically, so they wouldn't do anything wrong. Terrifying. Later the cult leaders were caught on video with prostitutes, and were found to be corrupt in numerous ways. The cult went underground, changed its name and rose up as something else. The damages they did, though, live on. We must Rise Up against this insanity. There is NO LOVE in these cults. Benny Hill was violent!
Trump is VIOLENT! These are tithing business, political opportunists. Thank you Steve, for speaking out on this insanity and bringing attention to the politicization of 'Christianity'. Trump is Evil.
You know Steve, try as I might.... I just don’t get it. How our fellow countrymen & women listen and believe in this nonsense is beyond my comprehension. Growing up in the 70’s as a kid in Wyoming I was surrounded by people who believed in this horse shit. I found it terrifying then - it was truly scary to a 10yr old ranch girl in pigtails. I still have vivid memories of how frightened I felt around people like this, never mind that they felt it their personal responsibility to tell a child she was not saved yet and would be devoured by all evil on this planet. I see nothing has changed.
I am a Christian. I am an evangelical Christian. I am a “Southern Baptist.” I am a 70 year old white man from Texas.
Thank you for what you do and have been doing, Steve. Please keep on keeping on.
I am a pastor’s son and have been around Baptist, etc. preachers my whole life. I am a lawyer though, not a professional cleric. There have always been outright charlatans, hustlers, and outright perverts like Paula White, Benny Hinn, et al., especially in the more extreme versions of Christianity in general, and the evangelical wing in particular. Almost all, really all I knew, garden variety evangelicals saw the televangelists for what they were---and are.
While Billy Graham was not a perfect man by any means, and he had his own unhealthy fascination with the political and powerful, I do not believe for one second he would have done what his son has done with Trump. It breaks my heart and drives me almost to despair. It is literally unbelievable. Graham and Robert Jeffress and sadly, many, many others like them, have sold their birthright for a “mess of pottage.”
Thank you for quoting Jesus from the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. Most of the evangelical world in America has thoroughly sold its soul to Trump---Donald freakingTrump!!!!---and for what? Political power? Supreme Court judges? Owning the Libs? Being given permission to be cruel to immigrants and anyone else you do not like? They appear to believe they have gained the whole world, but they truly have lost their own souls. Mark 8:36.
I have my own non scientific theory about people like Franklin Graham, Mike Lindell, and yes, RFK, Jr. Drugs in earlier days, even long ago, shortcircuits the brain somehow, so some, at least, and many I think, lose some part of their reasoning and analytical and even “common sense” abilities. They all seem to be so susceptible to “crazy talk” and have totally lost their minds and need serious help. Why does no one close to them see that? These people are not operating in reality as I know it.
Of course, I guess it is not just recovering drug addicts. Many millions of my supposed fellow Christ followers have decided one of the most despicable, perverse, evil and pathetic human beings who ever lived, is their new leader and “savior.” That is insane!
It is amazing to me how such people cannot take a step back, and think about 50-100 years from now. What will secular (and Christian)history say about the Franklin Grahams and Lindsey Grahams of our present age? It will not be pretty, nor should it be. They will be relegated to the dustbin like Father Charles Coughlin, and governors like Orval Faubus and George Wallace, powerful men of the 20th century, who are now rightly seen as relics of a racist and evil past.
The political and moral cowardice of the last 8 years has been breathtaking to behold.
The audience member asked a great question. I’d like to know what her thoughts are on his non response.
I finished reading “A Fever in the Heartland” a couple of weeks ago. About the rise of the Klan in the 20’s, specifically in Indiana. It is a shocking book. I live in Indiana. But, one interesting part was about all the preachers that were bribed by the Klan to preach the Klan gospel. Some things never change
The biggest mistake the United States made on January 21st 2021 was not to declare the events of January 6th 2021 an act of war..Thereby defining those responsible as enemy combatants and proceed accordingly..
Hannity listening to Trump has to think to himself “what a fucking idiot and I have to support this shit.” Sorry about my language but I have no better way to describe it.
“It is no surprise that Donald Trump loves them back. They are each others’ golden calf.”
Holy shit.
It’s remarkable that having have been made great during Dolt 45’s brief reign, America abruptly became ungreat upon his departure from office. Imagine how super-ungreat it’ll become upon his incarceration.
The "Prosperity Gospel" more accurately characterized as the "Elmer Gantry swindle." Despite having observed it remotely with disgust and amazement for years, it's still hard to believe that so many people can be so profoundly stupid as to literally "buy into" it. The lights are on, but no one's home. To paraphrase HL Mencken "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American People."
Thank yo so much, Steve for this article. Off topic a bit...I’m in GA this weekend spending my money to thank Georgians for voting in Ossof & warnock. Sole purpose of our trip! Just doing what we can to help!
The guy walking behind the ranting Paula White was more interesting!
Thank you for holding up the Sermon on the Mount and what a good mirror it is to evaluate personal behavior.
Throughout history there have been spiritual ego-strokers. The two named follow in a long-tradition of those in both the Old and New Testament who aligned "spiritual" with political power. It was true in Medieval Europe, and the whole Sun and Moon argument. It is never a good mix. The writers of the Constitution knew the history of religious wars in Europe, and built the walls to separate church and state. We need to hold these wall in place and strengthen them.
Steve
Thank you for sharing. Earlier in my Republican life I spent a number of years in Charismatic Megachurches. The hucksters are rampant in them and in their media and television empires. I worked for one of the then more reputable ones in the early 1990s while in seminary. Since then its founder went totally Right Wing Trump, spouting all kinds of BS about Trump being anointed by God as President. These people are horrible. They represent the absolute worst of American Christianity, which if you read my book, “Mine Eyes Have The Glory: Religion and the Politics of Race in the Civil War Era and Beyond”, you will know, doesn’t have the greatest history to begin with.
Peace,
Steve