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The Trump Cult’s Sin of Nationalism

The Trump Cult’s Sin of Nationalism

Last updated on: March 10, 2019 at 8:28 pm by Shane Phipps

The Trump Cult’s Sin of Nationalism 2019-03-10T20:28:20-04:00 Shane Phipps

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It’s becoming clearer by the day that the Trump’s biggest remaining support base–right wing, fundamentalist Christians–is blind to their own sins. Oh, they don’t mind pointing out the sins of others, but they are missing a big one of their own, it’s one of the 10 Commandments, after all. In fact, it’s the very FIRST commandment.

Thou shall have no other god before me.

Exodus 20:2

I’m guilty of that sin all the time. I get way too caught up in trivial things. I have “idols” that I put before God pretty much every day. Admittedly, that commandment is a tough one to consistently keep; it’s a heck of a lot easier to keep from murdering someone, for instance. But, as far as sin goes, they are the same thing–sin is sin is sin. Jesus said that if I look at a woman with lust in my heart, it’s the same as the sin of adultery. To my way of thinking, this is the single toughest concept for a lot of Christians to truly comprehend. We look at sin the same as we look at the laws of society; murder is worse than assault–assault is worse than speeding–speeding is worse than jaywalking–and so on. But that is simply not the way it works with sin. All sin comes with the same penalty and we are all equally guilty. If we’d just understand that, we’d all get along much better, but a lot of us seem to be stuck in the rut of pious judgment. It’s as if some Christians look at a list of the things they consider sins, ignore half the list because “everyone commits those”, then pick out a couple they are certain they’ll never commit and make it their mission to attack those. That very thing is the reason Christianity has begun to repel so many people, especially young people, from the church. They see that kind of hypocrisy and they don’t want anything to do with it.

“It’s as if some Christians look at a list of the things they consider sins, ignore half the list because ‘everyone commits those’, then pick out a couple they are certain they’ll never commit and make it their mission to attack those.”

It’s become obvious that Trump’s fundie Christian support base has placed the president and nationalism before God.

“Put America First”

This past week we saw this fact come front and center. When Trump traveled to Alabama to visit sites that were hit by tornadoes, he drew a crowd in a Baptist church. Several in that crowd had Trump sign their Bibles–right on the cover. Let me ask you this; would you ever sign the cover of a Bible? Would you ever ask anyone to sign the cover of your Bible? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, you’d have to sit down and explain that to me nice and slow. But there they were, these Bible Belt Trump Warriors, lining up for a chance to have their new god deface the cover of the book they claim is infallible. One woman even had Trump sign her chest.

Make no mistake, these are some of the very same people who decided to boycott the NFL because some black players peacefully protested social injustice by taking a knee during the National Anthem. Thanks to the climate created by Trump’s dog whistle-y “Make America Great Again” message, his supporters rallied to the flag (despite the fact that the protesters specifically said they weren’t trying to disrespect the flag, or veterans). Rather than search their hearts for empathy and understanding for a group of people who obviously feel frightened by the circumstances under which they live in this nation–people whose parents had to carry The Green Book around with them as they “traveled while black”–people who’ve had to carefully plan the timing of their travels and design their routes around “Sundown Towns”– they villainized the marginalized. These Trumpian Nationalist Christians mocked and belittled the very people they were called to love.

They’d prefer to hide behind the flag and spew hatred and venom.

Yes, these are some the same people who lined up to have Donald Trump sign the covers of their Bibles.

If I live to be 100, I’ll never understand that level of hypocrisy.

Most Christians would never go that far. Most of us are, indeed, troubled by many of the actions and statements made by Donald Trump. Some of us are actively joining the resistance against Trump’s campaign for reelection.

But some have gone all in for a man history will chew up and spit out.

In the process, they are driving many people as far away from the church forever.

Top Photo Credit: REX/Shutterstock (10129689d)

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