I’m really confused at where you’re getting this “no Protestants” in the White House thing. There are three main branches of Christianity: Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The dominant two in the US are Catholicism and Protestantism. After Protestantism split from Catholicism in the 1500s, it kept splitting and splitting and splitting into hundreds of denominations (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc). But there are thousands of Protestant Christians in the US who attend nondenominational churches, meaning churches that don’t subscribe to a particular denominational doctrine. These people would call themselves nondenominational Christians. Now, Trump doesn’t know any of this, and he seems to only use Christianity as a label to appeal to Christian voters, but what he’s calling himself still falls under the Protestant umbrella.
If you want to understand better what happened and to get more insights about the Evangelical Christians and their agenda (which you have touched in your article) look up Frank Schaefer Substack and read his "warnings" posted before the elections (right from the horse's mouth) .... It does make sense only I believe people were not ready to hear it
Way back in 1953, Robert Heinlein wrote a novella called Revolt in 2100. In it, he laid out clearly and plausibly how a Christian theocratic cult could arise in America, what it could look like, and what it would do. He was always alive to the potential of Americans to dupe themselves into a world of trouble by voting for a Christofascist version of panem et circenses. The novella is hopeful in that it also lays out how a revolt against such a cult could happen. But it makes for grim reading today.
I would argue it is an exaggeration to claim Harris won the vote of the 'poors' decisively (only 50% to 46%) when Biden won a greater share of those who earned between 50000 and 10000 (56%) in 2020. The evidence suggests Harris lost support among this income group. The greater support among those who earned over 100,000 is significant - one is left with the impression the Democrat establishment would rather talk down issues of class because they refuse to break significantly with neoliberalism.
While I would love greater seperation of church and state in the USA its not going to happen while the same kind of political advisors who designed the democrats campaign stay in place. They will still want to chase the religious vote on terms comfortable to evangelicals, seeing this as part of the so called 'center'.
They call themselves Christian but aren't following any of the teachings. That means they don't get to just call themselves Christians. It would be like me saying I'm an airplane pilot without taking any lessons. We have to call them on it.
The issue is NOT religion as much as how a given philosophy will reinforce the illusions of those too lazy or inept to invest themselves. In the case of our government, a war-time economy tends to give most of the influential what theyy want and precludes the need for anyone to have to provide a path to getting off such a footing. If invoking Karl Marx, Marilyn Monroe or Jimmy Hoffa will give the masses what they want with little demands on their disposible time and treasure, That is what they will do. The social media is already awash with disclaimers from people stating that they did not vote for Trump. Same thing happened to Germany after WW II. Throughout the country there was not one German who voted for Hitler, was a member of the NAZI papartyknew anything about the Holocaust or had ever been to a Nurenburg Rally.
Man created God in his image. Christians now believe God is a 78 year old orange man sporting a comb over hair style who laughs at them behind their backs while selling Bibles made in China.
Wow - I’m going to have to digest this but I’m sharing this with some ppl to get their feedback as well so thank you for writing this The fact that evangelicals turned out for trump may also be bc they are steeped in Patriarchy and it “feels” better for them to vote for a man/male head of the country - it’s a deep internalized rejection of women as equal - which is basically the foundation of most religions and why I WONT support the Catholic Church and encourage my 4 kids to seek out other faiths bc the hypocrisy is too overwhelming I just discovered your work and look forwards to it!
Okay, first-time reader here, and this took an interesting and unexpected turn, as is want to happen when you click a post and dive into reading.
I am a Never-Trumper Christian who absolutely loved that Faustian bargain point cuz I have seen “The Church” grow closer and closer to the Sadducees and Pharisees who were always the bad guys in every Jesus-centric sermon. In the last 8-10, maybe as many as 16, years that Church has raced well beyond them to Caesar-level power hungry.
The USa has become aMErica. I’d like to think that I, and most democratic voters, choose candidates that seek to improve the lot of most of us. While it’s now obvious that the majority of voters choose candidates that they think improve their own individual situation, despite precedence and evidence to the contrary.
Facebook won’t let me say this….
I’m really confused at where you’re getting this “no Protestants” in the White House thing. There are three main branches of Christianity: Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The dominant two in the US are Catholicism and Protestantism. After Protestantism split from Catholicism in the 1500s, it kept splitting and splitting and splitting into hundreds of denominations (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc). But there are thousands of Protestant Christians in the US who attend nondenominational churches, meaning churches that don’t subscribe to a particular denominational doctrine. These people would call themselves nondenominational Christians. Now, Trump doesn’t know any of this, and he seems to only use Christianity as a label to appeal to Christian voters, but what he’s calling himself still falls under the Protestant umbrella.
Sometime in the early 2000s. The US Government began a policy of funneling foreign aid through evangelical organizations.
If you want to understand better what happened and to get more insights about the Evangelical Christians and their agenda (which you have touched in your article) look up Frank Schaefer Substack and read his "warnings" posted before the elections (right from the horse's mouth) .... It does make sense only I believe people were not ready to hear it
Along with cheating
Trump is a protestant. Non-denominational means protestant.
Way back in 1953, Robert Heinlein wrote a novella called Revolt in 2100. In it, he laid out clearly and plausibly how a Christian theocratic cult could arise in America, what it could look like, and what it would do. He was always alive to the potential of Americans to dupe themselves into a world of trouble by voting for a Christofascist version of panem et circenses. The novella is hopeful in that it also lays out how a revolt against such a cult could happen. But it makes for grim reading today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_in_2100
Every Heinlein reader cannot help but be struck by the parallels.
I would argue it is an exaggeration to claim Harris won the vote of the 'poors' decisively (only 50% to 46%) when Biden won a greater share of those who earned between 50000 and 10000 (56%) in 2020. The evidence suggests Harris lost support among this income group. The greater support among those who earned over 100,000 is significant - one is left with the impression the Democrat establishment would rather talk down issues of class because they refuse to break significantly with neoliberalism.
While I would love greater seperation of church and state in the USA its not going to happen while the same kind of political advisors who designed the democrats campaign stay in place. They will still want to chase the religious vote on terms comfortable to evangelicals, seeing this as part of the so called 'center'.
Please don't call them Christian. They are not.
What a weird thing to say. They clearly are.
They call themselves Christian but aren't following any of the teachings. That means they don't get to just call themselves Christians. It would be like me saying I'm an airplane pilot without taking any lessons. We have to call them on it.
How do you know what teachings they're following?
Many Christians believe that faith in the Gospel is what makes them Christian. How do you know what they believe?
Doesn't Christianity teach that all humans are sinners?
This kind of seems like a "judge not, lest ye be judged" or "take the beam out of your own eye" situation. Who are you to know if they really believe?
A small but important tweak:
The issue is NOT religion as much as how a given philosophy will reinforce the illusions of those too lazy or inept to invest themselves. In the case of our government, a war-time economy tends to give most of the influential what theyy want and precludes the need for anyone to have to provide a path to getting off such a footing. If invoking Karl Marx, Marilyn Monroe or Jimmy Hoffa will give the masses what they want with little demands on their disposible time and treasure, That is what they will do. The social media is already awash with disclaimers from people stating that they did not vote for Trump. Same thing happened to Germany after WW II. Throughout the country there was not one German who voted for Hitler, was a member of the NAZI papartyknew anything about the Holocaust or had ever been to a Nurenburg Rally.
Yeah....sure.......
Man created God in his image. Christians now believe God is a 78 year old orange man sporting a comb over hair style who laughs at them behind their backs while selling Bibles made in China.
Wow - I’m going to have to digest this but I’m sharing this with some ppl to get their feedback as well so thank you for writing this The fact that evangelicals turned out for trump may also be bc they are steeped in Patriarchy and it “feels” better for them to vote for a man/male head of the country - it’s a deep internalized rejection of women as equal - which is basically the foundation of most religions and why I WONT support the Catholic Church and encourage my 4 kids to seek out other faiths bc the hypocrisy is too overwhelming I just discovered your work and look forwards to it!
Okay, first-time reader here, and this took an interesting and unexpected turn, as is want to happen when you click a post and dive into reading.
I am a Never-Trumper Christian who absolutely loved that Faustian bargain point cuz I have seen “The Church” grow closer and closer to the Sadducees and Pharisees who were always the bad guys in every Jesus-centric sermon. In the last 8-10, maybe as many as 16, years that Church has raced well beyond them to Caesar-level power hungry.
Thanks for your work.
I'm an atheist, but if I believed in God, then I would say that trump was a test that American Christianity spectacularly and utterly failed.
The USa has become aMErica. I’d like to think that I, and most democratic voters, choose candidates that seek to improve the lot of most of us. While it’s now obvious that the majority of voters choose candidates that they think improve their own individual situation, despite precedence and evidence to the contrary.
For my sanity…can we please refrain from on showing that evil mother fucking bastard’s ugly face!!!!!!