Sunday, March 10, 2019

Trump Signs Bibles: Golden Calves, Get 'Em While They're Hot! — Commentary on White Evangelicals' Idolatrous Cult of Trump


Some things I've read this past week that I want to pass on to you:






Steve Benen, "This Week in God, 3.19.19":

John Fea, a historian at Messiah College, told the newspaper, "The fact that people are bringing Bibles to him says a lot about them."




Evangelicalism's moral militancy on abortion is a political shield from the complexities of the democratic process. When I went into the voting booth as a single-issue voter, I knew my mission was to vote anti-abortion down the ballot—from president to school board. This meant I didn't have to engage with any of the other issues facing my country and my community during any given election. I could shut my brain off and go to sleep at night without worrying about immigration policies, funding for child cares, or new initiatives for stem cell research. My single-issue voting was a shield from having to wade into the messy details of democratic life. It kept me from having to think critically about any other part of the political spectrum. 
Evangelicalism's political shield is also a moral excuse. When you center abortion at the cost of all other issues, you center the unborn whose lives are supposedly at stake. The unborn become angels who must be protected at all costs, which means the rest of us—the born and bodied—are of secondary concern at best. Harrowing pictures of families at the border, stories of underfunded school districts, rising economic inequality—these issues can be whisked away without concern or debate. The bodies of Dreamers, of immigrants, and even at-risk children are no match for unborn angels.


"This is Alabama, and although not overly common, it is also not rare for citizens to give politicians their Bibles to sign," said Angi Stalnaker, a Republican political consultant in the state.

I grew up in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and still live in my home state of Arkansas.

I have NEVER in my life heard of ANYONE giving a politician a bible to sign.

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