Discussion:

Discussion for article #246353

“Born against Christian”? That’s Genius.

Evangelicals are capable of supporting Trump because most of them are not truly Christian. If you lived among them, you would know that from their behavior. For the majority, it’s a tribal thing that has nothing to do with Christ’s actual teachings.

Trump is a white male with messed-up hair who shouts horrible things from behind a podium. These people are used to sending money to guys like that.

@Originalbob has it right. I grew up among “evangelicals” and fundamentalists and I can tell your that, for the most part, their “traditional values” run about as deep as a coat of cheap varnish.

The late, great Warren Zevon has a trenchant view of the subject in “Dirty Little Religion” –

For Evangelicals, christian values are a lipstick on a pig. Their true value is authoritarianism, male dominance, white dominance, military and police and the bloviator in the pulpit. They get that in spades with Trump.

I don’t understand how anyone can be surprised by this. Christianity is deeply misogynistic and racist. Trump is biblical in a way that even Cruz is not, and Christians can clearly see those core christian values come shining through more than any other major public figure in their lifetime. Of course they will flock to Trump.

And who else but a Televangelist would have that hair?

Oh dear , politicians go to where the votes are , and Trumpy being a showman …

They are as phony as he is.

There is a serious problem in the self identified “Born Again/Evangelical” community. Most of their preachers really don’t have any higher education or seminary training. They string together verses from different parts of the Bible without any context to make their point. (text proofing) To have a serious theological discussion with the vast majority of their preachers is to discover they just don’t care for any deeper meaning. Trump’s rambling, context free, emotive speeches are what most Born Again/Evangelicals hear on Sunday.

Fundamentalists are looking for an authoritarian leader to go with a religion based on an authoritarian God.

Let’s put aside my belief that you should immediately be suspicious of anyone who wears his religion on his sleeve and tries to impose it (the religion, not the sleeve) upon others. The mistake is trying to connect Christianity, especially as Jesus taught it, with what “evangelicals” say and believe. Their hatred for people who are not like them trumps all other considerations. Pun intended.

Actually, I think Trump’s speeches are probably a good deal more entertaining than most evangelical preachers except the showiest of the con artists with a flair for the dramatic have that quality in common with Trump. It’s like he’s up there playing a standup comic. He’s a far better showman so his message outdraws them. He has the pied piper quality to them.

The real God of the Religious Right is Ayn Rand. Unchecked narcissism, selfishness, greed, “I got mine and F-you”–that describes those Religious Right freaks to a “T”

So Trump is the preacher at the megachurch, not the gathering in a abandoned storefront at the mini-mall.

“That’s right, Brothers and Sisters in the name of Je$u$! To get to Hay-Venn you gots to be paid up and prayed up. Now, let us all bow down before the Golden Elephant while I read today’s scripture from page 433 of Atlas Shrugged. As our beloved disciple of Je$u$, John Galt, said…”

Why? Because they already believe in self-contradictory fairy tales. Believing in one more named Trump takes no extra effort.

And the con man knows his marks.

He sure had me fooled. I was convinced he was the latter; a street charlatan and nothing more. I guess I was overconfident that an overwhelming number of people would be able to see through his schtick. I guess there is that PT Barnum conventional wisdom that I was too dismissive of. Something about suckers stuck in Trump’s hair.

Because Evangelicals are hypocrites.