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HAB911

(8,927 posts)
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 01:01 PM Aug 2017

The Trump administration's alternative Christianity

Evangelicals have never had it so good, politically speaking.

Since President Trump took office in January, the White House has become a Christian roundtable, with just about every top-tier seat filled by a faithful member of the fold or someone who is happy to further the fold’s agenda.

The lineup of believers who are in positions of power is truly dizzying. Betsy DeVos, who leads the Department of Education, has stated that her goal as a public servant is to “advance God’s kingdom.” Secretary of Energy Rick Perry employed mass prayer as a means of addressing social problems when he was governor of Texas. Ben Carson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, believes that the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil.

It doesn’t stop there. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has said that people who don’t believe in God can’t be truthful. Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief, is a devout Baptist who denies that climate change is real. Mike Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is an evangelical who opposes abortion even in cases of rape. The president’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, another evangelical, has defended school prayer at the Supreme Court, and Trump’s spiritual advisor, Paula White, is a Pentecostal televangelist who teaches that if people give her church thousands of dollars, God will reward them with favors. Vice President Mike Pence might be the most piously anti-gay politician in America.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-zuckerman-christians-trump-administration-20170811-story.html

30 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The Trump administration's alternative Christianity (Original Post) HAB911 Aug 2017 OP
Timely article. dalton99a Aug 2017 #1
KnR Hekate Aug 2017 #2
Nothing says "Christianity" like... SHRED Aug 2017 #3
He misspoke A HERETIC I AM Aug 2017 #7
God's gonna smite ya for that.. Permanut Aug 2017 #18
... Liberal Jesus Freak Aug 2017 #26
Hee hee.... A HERETIC I AM Aug 2017 #27
Someone... Liberal Jesus Freak Aug 2017 #28
Seems a tolerable enough reason to stay! A HERETIC I AM Aug 2017 #29
.... trusty elf Aug 2017 #12
Perfect SHRED Aug 2017 #23
It's power that they're trying to grab FiveGoodMen Aug 2017 #14
mein gott!!!! niyad Aug 2017 #4
there have been bora13 Aug 2017 #5
Do these theocrats imagine themselves as part of an inner circle? Orsino Aug 2017 #6
The Family is in power mountain grammy Aug 2017 #8
Been saying the same thing ... too bad (for him) Doug Coe didn't live to see his dream come true ... mr_lebowski Aug 2017 #16
I call them "Cafeteria Xtians" Fritz Walter Aug 2017 #9
I'm not a Christian but it seems they identify with the minimalist definiiton that SharonClark Aug 2017 #10
God and Mammon. dawg Aug 2017 #11
Alt-Christians n/t leftstreet Aug 2017 #13
".....Trumps spiritual advisor, Paula White, ..." pangaia Aug 2017 #15
Going to Paula White for spiritual advice would be like... Initech Aug 2017 #21
And the scary part is they all woke up today to continue the destruction gtar100 Aug 2017 #17
They get in power not fooled Aug 2017 #20
Governor Perry shadowmayor Aug 2017 #19
It's not surprising Trump's followers are in it for themselves jmowreader Aug 2017 #22
"Jeff Sessions has said that people who dont believe in God cant be truthful." smirkymonkey Aug 2017 #24
I seem to recall a beltbuckle that expressed similar sentiments . . . hatrack Aug 2017 #25
past is prologue HAB911 Aug 2017 #30

A HERETIC I AM

(24,380 posts)
27. Hee hee....
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 06:15 PM
Aug 2017

HOW ARE YA, SWEETIE?

Hows the hubbster? How is Kentucky treating you?


And yes, the KJV....Book of Pudendum, Chapter 69, Verses 3 through 4;

3) Yay I say verily unto thee, that wheneth thou art of the celebrated class, you can move on them as ifith a bitch, and they shall allow you to do all manner of things.

4) Thou canst kisseth them, shoving thy tongue to their deepest recesses. And they letteth you do it. Grabeth them by the pussy. Place thy hands on all their private and naughty bits. It's great.

Liberal Jesus Freak

(1,451 posts)
28. Someone...
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 09:33 PM
Aug 2017

...has watched too much Monty Python, including me! Kentucky sucks but the granddaughter is only 10 minutes away. She's the most beautiful thing in the whole world, of course

A HERETIC I AM

(24,380 posts)
29. Seems a tolerable enough reason to stay!
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 10:22 PM
Aug 2017

And yes, I can quote almost any line from all the movies and all the Monty Python's Flying Circus series, so don't ask!

FiveGoodMen

(20,018 posts)
14. It's power that they're trying to grab
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 02:50 PM
Aug 2017

And nothing says Jesus' teachings any less than 'Evangelical Christianity' -- a scourge upon this and all nations; the real enemy.

bora13

(860 posts)
5. there have been
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 01:39 PM
Aug 2017

people working on this reality since the latter part of the 20th century and now they have
the power.

they only have one goal in mind, see Israel and all of civilization destroyed so their
genie can break free of the bottle and seat them all at the right hand of a genie.

Orsino

(37,428 posts)
6. Do these theocrats imagine themselves as part of an inner circle?
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 01:49 PM
Aug 2017

Do they just go squee at the thought of breakfasting with a president...or do they know they are just props? Can't they see that they are only there to make the president look vaguely more Christian?

 

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)
16. Been saying the same thing ... too bad (for him) Doug Coe didn't live to see his dream come true ...
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 03:18 PM
Aug 2017

Scary times ...

Fritz Walter

(4,292 posts)
9. I call them "Cafeteria Xtians"
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 02:17 PM
Aug 2017

They pick and choose what to believe and how to behave.

As the op-ed writer so aptly put it:

What’s really remarkable about this group, however, is not that so many ardent worshippers of Jesus are running the country, but how non-Christian this ostensibly Christian government is proving to be. The Trump administration’s Bible devotees are pushing an agenda that flies in the face of their own savior’s message.

SharonClark

(10,014 posts)
10. I'm not a Christian but it seems they identify with the minimalist definiiton that
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 02:27 PM
Aug 2017

"Jesus is the son of god".

There is no following his teaching, acting christ-like, etc. They are truly amoral.

Initech

(100,121 posts)
21. Going to Paula White for spiritual advice would be like...
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 04:11 PM
Aug 2017

Asking the guys from Jackass about personal injury attorneys. There's no way either of these two are remotely qualified to speak out about these subjects despite the fact that they're the loudest about it!

gtar100

(4,192 posts)
17. And the scary part is they all woke up today to continue the destruction
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 03:21 PM
Aug 2017

of everything in our government that is of service to the general population and hand it over to the greedy few.

I'm at work today trying to do something well that will benefit my family, my company and our customers and not be hurtful to others. I suspect we are all doing the same or similar (backstabbing trolls lurking about here being the exception). But these tRump people spend their days figuring out how to take away protections, regulations, benefits, and welfare from people. That's how they occupy their time.

Why do we get such awful, ugly people as "leaders". They should be locked up in psych wards while we figure out what went wrong with them. Yet there they are, paraded across our media on an hourly basis as if they were normal and had something important to say.

Hopefully this is an aberration and not typical throughout the universe. Why we have the sickest among us taking on positions of power is beyond me.

not fooled

(5,803 posts)
20. They get in power
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 04:05 PM
Aug 2017

because, being amoral (at best), they will lie cheat and steal to advance their agenda. Truly moral people have a difficult time going up against such ruthless criminals.

Oh, and their sky genie tells them that only they are right, and that therefore they can do whatever they want because they are on dog's side.

The rationalization used by despots throughout history.



shadowmayor

(1,325 posts)
19. Governor Perry
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 03:45 PM
Aug 2017

When good hair was governor, he led a state-wide prayer meeting for rain to end the drought. We ended up with the worst fire season in Texas history. Maybe his prayers were imprecations? He does get quite mixed up about things.

jmowreader

(50,572 posts)
22. It's not surprising Trump's followers are in it for themselves
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 04:34 PM
Aug 2017

Trump is a Holiday Christian at best. No true Christian would ever follow a man who sees the Ten Commandments as a bucket list, like Trump does.

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
24. "Jeff Sessions has said that people who dont believe in God cant be truthful."
Fri Aug 11, 2017, 05:19 PM
Aug 2017

Really? Seems to me like all these people do is lie. They are INCAPABLE of telling the truth. Such astounding hypocrisy!

Time to drain the swamp! We are living in a de facto Theocracy.

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