I think this piece wildly misunderstands the reason why white conservative Christians (Evangelicals in particular) need to pretend Trump is Christlike and why they’re so hateful toward women and minorities.
They believe in a bastardized version of Christianity that’s reverse engineered from their biases. It does not teach compassion but gives them permission to judge people they don’t like and punish them for deviations from conservative norms. It has never been rooted in service to others
The proposition Liz makes, which does strike me as a wishcasting, is that these people totally reform their understanding of Christianity which they have no desire to do and won’t do.
Instead they cherry pick and misinterpret Bible verses that give them permission to harm others. When they talk about freedom, they mean freedom to do harm and control others, not individual freedom to make your own choices. If they didn’t they’d view bodily autonomy, for example, as sacrosanct.
The kind of Christianity they practice is uniquely American, socially regressive, and conflates a jingoistic and shallow Patriotism with a god ordained national destiny
It’s not Christianity in any real theological sense, and the kind of compassionate Christianity Liz talks about has zero appeal for them. It would strip them of their self righteous determination to punish others for perceived sins and would require sacrifices they don’t want to make
In their narrative they need to portray Trump as god ordained because he represents a powerful Christian nationalist state. Some Trumpists know he’s not a Christian but refer to him as a “flawed vessel” for God’s will to be done.
If this strikes you as bending over backwards to justify something shitty, let’s just say they’re well practiced at backbends and have executed the same kind of maneuvers to bash LGBTQ people, justify racist behavior, strip women of healthcare, and punish the poor for their poverty
You can’t separate the bigotry and need to torment others in order as a show of power and supposedly superior moral authority from this kind of American Christianity. Those things are the entire appeal.
a lot of Xians are horrible people
Signed,
A transracial adoptee raised by white jesus people (minister/missionary household) in white jesuslandia (with a five year stint in their Nigerian mission field)
👏 👏 👏
I’m driving through Arkansas right now and all the Christian symbols I see here (and they are EVERYWHERE) speak to me in the exact way you have outlined in this thread
