- cross-posted to:
- atheism@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- atheism@lemmy.world
How Donald Trump has evolved into a Messianic figure among the white religious right
Donald Trump is now publicly proclaiming that he is some type of messiah, a man chosen by God and Jesus Christ to do their bidding on Earth. For Trump, this means becoming America’s first dictator.
If Trump were a private citizen and not a former president and leader of a right-wing fascist movement, his claims to divine power would be viewed as the ramblings of an unwell person and de facto cult leader. Unfortunately, public opinion and other research shows that many millions of Americans actually believe that Trump is some type of divine figure, a man with a mandate from God. This is more evidence that Trumpism, like other forms of fascism and fake populism, is a form of collective pathology and emotional and mental unwellness on a societal scale.
Trump’s claims that he has a mandate from God should not be a surprise or in any way shocking: it is the predictable next step in a years-long pattern of megalomania, fabulism, malignant narcissism and other such negative behavior where he has claimed to have secret knowledge and insights that no one else possesses, and that his followers should just believe what he says and reject the facts and empirical reality itself.
Last week, Donald Trump took an even bigger step forward in his claims to being God’s leader on Earth, when he shared a campaign ad declaring that “God gave us Trump.”
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“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
1 Timothy 4:1-2
If those cultists could read they’d be very upset right now.
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Did you grow up in Baltimore? Because you’re barely literate yourself
Okay, but this could describe any number of presidents, kings, and high priests.
Yeah, that’s the point. Don’t worship politicians, kings, and priests. Or anyone for that matter, except God… I’m atheist though, so not even “God” in my opinion.
the only worship i do is of my girlfriends body.
Sure. But I see this stuff lobbed at damned near every high profile figure, from Hollywood celebrities to Presidents to Popes.
Some base of mega-fans get attention for going off the edge, and suddenly any vote for Obama or tickets to the next Beyonce concert means you’ve been corrupted by evil brain demons. This quote gets abused to imply everything popular is an abandonment of faith or a form of idolatry.
It leads you to the “I only need to read one book” style of evangelicalism. I’m not a fan, even if it gets espoused by an atheist who pivots to “And even God doesn’t count”.
And probably was. That passage was from a letter to early Christians, and was likely in response to a perceived issue already present at the time.
I was gonna write that I’ve met my favorite Christians posting liberal comments on the Internet. Then I remembered I have practicing friends in real life, and we’re friends bc of our shared liberal values. And that being Christian doesn’t make you a douche, imposing your will on others and voting for the devil make you a douche.
It’s a cult.
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I think it’s very telling that major predictors for whether a Christian will be a Trump supporter include how often they go to church and how frequently they study the bible. Those who attend church regularly and study scripture regularly are significantly less likely to support Trump than those who rarely or never do either.
One obvious explanation for this is that, well, Trump’s actions, statements and overall sleaze are not exactly compatible with the apparently “woke agenda” of things like the sermon on the mount. Loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, being humble and serving others without taking credit, that’s all just kind of the exact opposite of the self absorbed, petty, hateful, arrogant mindset that Trump and MAGA are all about. And that’s without bringing actual policies into this, which is never going to look good for Trump given what the bible has to say about the rich, the poor, and the way we should treat others, including immigrants and refugees.
On the flipside, when you claim to be religious but don’t have a church or scripture providing any external guidance, you can easily define your religious beliefs as you see fit. It’s as simple as knowing that God wants you to stand for what’s right. And of course, you know what’s right, it’s all those things you believe in. Which means God wants what you want. So, because you know Trump is the greatest leader we’ve ever had, that vaccines are bad, that we need to kick all those damn [insert ethnic slur here]s out, and boot all those lazy freeloaders off of welfare, that God stands for those things too, and anyone who opposes is evil and a servant of the devil.
Where did you get that stat about church attendance and its effect on Trump support?
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You forgot this:
/s
What an idiot. Admits hes a troll in comment history. Blocked.
They finally realized that Jesus wasn’t going to show back up.
What they didn’t realize was that it’s because of their behavior.
I can see God wanting to smite trump and supporters but Jesus is standing next to him saying, “But Dad, I just died for them.”
Trump’s claims that he has a mandate from God should not be a surprise or in any way shocking
No it shouldn’t because he called himself The Chosen One in 2019.
Then, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday about his efforts to take on China’s trade practices, Trump pointed at the sky and said, “I am the chosen one.”
Yes, chosen by the Russian government.
Kompromat says what?
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This is true, because nobody so perfectly embodies how hypocritical Christianity is than DJT. That all of their professed beliefs go right out the window as soon as somebody as convenient as Trump comes along, someone who completely contradicts all of their beliefs, is just indicative of what kind of faith Christianity is.
You may not like it, but this is what peak Christianity looks like.
Couldn’t think of anything or anyone less Christian.
Or, maybe Christianity isn’t what you thought it was.
The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself. — Richard Francis Burton
The orange antichrist.
The best antichrist!
God has a documented propensity toward sending plagues, yes.
Fuck.
That’s a lot of words to say that rubes gonna rube. These are the same people that believe in prosperity gospels and faith healing.
The whole ad seems to be a ripoff of a Paul Harvey speech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_God_Made_a_Farmer
Harvey’s wikipedia page describes him as a close friend of Joseph McCarthy, Billy Graham, and J. Edgar Hoover.
Trump is a self-absorbed megalomaniacal bigot with a fixation on wealth… which is pretty much on brand for the god of Abraham and his churches.
Because they’re mentally defective backward degenerates.
