Using God for Clout
I wrote the following on June 1, 2020, the day that Trump tear gassed a group of protestors so that he could walk across a plaza to hold up a Bible,
upside down,
with a scowl on his face,
and respond to “Is that your Bible?” with “it's a Bible,”
in front of a church that didn’t invite him and had scathing words about the stunt afterward.
I almost never comment on something the day that it happens. It always gets me in trouble (and it might today as well). But I do want to say very clearly that it's gross to do a photo-op with a Bible. It's even grosser to tear-gas people to get people away from the site so that you can do a photo-op with the Bible.
In Matthew 6, Jesus tells people not to do pious acts so that others will see you.
Doing a photo shoot while holding a Bible so that people will see you holding a Bible is gross. Hurting other people so that you can do it is so much grosser. "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." (Mt. 6:1)
In the middle of a national reckoning on racism, when Trump had the opportunity to make an effort to find common ground, he did a stunt to wrangle back the “Trump is a Godly president” crowd.
By tear-gassing people so that he could hold up a Bible.
Upside down.
That memory came to mind when Trump announced a Bible reading marathon this week.
Trump posts a picture of himself as Jesus, Christians rage. Trump realizes that he needs to wrangle back the “Trump is a Godly president” crowd, so he gets people to publicly read through the Bible.
Another stunt to court evangelicals.
At least this one didn’t involve tear-gassing innocent people.
Trump took three minutes reading a small passage from 2 Chronicles. On camera, obviously. Gotta make sure everyone's aware of your piety. Otherwise what's the point?
It’d be cool if they had him read the Sermon on the Mount.1
Honestly, I’d love if he read from Amos 5. I’d love to hear him read about God’s ire toward those who turn justice into bitterness, those who cast righteousness onto the ground, those who hate people who uphold justice in court, and those who make a big spectacle of their love for God while hurting the poor and the oppressed.
But they can’t have him read that. PR nightmare.
I’m surprised with how annoyed this little Bible reading stunt made me.
I’m not annoyed because I think this will change anything in the world. It won’t. The people Trump is trying to appease were always going to come back to him.
And I’m not annoyed because this is wildly out of character for he and his White House. It's not. They’ve been doing this stuff for years.
Evangelical leaders are regularly in the White House for photo-ops.
Hegseth has been holding public prayer gatherings, which are recorded and put online.
“Look how Godly we are” events have been part of this administration's practice since the beginning.
The reason I’m annoyed (more than annoyed, angry) is because the reasoning for the public Bible reading, the prayers, the photo-ops, and the AI pictures of Jesus, is simply about courting evangelicals.
The God I’ve followed for over 40 years is being used for stunts to score political points.
That’s disgusting. It’s rancid. It’s abhorrent.
I've had seasons over the last ten years where I wasn't sure where I stood in my faith. Sometimes my faith is strong, other times I feel distant from God, sometimes I don't know if I even want to be a Christian anymore.2
But even when I'm distant from God, even when I'm ready to leave Christianity behind and burn it all down behind me,
it infuriates me to see people using God to court people politically.
To use God's name in vain.
So to all of you who are using God as a way to grow your political following, I’d like to say something to you in the language in which I grew up, the evangelical language that we both share:
One day you’ll stand to account before Jesus with the person you’ve been, the things you’ve done, the things you’ve said, and the heart behind them.
He should read the Sermon on the Mount on camera. There could be a counter in the corner of the screen that count things from the sermon that Trump or people in his administration have violated. I’d watch that.
Still a Christian. But the questioning, wandering times have been good for me, honestly. Maybe I'll talk about that next week.
"Gross" is a Good word for it, however I have other seething words to describe this Hypocrisy! Nothing Infuriates me more!
Your comments bring to my mind the ways God himself reacts, in various Bible stories, when people try to use God for their own ends. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t go well for them.)