Trumpism Reveals Religious Right’s Moral Bankruptcy

Their support for Trump starkly proves the moral fraudulence of the religious right — those fundamentalist bible-thumpers with their in-your-face Christianity and moralistic preening.

My friend Rob Boston has written cogently about this in a recent issue of The Humanist magazine. (I’ve previously reviewed his book.)

Eighty percent of evangelicals voted for Trump, which, Boston says, “demonstrates the paucity of moral values [they] so often claim to champion.” Because he is “everything the gospels say Jesus was not — crass, boorish, narcissistic and full of anger. Immature, vain, power-hungry . . . .”

A thrice-married, adulterous gambling casino magnate, whose comprehensive ignorance even extends to the proper way to quote Bible verses!

But all that might be forgivable. What’s not is his absolute moral turpitude. One of the Ten Commandments (that the religious right is always shoving at us) condemns lying (“false witness”). It’s a key sin. And there could hardly be a bigger, more aggressive liar than Trump. His whole politics is based on lies and manipulation, “alternative facts,” and viciously attacking the press for reporting it. How can religious believers, if they take their faith seriously, condone such a liar?

And such a cheater. He built his fortune on screwing people — screwing investors and partners in his projects, screwing workers and contractors out of what he owed them, milking those properties for rich payments to himself and then declaring bankruptcy, leaving others to eat the debts. Is this what Jesus taught? The Jesus who chased money-changers from the temple? (He even told followers to pay their taxes — “Render unto Caesar” — which Trump apparently violates too.)

And how can these religious folks prattle about ethical truths when they back the culprit of the massive Trump University fraud, scamming people’s life savings? Is this too what Jesus taught?

Did he not also tell us to “turn the other cheek?” Not “thou shalt tweet vindictive insults.”

The Gospel According to Saint Donald

I had actually hoped the “grab them by their pussy” tape — brazen boasting of sexual assault — might finally lift the scales from the eyes of Trump’s religious supporters. You know, the “family values” preachers. But no, they had fallen into a moral black hole.

They may answer that God works in mysterious ways; can choose an unlikely man to do his work. A lame, twisted rationalization. If God chose such a perfect monster as Trump, he must have a perverse sense of humor. Or else he’s testing his flock, to see who so misunderstands and betrays his message that they embrace this reptile. And then he’ll smite them.

They may also say it’s mere pragmatism; that Trump is wicked but will do good things. What naive fools. Placing power in evil hands does not usually work out well. But in any case it’s a deal with the Devil. They’re selling out their souls for worldly things. And as for those worldly policies they’re buying, I don’t see much Christianity in them anyway. Building a wall, breaking up families to deport people, and slamming our door on refugees fleeing violence and oppression does not exactly fit with the teachings of Jesus either.

Thus is the false mask of their “Christianity” ripped away. A bunch of hypocrites. And these are the people saying atheists can’t be moral without religious faith!

To the contrary, that exemplifies what nonsense you get with belief in a false god. No wonder they’re so morally mixed up. One’s responses to the problems of life and the world cannot make sense (moral or otherwise) when grounded upon a fundamentally wrong assumption about the nature of reality.