Thank 'God' for Trump
On the role of faith in American politics and the inability of faith-based worldviews to face the challenges of modernity
Trump’s ascendency in American politics does not bode well for the US. The mockery he has made of all levels of our representative democracy has likely permanently changed political discourse for the worse. While he was president, his accommodation of hate groups in order to capture votes undermined decades of efforts dedicated to breaking down divisions in our society and improving civility. His disregard for science and disdain for any apparent effort to combat climate change garnered global attention and changed the perception of many here and abroad regarding America’s former eminence on the world-stage. Aside from what he has done to the country, he makes no effort to hide the fact that he is interested only in self-aggrandizement and is a likely pick for the short list of the least moral and ethical persons ever elected to office in American politics. There is video of him proudly saying ‘grab her by the pussy’ in describing his perception of power dynamics and women. Need we say more.
It is fairly well known and reported at this point that Trump is beloved by ‘white evangelical’ protestant Christians and is the de facto Messiah of Christian alt-right white power groups, but what seems to be less known is that in 2016, he won the majority of the white non-evangelical protestant vote and the majority of the white Catholic vote as well. These three groups approved of his first four years of leadership so much that he again won the majority of votes from each group in 2020, even when running against a professed Catholic. These three groups combined comprise the majority of people of faith in the US, so we can arguably thank the faith-based vote for Trump and all that came with him.
How can such an unapologetically unethical, immoral candidate attract so many votes from those who claim to be the standard bearers of ethics and morality (as based on extensive interpretation of isolated excerpts from a collection of Stone Age books), especially after they watched how he operated for 4 years?
Here are a handful of posited explanations:
1. Many Christians actually think Trump is a good person (even with an outdated moral foundation, I think most are aware enough to recognize that this is not true)
2. Many Christians will only consider Republican candidates for some or all of the next reasons (sad but true)
3. Many Christians, for unclear reasons, think that abortion is the only issue that matters in an election (sad but true)
4. Many Christians believe that the ‘end times’ are near and Trump fits into a series of predictions about what is going to happen (scary but true)
5. Many Christians actually want a white, Christian nation and know that he is the most likely candidate under which to see this achieved (saddest and scariest of all and definitely true)
6. Many Christians see Trump as a flawed individual but recognize his ability to help enact their moral agenda (as based on extensive interpretation of a collection of Stone Age books) on the rest of the country in exchange for their votes (frustrating but true)
7. Many Christians are unable to clearly think about current issues because their well-intentioned but outdated faith-based worldview has trained their brains to downplay evidence and respond to emotion when evaluating incoming information, making them easy prey for the outrage-equals-dollars advertising formula of right-wing media-- because of this they are convinced that Democratic programs intended to help the poor, decrease the wealth gap, promote equal rights for all, and fight the impending disaster that is climate change are somehow going to cause America’s ‘spiritual demise,’ and electing Trump is the only option to keep this from happening (sad, scary, frustrating and true)
The truth is, there are likely dozens or even hundreds of reasons that white Christians would give for voting for Trump and they could all be linked to their beliefs. The concern is why it is fairly predictable that the vast majority of his supporters would claim to be people of ‘faith.’
This post is not meant to offend. It is meant to encourage awareness of the elephant in the room of American politics and American life in general: faith-based worldviews drive decision-making, behavior, and voting for an enormous number of well-intentioned people in the country. A faith-based worldview provides almost no practical guidance on what matters in a modern, global society filled with dangerous ideas and inching closer to climate disaster. Faith-based worldviews are remnants of the earliest attempts of our prehistoric ancestors to make sense of the world around them. They are outdated, incapable of being updated with new information, and limiting in their ability to provide a true sense of purpose rather than a mere illusion of purpose. They promise but do not deliver on providing either a sound foundation for morality or an appropriate vantage point from which to attempt to understand and prepare for death of loved ones and of ourselves. Other posts on this site will more directly address these ideas further; however, briefly it’s worth mentioning the alternative. In contrast to faith-based worldviews, evidence-based rational worldviews have allowed for significant progress in understanding morality and providing ethical principles in a modern world of nuanced, complicated issues. Science has opened the door to an incomparable understanding of how things work and has provided the foundation for medical knowledge and technologies that allow us to live longer, more comfortably and more fulfilled than at any previous time in our history. Non-religious meditation, mindfulness practice and examination of the illusory self can provide an awe-inspiring appreciation for our place in the universe and the connections we share with everyone and everything else that exists. Ultimately, there is a much better way to experience life and love than that offered by faith. To bring it back to the reason for this post, there is a much brighter potential path for our country, but we must manage to consistently see for ourselves and point out for others, the inadequacies and flaws in the prevalent, faith-based worldviews that continues to dominate the brains of well-meaning people in our society. There must be a path of escape from the confinements of belief, and this can only come from those of us who are already free or were never trapped to begin with. Although we are in the minority, we need to stand up for an evidence-based worldview and show by example that embracing reason can provide a better alternative pathway to meaning and morality. If the majority of Americans had had a rational worldview informing their voting 10 years ago, Trump would no doubt have remained in reality TV-land rather than in charge of the free world.
Data cited in this post was taken from a Pew poll published in August 2021