Monday, January 14, 2019

Conservative evangelical leaders fiddle while Donald Trump burns down America

With how Trump's behavior has shut down our government, his lies about building a wall, and the news about his uncomfortably cozy relationship with Putin and Russia, one would think evangelical leaders would be leading the charge of alarm.

Naw. It's not like Trump is a gay man or lesbian attempting to marry or adopt. Or a transgender child simply looking to be safe while in school.

With all of this mess happening in so many directions, it is easy to forget how ingrained the evangelical right is in this situation with their unwavering support of Trump over the values they claim to hold and the excuses they've made for his past behavior. I think the somewhat forgetful nature of Americans is something they are counting on. My guess is that when it is all said and done, they are hoping they can re-assert themselves as sort of a moral voice.

Don't count on it, my friends. Your pandering of Trump was bad enough, but your attempt to be inconspicuous, pious, and the kings of cognitive dissonance  as he melts into a pool heated by his own inadequacies hasn't gone unnoticed.

We've seen how you've tried to assert yourself as a Christian leader, probably in hopes of attempting to make people forget the time you referred to Trump as a "baby Christian."




Or how you have attempted to become the "voice of reason" during this shutdown.


As if doing so would make everyone forget how your nauseating praise of Trump helped get us to this point. Praise like such:




Then again, some of you won't stop going all in for Trump, even exploiting your status as religious leaders to help him sell his untrue narrative:

Robert Jeffress
"By opposing this president and his desire to build a wall around our border, I believe the Democrats are morally liable for the death of children, the assault of women, of the humanitarian crisis we’re seeing at the border right now. . . ."So many people today are upset about government workers not receiving paychecks. I understand that, but when the president took the oath of office, it was not the office of paymaster of the United States making sure everybody got their checks on time."  - Robert Jeffress, First Baptist Dallas Church in Texas 



Tony Perkins
A wall may not solve everything, but it will solve some things. Take Yuma, Arizona, for instance. "The area had only about five miles of fencing in the mid-2000s, then saw the extent of its fencing increase tenfold. Illegal crossings plummeted," NRO's Rich Lowry points out. A wall, he argues, is actually a mild form of enforcement. It "doesn't involve deporting anyone. It doesn't separate families. It doesn't prosecute and detain anyone. It doesn't deny any illegal immigrant currently working in the United States a job. All it does is seek to avoid getting in a situation where these other things are necessary in the first place." A wall, Rich writes, "doesn't close down the border, or close us off to the world." But a wall is a reminder that we are a nation of laws, whose first commitment is to protect the people inside. Congressional Democrats may not be interested in real solutions. But until they are, there's little hope of preserving the America that so many people are desperate to call home. - Tony Perkins, Family Research Council


And then some of you, such as Matt Barber below, can't devote enough time to be concerned about such matters as the shutdown, Trump's wall, or even questions about his relationship with Russia because you are too busy acting like circling vultures as you watch news about the health of SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Hoping no doubt  that something rather detrimental will cause her to resign from the court



The point is this.  I simply think  it should be noted how these so-called religious groups and leaders, who in the past claimed that gay couples being allowed to marry would usher in one of the greatest threat to America,  freely opened the door to the chaos of a genuine threat with their unwavering pandering of Trump. None of these groups or individuals should be allowed to get away with it without some scrutiny or demand for accountability.

The responsibility of being a religious leader or organization is a serious thing which should never be taken lightly. It is not bought nor should it be given away freely. The status is given with the proviso that you won't exploit or misuse it. If you do these thing, it should be taken away from you.  And you should made to prove that you deserve having it again.

Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, James Dobson, and the rest  who flocked around Trump as if he were the Second Coming have a lot proving to do. When all of this is said and done, they will have a lot to answer for. And they should be made to give those answers.  

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