I'm Embarrassed For The Majority of Mormons That Supported Trump

[Kishkumen]

Supporting people‘s self-respect can easily shade into supporting people‘s self-importance. If you‘ve sat through many Bible studies, I think you‘ll recognize that some guys seem to really need to hold forth for a while about something. Giving people a chance to be listened to can be a wonderful thing, but sometimes it seems as though the religion is enabling a pompous loudmouth.

If you crave respect, I have a feeling that evangelical Christianity can offer a sort of religious version of a cheap drunk. Upholding a literal interpretation of the Bible as the only authority makes it easier to read a few verses and form a fixed opinion; exalting faith over works makes it easier to feel that those easily formed opinions are impressive achievements that deserve recognition. Many verses in that Bible warn against that self-righteousness, but you can avoid those verses and dwell on triumphant ones. The result is that a little bit of mastering the right lingo and the approved set of opinions can get you a lot more respectful attention from your peers than you could gain with the same amount of effort in other endeavors. To get that level of respect as a traditional Roman Catholic, for example, I think you‘d have to endure a pretty severely ascetic lifestyle.

So I think that evangelical Christianity may attract a bit more than its share of people—probably men in particular—who crave respect. And I‘m not sure they‘re all getting healed of the addiction; all too often, I fear, it may be like the fishing trip that is really all about the beer.

And I figure Trump aims his schtick at the same set of marks, probably without even trying because he‘s one of these respect-craving guys. So that‘s my theory about the apparent corruption of American Evangelicalism by Trump. He deals the same drug that goes round at the back of the revival tent.

Very insightful and it seems accurate to me!

[Moksha]

I believe American evangelicalism will never recover from its support of Trump. We will be seen as unprincipled hypocrites for many generations to come.

The trouble for some Evangelicals and Mormons is that they are still virulent Trump supporters. To make matters worse for the LDS Church is that those supporters are still hopping mad that President Nelson supported vaccines.

The Saints even sent Captain Moroni** to the insurrection.


** Mormon Senator Mike Lee also referred to Trump as Captain Moroni. This shows how willing he is to debase his faith.