If you’ve ever attended church in the south, odds are you may have heard the song “Give me that old-time religion”. If you have, you might remember these lyrics:
It was good for our mothersAnd it’s good enough for me,
Makes me love everybodyAnd it’s good enough for me
It seems that this message of love is no longer resonating with Evangelicals, specifically those that have been spoon-fed the recent rhetoric of Christian Nationalists, who see Donald Trump as their new messiah. They now see this Jesus character as a bit of a pussy.
Moore told NPR in an interview released Tuesday that multiple pastors had told him they would quote the Sermon on the Mount, specifically the part that says to “turn the other cheek,” when preaching. Someone would come up after the service and ask, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?”
The whole, “turn the other cheek”, and “judge not lest ye be judged” sounds like liberal hogwash to them. They want that REALLY old time religion, the one where there was lots of smiting from God, and where his enemies were routinely destroyed. This is the great wish of Evangelicals of today. Even though they have won major victories, such as the Supreme Court repealing Roe v Wade, they are still convinced that the world of the future is a terrifying secular hellhole that needs fixing, and only their special brand of crazy is the solution.
Unlike the election that first won him the presidency, Trump’s new strategy is bound to blow up in his face. Sure, he has the loyalty of the Religious Right, but it’s impossible to win the office without getting a lot of independent voters on your side. The first time he ran, these voters were already sick of Democrats in the White House, and they felt a change was needed. It didn’t last long. Now that he’s literally referring to himself as the new messiah, the messaging is proving quite distasteful to pragmatic voters who have no real party affiliation. The Republican party used to understand this, but because of how much Trump loves to be worshiped, it’s doubtful he’ll change his tune to appeal to a broader base.
He’s even slowly eroding his base, by essentially acting as a false prophet. When he loses the presidency, there’s no doubt that there will be a need for the Evangelical community to do some serious soul searching. As new sexual abuse scandals erupt, the hyper focus on Trump will spell disaster for their membership in the long term. If there’s any comfort to be had, it’s the fact that this is decimating churches all over the country. It’s a reckoning that’s been a long time coming.