Evangelical Christians Supporting Trump – I Don’t Get It – Five Points

Jesus Weeps

“Jesus Weeps” – John 11:35

As a person who identifies as a Christian with a deep faith and a personal walk with Jesus Christ, I cannot fathom why so many evangelical Christians embrace President Donald Trump with such fervor. I would think that if Jesus lived in someone’s heart, and they professed a personal faith in Jesus Christ, they would desire a leader who embodies Christ’s teachings. Instead, I truly am shocked with the large number of evangelicals who unabashedly support Trump while giving no heed to the many ways he is the complete antitheses of Jesus.

Here are the five points where I feel President Trump is diametrically in opposition to the Christian faith as taught and lived by Jesus and as recorded in the Bible.

1) Being kind. Ephesians 4:34. President Trump spews hatred and nastiness instead of showing respect for all humanity. Mocking a person with a disability, calling Senator Kamala Harris a monster, telling Muslim-American Congresswomen that they should “go back where they came from,” demeans fellow human beings.

2) Seeking truth. John 8:32. Jesus taught that Christians should seek the truth. President Trump has continued to lie from the time he spread the birther theory that President Obama was born in Kenya to lying about the seriousness of COVID-19 to proporting that Vice President Biden has dementia. Too many evangelicals embrace these lies and preach them with as much passion as the gospel.

3) Loving your neighbor. Mark 12:31. Jesus taught that all people are our neighbors and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. So many evangelicals are following Trump’s direction of not needing to wear masks to curve the spread of COVID, denying that systemic racism persists in our country, and providing tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting crucial services to those less fortunate. It is a disgrace that middle class and upper middle class white evangelicals continue to amass wealth at the expense of marginalized communities and then claim that they are wealthy because God has blessed them for their righteousness.

Christ welcomes the foreigners instead of locking them out and demonizing them.


4) Welcoming the foreigner. Leviticus 19:34.  A theme throughout the Old Testament and then continuing into the gospel is welcoming the visitor and foreigner. Trump wants to build a wall to keep “them” out, separate children from their parents, and lock the kids away in cages. I don’t see many evangelicals calling Trump out on this.

5) Respecting women and the sanctity of marriage. Ephesians 5:25. Many evangelicals fume over same gender couples committing their lives to each other in marriage, yet are totally fine with Trump going through three wives, having multiple affairs, paying off a porn star with hush money, and feeling he can grab any woman’s private parts whenever he wants.

I feel that when Jesus sees how his so-called followers are twisting His words to pompously support their own materialistic self-centered and self-serving lifestyles, that as John 11:35 says, “Jesus Weeps.”

#      #     #     #     #     #

Blog author Stan Kimer is a diversity consultant and trainer who handles all areas of workplace diversity and with a deep expertise in LGBTQ+ diversity strategy and training, Unconscious Bias and Employee Resource Groups.  He also is a former President of the North Carolina Council of Churches and a long time leader within in Metropolitan Community Churches.  Please explore the rest of my website and never hesitate to contact me to discuss diversity training for your organization, or pass my name onto your HR department. [email protected]

An excellent resource (and writer): Cerebral Palsy Guidance and Alex Diaz-Granados

Alex Diaz-Granados, Miami-based freelance writer, online reviewer, aspiring novelist and regular contributor to Cerebral Palsy Guidance

Alex Diaz-Granados, Miami-based freelance writer, online reviewer, aspiring novelist and regular contributor to Cerebral Palsy Guidance

Added Sept. 2023 – an excellent resource (link) on cerebral palsy from the Birth Injury Center.

As a career development and diversity (all areas but with an LGBT – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) deep expertise, I often get community contacts via people who discover my website and blog. One particular recent fascinating contact is Alex Diaz-Granados, a writer for the website “Cerebral Palsy Guidance.” Since “people with disabilities” is one the critical diversity constituencies in need to more full inclusion, I discussed cerebral palsy, including its intersection with the LGBT community, with Alex.

STAN: Alex, can you give me a brief description of what Cerebral Palsy Guidance is about?
ALEX: Cerebral Palsy Guidance (CPG) is a website that provides information about cerebral palsy (CP), a disability that affects approximately 764,000 children and the adults in the U.S. alone. CPG was created primarily as a resource for parents of children with CP to give them information about the disability, what treatments are available, what kinds of medical and legal assistance exist, and to dispel some of the myths that surround CP. That having been said, though, we also want to reach the general public and increase awareness about cerebral palsy, which is the most common movement disorder that affects kids.

 

STAN: Wow, 764,000 people affected is a huge number! Alex, Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got involved in this work?
ALEX: Well, I’m a Miami-based freelance writer, online reviewer, and aspiring novelist – and I happen to have cerebral palsy. I was a preemie, and I acquired CP shortly after birth when a nurse placed me in an incubator – and took a bit too long to turn on the oxygen supply. It was only a momentary lapse, but thus, there was some damage in the motor control region of my brain. Luckily, I fell in love with the written word as a young boy, and I decided that I’d be a writer when I was 14.

As to how I got involved with CPG: I was asked to write a blog for the site in January of 2016. I was writing movie and book reviews for the now-closed Examiner.com at the time, plus I was gearing up to start writing my first novel. But CPG’s chief writer, Leigh Egan, emailed me not long after the New Year and asked me if I would like to be a regular blogger and share with readers what it’s like to live with CP. I’m not a researcher or a legal expert, mind you, but I do know about the challenges of daily existence as a disabled person in 21st Century America. So, I said “yes,” and here we are.

 

STAN: Alex, could you tell me more about the intersectionality of Cerebral Palsy with being LGB or T? Why is this important to discuss?
ALEX: I’m not LGB or T, but some of my friends are, so I am aware of the challenges they face today. I can identify with the LGBT community’s struggles to gain acceptance in a society where some people still believe that sexual orientation is an anomalous “lifestyle” or “choice” rather than an innate trait. People with CP, whether they’re gay or straight, are still sometimes looked upon as freaks or “damaged” individuals who should be shunned. Disabled people, of course, aren’t vilified or – as in the Pulse shooting in Orlando – targeted by zealots as LGB and T people are, but we still face discrimination and mockery. Look at that disabled New York Times reporter that President-elect Donald Trump made fun of during the campaign. Trump scornfully mimicked his physical disability because he didn’t like the man’s reporting or his probing questions! So for me, the intersectionality of individuals with CP and the LGBT community isn’t about sexual orientation. It’s about human rights.

 

Alex Diaz-Granados (second from the left) enjoys a dinner party for a close friend

Alex Diaz-Granados (second from the left) enjoys a dinner party for a close friend

STAN: What can allies do to educate themselves about the Cerebral Palsy / LGBT intersection and what actions can they take?
ALEX: I think that dialogue and participative interaction is the best way for people to understand each other. I’m not sure that disabled people in general have a negative worldview about the LGBT community – some people with CP are LGB or T, too. Maybe a small percentage of individuals with CP may have some prejudices about gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender persons, mostly because of their religious upbringing, but others, especially millennials, are more accepting. But by and large I think both groups (disabled and LGBT) get along well.

 

STAN: How can people learn more?
ALEX: If anyone wants more information about cerebral palsy, its causes, treatments, and what resources are available, there is Cerebral Palsy Guidance. CPG is one of the best sites on the Web, with well-written and researched articles by a dedicated staff. You can find it at https://www.cerebralpalsyguidance.com/

 

STAN: Thank you for the insights, Alex. Keep up your great work and I look forward to staying in touch and seeing your first novel.

* * * *

NOTE: FYI – here is a link to Alex’s LinkedIn Profile to learn more about him.