Donald Trump, a 77-year-old Bible salesman from Palm Beach, Florida, has emerged as the nation’s most prominent Christian leader. Trump is running for president as a divinely chosen champion of White Christians, promising to sanctify their grievances, destroy their perceived enemies, bolster their social status, and grant them the power to impose an anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ, White-centric Christian nationalism from coast to coast. That Trump doesn’t attend church and has obviously never read the book that he hawks for $59.99, seems of interest exclusively to his political opponents.
What might catch the attention of some evangelical conservatives, however, is that Trump’s ostentatious embrace of White Christian militantism coincides with a precipitous decline in religious affiliation in the US. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, one-quarter of Americans in 2023 said they were religiously unaffiliated. “Unaffiliated” is the only religious category experiencing growth. In a single decade, from 2013 to 2023, the percentage of Americans saying that religion is the most important thing, or among the most important things, in their life plummeted to 53% from 72%.
They aren’t leaving church because Trump.
They are leaving church because church leadership worships Trump.
Religions with members who don’t support Trump are doing just fine.
Curious, do you have the numbers to back this up?
Anecdotally, I’m a former pastor who hasn’t stepped foot inside a church in four years because of Trump and these people.
I almost walked out of church in 2016 when the head pastor thanked God for Trump from the pulpit. I hung on till the pandemic and when the church insisted on becoming centers for disease, I was just through.
As an ex-Christian of 35 years, I can only imagine the turmoil you’ve been through. Not just as a person of faith, but as a pastor who took his Biblical office very seriously. I have no judgement and certainly nothing to add, just saying I see you and wishing you peace.
Thanks. It’s been very difficult because I’m not an ex-Christian, but I’m not one of them anymore either. I doubt I ever really was.
I still want to be a pastor though, to talk about God and theology and support others as they go through life. It was my entire adult life.
I just don’t think there’s a puzzle out there that will fit my jagged little piece.
I totally get that tbh. I’m naturally drawn to religion and when I look at the benefits to society that pastors can provide I see a lot of capacity for it, but I’m queer and drawn to paganism. In a different world I’d’ve been a pastor or priestess or whatever. Thankfully I’ve got another career I’m called to.
I’ve heard the term seeker used to refer to people who just feel called to religious wisdom more than to a specific dogma and I kinda like it. No matter where I go I’m looking to better understand the same things. What I saw in Catholicism and was drawn to there I find in a way that makes more sense in my current understanding of old gods.
I was never really one of them either, I think maybe I just got tossed farther on the discard end, lol. Between that and my decades of study, there was never going to be a day when I could agree biblical canon said what it did not say, or that the authors meant other than what they classically have been understood to mean.
But regardless of the reasons or the exact form it takes, when the church fails and it no longer bears any resemblance to its own message, individually there is an inner dissonance, a struggle, that is absolutely a form of torture.
If you don’t mind me saying so, I think your exact experience and goals are more needed than they ever were – but as an individual, walking alongside other individuals like yourself. The churches are too far gone. Help the few and far between that are as repulsed as you are.
That’s absolutely my hope, though I’m not sure if it will ever be properly realized. Thank you for the encouragement.
For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for my part in the system that hurt you and so many others.
That is truly kind of you to say. Thank you. I wish you well.
I don’t know if you’ve already looked into it, but check out a non-denominational church in your area. Most of my family is reformed Catholic, and my grandfather was the only one who attended a real church. I’m not a fan of them, but my uncle and mother found solace in ND churches to fill their spiritual needs.
I’ve been in more than a few of them, and someone like you might do very well in one. I enjoyed listening to the sermons for the most part, and it’s always nice to see someone who doesn’t dress up bigotry and hatred in the trappings of religion.