Summary
Evangelical Christians have fallen prey to the temptations offered by Donald Trump, similar to those faced by Jesus in the desert. Trump has offered evangelicals wealth, protection, and power, leading them away from the teachings of Jesus and closer to the path set forth by the devil. The evangelical church has submitted to Trump, moving further from the values of serving the poor, healing the sick, and loving neighbors.
No, it’s just as basic as the OP let on… Going to church every Sunday indoctrinates the, “appeal to authority” logical fallacy. The very premise that the religion itself is the source of truth in the world is the trap that leads people down the road of falling for charlatans and other scam artists.
All it takes is for their priest or pastor to endorse (directly or indirectly) any political view, candidate, or person/product and “the flock” will adhere. To not adhere is to deny the authority and thus, the religion itself. That often also means expulsion from their community and very real other social and sometimes worse consequences.
The only “escape” is to simply not participate which actually resolves into two scenarios:
- An honest one where the former adherent admits that they no longer believe (the authority; not necessarily the entire religion).
- A dishonest one where conformance and piety is claimed and faked as a sort of performance art. After all, who can deny piety exists in an individual? It’s all in their head. This method can be quite profitable if you have no scruples! (For example, a Jesus fish in an official company logo/slogan… That’s basically the modern day version of the money changers in the parable of the money changers!)
At an even more basic level, going to church and claiming publicly that you adhere to a religion like evangelical Christianity opens you up to be scammed. Since there’s no official tests or regulations regarding what counts as “Christian” literally any scammer/scummy company can claim to be Christian and thus, “on the team”.
Christ’s teachings are pretty clear that everyone is on the same team and not to favor one group over another based on ethnicity (and by extension, religion) as given by the parable of washing the prostitute’s feet. However, that’s not really taught much in evangelical churches these days! In fact, if your pastor isn’t bringing that up right now–as Trump promises to intern immigrants, forcing them away from their families/communities–with regularity they’re probably in that second camp I talked about: Faking piety for profit.
But not every religion requires belief in a patriarchal deity or any loyalty or sacrifice. New age religions in particular tend to fit that bill, plus other varieties of gnostic, pagan, and attainment religions.
Treating all religions like Abrahamic ones is part of how they win. People should know the alternatives if they feel a lack of spirituality in their life.
