Prefacing this… Fuck Trump. I’m not religious and not conservative (far from it on both counts). That being said, I grew up around some very religious Christians and this is not people worshiping Trump. This is people “praying over” him.
It’s not uncommon for Christians to pray for somebody’s safety, success, health, etc. And they’ll often do so in their presence by holding a hand or both hands out with their palm(s) pointed towards the one they’re praying for. I guess, kind of a way to kind of channel their prayer through them or something. Religious conservatives have enough hypocritical and unethical/immoral views and practices without misconstruing benign and normal practices as aberrant.
I wouldn’t say it’s “benign.” The whole gesture has a self aggrandizing tone to me. “Look at me and how hard I am praying.” Only the most full of themselves types of Christians pray this way and in front of cameras.
Yeah, it’s extremely performative and, from the outside, very occult. Of course they would rage at that idea, which makes it even more idiotic.
Well sure, I’m not saying it’s good or acceptable to be performative for a monster like Trump. But it’s not literal worship, which is what the post claimed.
I mean, I guarantee Trump thinks it is, and his supporters have been saying he was Chosen by God for years now. It’s close enough for me.
Literally, if you say you’re a Christian and you support Trump, you care more about Trump than Jesus. Give me all the No-True-Scotsman bs you want, it’s objectively accurate according to their own holy texts.
Matthew 6:1
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Matthew 6:5-6
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Totally normal on-brand Christlike behavior from the right.
I can confirm. For some evangelicals, “laying on of hands” was used on average members of a church who were suffering, sometimes encouraged by the pastor of the church. It’s been around since well before Trump.
Pentecostal Christians practice the laying on of hands as part of prayer for divine healing (faith healing) and the anointing of the sick.
You can call it pompous or whatever, but it’s definitely not a form of worshiping the person getting hands laid on.
Pictured: an obvious atheist being prayed over by a bunch of Christians he doesn’t understand at all.
Fucking brainwashed white morons.
Trump has never organically stepped into a church before he had political ambitions.
He’s not even really a Republican.
In a 2004 interview, Trump told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat”, explaining: "It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans”.
He is the epitome of RINO (Republican in name only).
Yeah he’s a life long NYC democrat how on earth do people think he’s repub whatsoever
Looks like the room is rehearsing a particular type of salute that went out of style in the mid-40s.
Christian Nationalism is not Christianity, it is Joel Osteen’s health, wealth, and prosperity message scaled up to the Nation-state instead of the individual
