Donald Trump and His Angry Voters Are Furthering an Extremist Christian Agenda
Unwittingly or not, by tapping into a long list of “isms”—including nationalism, sexism, racism, heterosexism and militarism—the Republican presidential candidate is following in the footsteps of the late, archconservative, televangelist Jerry Falwell.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Liberty University in January. (YouTube)
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In light of Falwell’s strategy to recruit an army of “co-belligerents” (because there weren’t enough Christian fundamentalists to “bring America back to God”) it is fairly clear why his son, Jerry Falwell Jr. (now president of Falwell’s Liberty University) endorsed Donald Trump for president. Falwell Jr. and Trump may share few, if any, spiritual values, but nevertheless Trump is a perfect “co-belligerent” whose political ego seems to blind him to the fact he is working to undermine the core values of our democracy.
For almost 25 years my husband Gary and I have worked with our colleagues at Soulforce to end the religion-based oppression of LGBT Americans. We can no longer focus exclusively on winning the rights and protections that “our people” are denied. Now we know that all oppressions intersect at the corner of biblical literalism and Christian supremacy. Now we know that all oppressed Americans are victims of the same oppressors. Now we know that all Americans must unite to resist this fundamentalist Christian threat to our democracy, even under the banner “Make America Great Again,” an expression based on Christian supremacy that readily follows from Falwell’s “Bring America Back to God.”
The Rev. Dr. Mel White is the co-founder of Soulforce and the author of “Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America” and “Holy Terror: Lies the Christian Right Tells Us to Deny Gay Equality.” Winner of the American Civil Liberties Union’s 1997 National Civil Liberties Award, White is a member of the Organizing Committee of the National Council of Elders.
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