«I am convinced that God sI’m proud of the work I’ve done… We protect a lot of people who were about to be killed, Christians and Jews. A lot of people I protected would not have been protected by any other president.”
Two years after his inauguration, Donald Trump he celebrated himself, putting on his head the divine halo of the apostle who defends his persecuted brothers. There is nothing new in this umpteenth narcissistic display. Exactly one year ago, on the occasion of the first year of his regained tenure in the White House, Trump attributed America’s redemptive mission, the mandate by which God would save him from the attack suffered in July 2024.
In religious rhetoric, the President breaks every record and ranks first among his predecessors who referred to the value and principles of their faith. No one before him had agreed to sponsor an expensive edition of the Bible, autographed and accompanied by a CD with songs of patriotic religiosity. Trump did so, albeit with some clumsiness, in an attempt to accredit himself as a pious reader of the sacred texts.
Faced with the frequency with which he pronounces the name of God, fundamentalists in one piece like Ronald Reagan And George W. Bush believers appear lukewarm and timid in referring to their faith. In front of the President-apostle, a lay preacher who all his life taught the Bible to children like Jimmy Carter a secularized evangelical appears; Barack Obama, who had read the best of post-war American Protestant theology, a listless and disenchanted altar boy.
MACA (Make America Christian Again) seems to be the real slogan of the White House in a time of American politics that consecrates the country to Christian nationalism. A crowd of fundamentalist preachers applaud and exalt themselves in the face of this new David who, although a sinner, would have been enlightened and called by God to carry out a mission for his country and for the entire world.
A protest against ICE, after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent killed Renee Nicole Good on January 7 during a raid on immigrants, in Minneapolis, Minnesota
(REUTERS)
In megachurches devoted to the Religious Right pray for the “apostle” who is giving America back its Christian soul, who challenges every political correctness, every aspect of woke ideology; the forceful leader who finally limits civil rights and shrugs in the face of what is portrayed as a weak and unrealistic theology, guilty of preaching peace, love and compassion.
He had done so since the day of his inauguration, a year ago, in the blessing ceremony held in the National Cathedral in Washington, when he ignored and mocked the preacher, the Episcopal bishop (of the Anglican Communion) Mariann Budde, who in front of him had recalled the Christian values of mercy and solidarity towards those who are discriminated against, be they poor, migrants or LGBTQ people.
Always today, the president-apostle also proudly showed photos of “illegal” migrants arrested by ICE and deported. In his imperial theology, this too is part of “God’s plan” which he is convinced he is called to carry out. He would do it for the good of America and for the good of the entire world.
No contradiction, therefore, between the apostle’s mandate and the rudeness of the sheriff who imposes law and order: they are two faces of the same theology of Christian nationalism, of the same fundamentalism and of an increasingly illiberal and authoritarian democracy.
Having been silent for a long time – this is the news – the churches are starting to speak, or rather shout. Three authoritative American cardinals, heads of important dioceses, did so; historic Protestant churches do it – Presbyterians, Methodists, Reformed, Episcopalians, the black churches, many Baptists – gathered in the National Council of Christian Churches. Orthodox churches are also moving.
In a frightened and divided America, religious communities seem to grasp the drama of a moment in which too many are queuing up in the processions celebrating the Golden Fleece of a Christian nationalism that is strong in methods and consensus, but poor in love and compassion.
