Why do so many evangelical Christians support former President Donald Trump despite his decades of documented ungodly behavior?An in-depth report from The Economist shows that it has a simple explanation: They believe that God personally appointed him to rule the United States.In fact, the report ci...
Why do so many evangelical Christians support former President Donald Trump despite his decades of documented ungodly behavior?
An in-depth report from The Economist shows that it has a simple explanation: They believe that God personally appointed him to rule the United States.
In fact, the report cites a survey conducted by Denison University political scientist Paul Djupe that around 30 percent of Americans believe Trump "was anointed by God to become president."
Both the RawStory and The Economist articles are quite vague about what specific 2021 Pew poll they’re talking about. I’m very skeptical of this 30% number. The Economist article itself made no such claim.
Divine right of presidents theory would also make all the Democrats appointed by God. But this shit is evangelical personal relationship with God nonsense, so I guess God told them personally that he appointed Trump to be president.
Statistically my opinion doesn't even count because I'm not American.
But i get the 30% crowd on this. For that buffoon of a human being to become president. Maybe there was divine intervention. But whatever God exists, is fucking with us for entertainment.
And that same group thought that Obama was put in power by Satan. They used it as an excuse to ignore laws. "I follow gods law, not mans" and other such stuff that flagrantly violated the very rules established by their god.
Romans 13
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Saw this unhinged video on the old site about a week ago. Woman being interviewed was going on about how much the shitbag cares about USA and how much he cares about us. These people cannot reason about anything logically. He gives no fucks for anyone but himself, yet this asshole was saying he gives a fuck about his supporters / USA citizens. I hate stupidity. I hate gullibility.
I had a sociology professor who stated that we hate most in others what we fear most in ourselves. Checks out.
despite his decades of documented ungodly behavior
Because they also have decades of documented "ungodly behavior" (dumb phrase given god is a complete asshole) and want someone in charge that will let them continue it. Why do people insist on equating "christian" with "good"? If you saw some dude with "Good Guy" tattooed on his forehead, would you trust them? That's exactly what the cross has symbolized since it's inception.
It’s the prosperity gospel. Evangelicals are convinced god gives money to people he likes. Trump has money, as do most Republicans, ergo, god must approve.
Why that doesn’t apply to George Soros, Nancy Pelosi, or any other rich Democrat I don’t get.
This smells of bullshit. You can't get any of the numbers or methodology without paying. (Generally academic abstracts at least include their methodology if not their conclusion)
Which is because this is a book. This isn't a study it's a fucking advertisement.
Just looking at the publicly available numbers from respected groups like Gallup, 47% of Americans are religious. This would mean that 63% of religious people in the US believe God anointed a president.
Furthermore, 31% of Americans believed Trump had won the election as of 2023. (Gallup again) This would assign a mere 1% of those people to non religious, or at least, not believing he was anointed by God.
These numbers are highly suspect. However I'll stop short of saying the book itself is wrong. The free pages available on Google books talk about taking a comprehensive approach to Christian Nationalism in the US. Not this headline. It would not be the first time reporters read something an academic wrote and went off with a take away that was nowhere in the book or study.
What's far more likely, (without having paid for a subscription because fuck that and OP's free links don't work) is he said something along the lines of 30% of Christians believe he was anointed by God to bring Christian governance back to the the US. (Their ideology not mine, according to PEW, 24% of US adults identify as Evangelists) Not that he is anointed now. Of course there's serious overlap between evangelists and people who believe Trump won, but it is not 1 to 1.
Overall these are things we've known for a while. But finding out 30% of Americans believe in Divine Right Monarchy would be a big deal. And burying it in a book on a tangential subject would be completely irresponsible. It would be the watershed of a whole series of studies to support or refute. I highly doubt Rawstory has the right takeaway on this.
Edit -as always, it takes far more effort to track down what was actually done and said than to print a spurious story. So the Rawstory article simply points to the Economist article as it's citation. The Economist article has this to say -
A survey in 2023 by Paul Djupe of Denison University in Ohio found that a quarter of Americans believe in modern-day prophets and prophecies.
And
In a survey conducted by Mr Djupe shortly before the election, three in ten Americans believed Mr Trump “was anointed by God to become president”.
It also says they see Trump like the Persian Emperor who, while not Jewish himself, secured their freedom. So this was before the election, with no polling after the election. Only the observations of Christian Nationalists and Apostolic Militants combining to form the January 6th insurrection. Simply put we don't know how many still believe he's anointed to be elected. And how many people thought God would intervene after the election or still believe he will intervene.
[they believe that] God will use Trump to crush opposition to Christian nationalism and restore Christians as the nation's rightful political rulers.
i've said for years that all the so-called "hypocrisy" of the christian right supporting the decidedly unchristian donald trump vanishes when you account for one fact: he'll let them hurt who they want to hurt.
I'm not asserting that the polling is wrong, but I would say that for many people polled it could be misunderstood.
From a Biblical worldview, God can influence leaders. Both who is put into office, and to some extent even change their hearts about situations to control their impacts in the world.
That is to say God can, not that every leader is chosen by God and even less so that every leader is approved by God. Many times God is shown allowing bad leaders as a judgement of the people.
So even among those polled who said they believe he was appointed by God, it doesn't mean all of them thought it was a positive endorsement. I think if God chose him, it's because he's the leader we deserve.
Yeah, I'm glad there's a voice of reason in the comments because there's no fucking way this is accurate even with now completely idiotic our nation is.
I wonder if they also have parasites and love sucking down chemicals from corporations with lifestyle statements... OF COURSE THEY DO. FILTHY OTHERSIDERS