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Among so many other things, Donald Trump, whose record on religious persecution -- of Muslims, of course -- is anything but charming, is now openly supporting the one religious group in this country that experiences next to no persecution: Christians. Jews, yes indeed. Muslims -- well, I'm sure you remember. Christians, not really. And yet, as Joseph Gedeon of the Guardian reported recently, in his second term Donald Trump has already unveiled "an aggressive executive order establishing a dedicated taskforce to combat what he claims is 'anti-Christian bias' across federal agencies." Yes, the Trump presidency the second time around will, it seems, be a distinctly Christian nationalist one.
Of course, we're talking about the president who installed a set of notorious Islamophobes in the White House the last time he was there and put serious travel restrictions on the possibility of people living in seven majority-Muslim countries visiting the U.S. And last year, he campaigned on a program of reinstituting just such a travel ban. ("I will ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our border and bring back the travel ban.") Now, he is evidently at work preparing to do just that and possibly far worse. In fact, he's already signed a directive laying the groundwork for a potentially even more devastating version of such a ban. According to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, "the decree goes further than the 2017 'Muslim ban' by giving the government 'wider latitude to use ideological exclusion' to deny visas and remove people from the U.S."
Fortunately, as TomDispatch regular and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign Liz Theoharis reports today, there has been significant pushback against Trump's Christian nationalist tack. At this very moment, for instance, 27 religious denominations are suing the Trump administration for "giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at 'sensitive locations,' including houses of worship." And as Theoharis makes stunningly clear today, that's just a start to the pressure Christian progressives are preparing to put on in response to the Trumpian nightmare. Tom
Woe to You Who Deprive the Poor of Their Rights
A Battle of Theologies in the Age of Trump
"There has almost always been an outright hostility that is shown towards people of the Christian faith," House Speaker Mike Johnson said on a podcast recently. He was talking with Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana lawmaker and president of the Family Research Council, about freedom of religion and the actions of the second Trump administration.
I have to admit that such a statement from this country's third most powerful politician and an avowed Christian nationalist almost takes my breath away. Of all the people facing hostility, discrimination, and violence now and throughout history, Christians like Mike Johnson rank low on the list. Still, his comment is consistent with a disturbing religious trend in the country right now.
As an early act of his second administration, Donald Trump has created an anti-Christian bias task force to be chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi. At the same time, he's slashing federal jobs and programs, threatening Medicaid, Head Start, the Department of Education, affordable housing programs, accommodations for the disabled, environmental protections, public health and safety, Social Security, and Medicare, while scapegoating immigrants and trans kids. It's particularly ironic that Trump, Johnson, and the people with them in the top echelons of power are targeting those that the Bible is most concerned about -- children, the poor, immigrants, the sick and disabled, women, the vulnerable, and the earth itself. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the richest man ever to exist, who has built his wealth off exploiting the poor, goes so far as to call the impoverished "parasites." After all, there are more than 2,000 Biblical passages that speak about protecting the vulnerable, offering good news to the poor, stewarding God's creation, and bringing judgment down upon those with wealth and power who make people suffer.
Pope Francis himself has weighed in on the regressive policies and posture of the current administration. To America's bishops he wrote, "The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all -- as I have affirmed on numerous occasions -- welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable." Indeed, if any Christians are under attack right now, it's those included in what liberation theologians have called "God's preferential option for the poor" (the very creation for whom God has special love and care) and those standing up with and for them.
The Pope hasn't been the only one to challenge the use of religion in the Trump administration. Since the inauguration, the actions of Johnson, Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and others have been opposed and decried by people of faith of many persuasions. Remember Episcopal Bishop Marian Budde imploring President Trump to show mercy, especially to immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, at the Inaugural Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral? Since her gentle reminder that the Bible teaches love, truth, and mercy, she has received regular and credible death threats on a daily basis, even as people have also flocked to the Cathedral and other houses of worship in search of moral leaders willing to stand up to the bullying tactics of Donald Trump, the richest man on earth Elon Musk, and their cronies.
In response to Trump's threats of mass detention and deportation, especially removing "sensitive sites" status from houses of worship, schools, and hospitals, while threatening "sanctuary cities" with a loss of federal funding, 27 religious groups have sued the Trump administration for infringement of their religious liberty to honor and worship God by loving their immigrant neighbors. Kelsi Corkran, a lawyer with the Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and lead counsel in that lawsuit, said that plaintiffs joined the suit "because their scripture, teaching, and traditions offer irrefutable unanimity on their religious obligation to embrace and serve the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status."
Faith leaders are coming together to support and protect transgender and nonbinary people now under attack by the Trump administration as well. My colleagues Aaron Scott and Moses Hernandez-McGavin recently penned an article for Religion News Service where they affirmed the dignity of LGBTQ+ people, even as Christian nationalists continue to build their influence and power by damning LGBTQ+ communities, all while claiming to protect children and traditional family values. "Gender diversity," they wrote,
"is a fact of human existence older than Scripture and is thoroughly attested to in the Bible. Jesus's teaching about eunuchs in the Gospel of Matthew makes clear there are human beings who exist outside of the gender binary from birth, as well as those who live outside the gender binary 'for the sake of the kingdom.' In the story of the Ethiopian eunuch's baptism, the Book of Acts lifts up the spiritual leadership of gender non-conforming people of African descent. In the Hebrew Bible's Book of Isaiah, God affirms not only the sanctity but the spiritual importance of people outside the gender binary, promising us 'a name better than sons and daughters.' "The Talmud reflects this affirmation of gender diversity, recognizing no fewer than seven genders."
A Battle for the Bible in History
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