Why Trump has been able to get away with it: in a word, religion

[es35]

Why Trump has been able to get away with it: in a word, religion


Trump’s lies are now legendary. The man spouts falsehoods whenever and wherever he is and goes. He is shameless, guiltless and fearless, which certainly qualify him as a psychopath. But that doesn’t answer the question of why haven’t the American people come down hard on him and strongly condemned him for such unethical behavior. Why has he continued to get so much support from them? Most people in this country will not like my answer which is: religion. As an atheist I have been able to discern this a little more easily than most because I have read about it happening at other times in the history of religion.

America is the most religious democracy on earth. Greater percentages of our citizens believe in God, the Devil, the afterlife, miracles, the supernatural, and angels than of any other democracy on earth. Our government is dominated by believers and our citizens forced to respect its priority over all other rights and freedoms. Public disrespect of religion is almost illegal in the USA with faith in God proclaimed on the back of police vehicles and all politicians aware that any public criticism of it by them means political death. Believers enjoy all kinds of leg
al and financial advantages over nonbelievers. Even our high school students may not be taught about subjects that contradict scripture such as evolution and geology.

The very basis of religion is its profound anti-intellectualism and authoritarianism. The institution spurns rationality, science and objective evidence in favor of faith and loyalty to Church and God. It cares much less about objectivity and scientific or even legal truth than about religious dogma, loyalties and the saving of the faith and its continued domination of society. It cares much more about serving and bringing a greater glory to God than about human rights, freedoms and needs. It is totalitarian in nature and driven to conquer all that is secular which is to be converted to religious. All facts that contradict its dogma are disputed or challenged and labeled secular lies. The young are indoctrinated with obligatory respect and obedience to the clergy and Church and are taught that those who do not believe in God are evil, should be hated and will be punished.

The similarities between the anti-intellectualism of Trump and that of religion are obvious. In both cases objective evidence and realities are overruled by the desires and dogma of leaders. The same was true of all the fascist dictators of the 20th century. The reason why Trump has not been condemned by the American public is that as a clever con-man he has exploited the religious fervor of the people and is using it for his own benefit. Although probably devoid of any belief in God, he is manipulating the still large majority of religious Americans into believing that he is a modern-day protector of the faith who will fight all advances of secular rights. He is therefore seen by them as a “visionary” who can do no wrong. When he says “the polls are rigged” it is understood that this is how he defends them against the loss of an election and asks their support for his lies to so that they and he can appear undaunted and victorious. They therefore readily give him the same unquestioning and unqualified support as they would the dogma of their Church and then come out for him in droves on election day to vanquish the secular.

The religious people of America are fighting for the survival of faith in an age of science and technology. This is why vast numbers of them support Trump fanatically which he understands and is cleverly exploiting. I do not know if there is anything that can be done to stop the catastrophe that this portends. However one thing we should do immediately is loudly hold all religions responsible for Trump. He is just the latest chapter in their long war with democracy and is moving very rapidly to disempower secular citizens. We must loudly blame every religion in America for supporting him and using him to overthrow our secular government. Only they have the resources to stop millions of their followers from supporting him.

Eric Stone

[Kahuna7]

1. In another word. Putin. Who has dirt on the entire GOP. nt

[david.byrne59]

7. The original post is an interesting read but I gotta agree with you!

[randr]

2. If it were not for religion

The poor would have eaten the rich long ago.
A favorite quote from I know not where

[Fichefinder]

3. Agree!

"Faith" is nothing more than believing in things with no evidence. The more unbelievable, the more of a true believer they obviously are, and therefore more deserving of reward. This leads to a sense of being better than others, and a desire to believe in something even more unlikely, like dinosaurs on the Ark, or the gold standard.

[NCDem777]

4. I think it's simpler than that

Elderly white people (the Repubs' biggest Demographic) have NEVER been affected directly by bad Republican policies

We've always gotten power back just in the nick of time before they were directly screwed.

But maybe when Granny loses her Medicare and has to develop a taste for kitty chow to afford her meds, she might learn.

[elementstew]

5. Spiritual is better than religious

Amen brother. One of the more insidious aspects of these problems is the backfire effect that reinforces false beliefs when a person is confronted with facts contrary to their beliefs. That's why I recommend creating A Spiritual Association for the Transcendence of Religion.

Here's some good news. The demographics look favorable. Evangelicals are about 25% of the US population and their numbers are diminishing while about 24% of the population are unaffiliated with any religion and growing at a rate six times faster than the evangelical base erodes.

[kiranerys]

6. Part of it, at least

I agree that religion, fundamentalist religion in particular, is part of it. Fundamentalist sects tend to view critical thinking and reasoning as dangerous, as something to be suppressed at all costs both in education and within themselves, because those things create doubt and dissent. They begin with the belief that an authority figure knows the absolute truth of the universe, and anything that contradicts their words must, therefore, be false, no matter what evidence exists. The authority figure defines what truth is, and anything else is false.

That's how people can believe "alternative facts", how they can look at those photos of the inauguration and say that they see more people at Trump's inauguration than Obama's when that's plainly not true - because they view authority figures as more reliable sources of truth then their own eyes and ears.

But I don't think that explains it all. There are plenty of religious people who don't have that rigidity, and plenty of secular people who are racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.

I think that at least much to blame is working- & middle-class white Christian resentment over the erosion of their cultural dominance and at the upending of the traditional (but unspoken) American class structure.