It has been a long road from being a sorrowful, scared grade schooler praying that a little girl he thought was cute would not go to hell because her family was Mormon, to a fearful father who was scared that his kids might go to hell if he screws up, to someone woken up by the Christian Right with their overwhelming support for the most craven human being who has ever been President of the United States. Overcoming such an early, terrifying indoctrination has not been easy.
Since being called ‘an agent of Satan,’ being accused ‘supporting the enemy,’ being told that I was ‘never one of us,’ that I’d just been hurt and ‘needed to get my life back on track,’ I’ve been buried in the scholarship concerning the ‘truth’ of Christianity. My conclusion is that not only is Christianity not true, but that it is not a positive social good that leads to better behavior. Christians who are honest, generous, and kind are so despite what the faith teaches. MAGA Christianity is anti-Christ yet it has a firm hold on the whole institution. Their talk of ‘truth’ is bullshit.
It is disturbing to watch Christians do the same old song and dance about how ‘God is moving,’ pretending that the whole racist, misogynist, anti-human shooting match has not descended into self-serving political depravity. The whole thing is about power, maintaining hierarchy, and defending the mountains of grift. The whole act about ‘God is telling me to tell you this or that’ is about submission and control. God, through his prophets, is telling the faithful to embrace as their only hope, their savior, a deranged, cruel, felonious, grifting con man and pathological liar. This is depraved. Christians who pretend that nothing is wrong are just as depraved because what they passively support is going to rain a whole lot of suffering on those who are not them. They are effectively saying, ‘(T)hose in Trump’s crosshairs are not our neighbors, fuck ‘em!’
The moment is here to stand against the death of democracy. The evil, supremely selfish, cruel man Christians support promises to turn the military against his enemies. That is just the start of it. The Christian fascists at the Heritage foundation will cover for and flatter their stooge to get what they want, a Christian Theocracy. Trump is just a useful, depraved idiot. The fact that Trump could win is truly astounding. Our hatred, cruelty, racism, and misogyny, our shame, our self-hatred, our subservience to grifters, our tolerance of lies, adds to the fact that our support of such a man signals a profound deficit in this nation’s collective mental health, moral conviction, and care for our fellow human beings. We could elect our very worst because we’ve been profoundly traumatized to do so as we’ve been taught that it is (supposedly) God’s Will. I understand why white men would support a total asshole like Trump, but it makes me very sad to understand that millions of women have been so beat down by religious and cultural bullshit to support a predator. He is anything but a ‘protector.’ He is a rapist who hates women.
I get looks of hatred when I wear my Harris/Walz t-shirt. I’m controlled by demons as Christianity’s leaders say. Harris has a ‘Jezebel Spirit.’ This is today’s cruel spirit of Christianity. The arguments supporting these claims are pathetic as they only work if you accept that these charlatans indeed speak for the almighty. It’s a power play which sows division as we ‘otherize’ those who do not adhere to the charismatic, NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) inspired ‘Gospel.’ When your hero calls the ‘others,’ ‘vermin’ who are ‘poisoning the blood’ of our nation as ‘they’ carry ‘murder genes,’ as your savior has done, it makes violence all the easier to carry out violence against the ‘enemies of Christ’ (as the ‘doctrines of discovery’ emphasized.) This is literal Nazi talk which most evangelicals actively or passively support. As your chosen has said, it is going to be ‘bloody.’ Indeed.
Christian faith has deeply traumatized and taken so much from me. The politically dominant Christian Right is about to fuck this nation over big time as we are on the precipice of fascism (with a hearty embracing of threats and violence to accomplish their goals.) Remember the principle of reaping and sowing? If you sow hatred, cruelty, division and threats, what will we reap? Hatred, cruelty, division, and violence. Christians, you’ve lost your fucking minds, and your hearts have darkened to embrace evil as your ‘salvation.’ If you do this, all the blood and suffering which will fall upon the ‘least of us,’ and ‘those who are not you,’ is on your heads.
It is so nice to no longer believe in heaven or hell. No one can hold that over my head anymore to control me. I’m free to call evil, evil and good, good. Men who claim to speak for God are full of shit.
Even though politically Christians are threatening to rain down a firestorm of fascist shit upon us all, I currently am breathing the free air. For mercy’s sake, I hope we do not elect that evil lying motherfucker so we can finally move forward away from a system of guilt, shame, and fear into a world where we all truly look out for each other.
It is difficult for me to hear the complaints of those who have committed themselves to Trump, that the (fake news) has not given him credit for the good things he has done. I asked this person, whom I’ve know for better than 20 years, a good Christian man, good husband and father, “what good things has he done?” What I got was an appeal to the wall and the arms deal with UAE which got them speaking with the Israelis. Anything else? I suppose I should also be giving credit to Pompeo for touring the occupied territories? How many kudos are you obliged to give someone who has been judged to be an enemy to both truth and the state?
What do you do with someone who has from the very beginning doubled down on an obvious, easily falsifiable lie and called you a horrible human being for calling him out on it? The excuse I hear is, “All politicians lie.” And so we are left with the argument of what level of lying is acceptable before threatening the security of the state. Trump has moved the bar so far; the fog is thick.
This is exactly what is intended in such an assault upon the very concept of truth. But it’s all fake news right? (The same people who should be giving the assailant kudos for the ‘good’ stuff.) We have a crisis of truth. Now that all is ‘fake news’ being a true believer means believing Trump’s word over all others. Everyone is a horrible liar except Trump and company.
As someone who still believes Jesus is the Son of God who was raised back to life but has lost all faith in the church, how does such a person, amongst all his peers who have seemed to have expanded their horizons of plausibility into absurdity, hold fast against exile? Christians made Trump; the changes he has wrought, to many cheers, will not recede anytime soon.
Our orange savior, the infinite victim, the one who suffers such indignity for us all, has, in his incessant campaign against Corona restrictions as tyranny, and had succeeded in making villains out of the most heroic amongst us.
But who gives a shit right? When I have to argue with you Christian, realize that I must look at you as someone who has been duped. I assume you in turn look at me the same way. There are no commonly assessable norms of truth anymore. They’re gone. Mission accomplished Team Trump (and fuck you for helping drive that home.) All we got left is force, trickery, and numbers. I don’t remember reading anything in my Bible about rightness and truth being divinable by such means. But we’ve bowed the knee to the popular ‘Christian’ culture, the ‘Left Behind’ nonsense and the empire of prophets and apostles who have well feathered their nests as our new lords. We’ve bowed the knee to the one they’ve named champion. I will say plainly that those who have trained you faithful Christians to interpret scripture through the lens of American culture have done you a terrible disservice.
But who am I to make such a claim? Nobody. No cameras on me as I should sell you some bullshit about having great faith. I have no flock to try to placate for the sake of unity. My enemy is going scorched earth, so am I.
I was raised right-wing Republican. I am ashamed that I was duped by you all for so long. Trump did not create you; he is you. He was me; for that I am ashamed.
I’ve gone through a book, ‘Being Wrong’ twice because of the existential crisis that I am in right now, because of what I used to believe, because I see the rampant racist hate, and the cowardly fear, which propels Trumpism. Truth, as we see it, is very dependent upon our emotional stability. Our collective emotional state brings us Trump, both a colossal liar and a petulant child who will not see what has been traditionally regarded as reality, as our representative. He is us. Unwilling to really dig, agonize, and improve; for we are already perfect.
Thank God, at least over 5 million more of us agree that Trump needs to go. But no, despite what has carried us thus far (our election system,) our savior, claims, without evidence (he’s had a while now to present it) that since he proclaimed (as our source of truth) that the only way he could lose is if there is massive fraud; so since he is losing there MUST be massive fraud. EVERYONE else who doesn’t acknowledge this MUST be an idiot and/or a liar. This is where we are. From the Left’s perspective, if we let him get away with this, we’re, quite frankly, fucked. (So no, BTW, I’m not going to give him kudos on the ‘good’ things he’s done.)
Addressing all the bullshit about Trump caring about the process… Please.
Evidence:
Our beloved Trump cares so deeply about the truth and the integrity of the process, right? Now the date of this email is clear yet at the time of this email (and to my knowledge still of this writing) North Carolina has not finalized and certified.
The ‘faithful’ may say Trump doesn’t control the intellectually integrity of these emails. Let’s not ask the question why he accepts these results without the automatic verification process and not the rest. Let’s not be hasty, right? Those with half a brain know what this is really all about.
Let’s turn to what is predictable as the sun rising tomorrow morning… Firstly we knew Trump was not going to concede, even as clear as it was (over 5 million votes nationally.) Secondly, we knew he was going to cry fraud. This goes way back. Thirdly, I knew, and Christopher Krebs knew, as soon as the cybersecurity chief, whom many said did a good job, said that there was no evidence of massive fraud that his head was on the block. As sure as shit the axe fell.
Now for all you Christian defenders of truth (and Israel) out there, I’m sure Trump is to be praised for calling out yet another liar in the ‘deep state.’ Am I wrong? Krebs MUST be a part of the radical left which HATES me and wants to keep me DOWN and SILENT. This is the new world.
For all you lovers of TRUTH out, from one who evidently loves LIES, let me tell you how the LIE LOVER, sees the threat forming to MY way of life. In the past, I’ve bitched about how the Electoral College skews elections (Hillary won the popular by a couple million votes,) but accepted that this was the established process so that a colossal piece of shit with the name Trump became the legitimate POTUS. Okay; that’s the system—have serious doubts but hoped that he will grow into the job.
Right off, he starts with obvious lie which was easily falsifiable. The Press, this is their job, calls him out on it. Trump not only doubles down but calls them horrible people for doing so and accelerates the campaign to label them ‘fake news.’ (And he just getting started.) Now what do you do? Do you let him get away with it? The ‘decent’ among us say we should just roll over—after all, he is the authority. That is what mindset of the authoritarian assumes should happen. If I want to be ‘free’ I should just accept what your gracious heart should see fit to afford me. Right? Not me, and not many.
Rolling over, being bowled over, being gaslighted, being bullied, is not healthy for ANY relationship. And so, rightfully so, the war with the press began. I (as a labeled believer of lies) happen to believe certainty is a difficult thing to grasp. I happen to BELIEVE that minimizing error involves acknowledging a wide variety of sources and largest samples to make evaluations of claims to truth. I will not commit to unfalsifiable claims, yet I tend to believe claims to which there is EVIDENCE. My Christian compatriots seem to not but rather follow personality and fad. Perception alone is deceptive which is why philosophers and scientists argue endlessly about the interpretation of what we observe. From all I’ve seen from my better than 50 years, Christians, when you get caught up behind a bunch of frauds and charlatans, are some of the stupidest people on the planet. Many of you are sweet and well intentioned, and many of you, thank God, are thoughtful and intelligent (and I see that you all pay a heavy price for being sweet and intelligent. Before I go further, I make no claim to being sweet, I’m an ornery sort.) When authoritarian types pushed me into a corner on bowing to Trump, when you demanded that I place my faith in what I see is terrible human being as my hope so as to be acceptable to the ‘club,’ I left the club.
Now the truth is no more, or should I say, ‘Trump is the source of truth,’ I am faced with a decision about how far I’m going into rebellion because I give a shit and I’ve had my eyes horrifyingly wide open my entire life (and I am worn out.) I will not submit to the ‘end around’ (the people’s vote) which remains a possibility. The notion of honor among the Republican party is gone; all quake in fear of you Christians, who pledge homage to the orange beast. They seek to preserve what they perceive is ‘theirs.’ From what I’ve seen they’re willing to do almost anything to hold onto any scraps of power which remain. There is still a possibility that the Orange Beast can trickster his way to keeping his position by overriding the vote of the people. This is where my life is directly affected.
Since I firmly believe Trump is a liar who has no regard for either us or the truth, that he is systematically dismantling all that is left of our decency, that he has for his own will to power set his countrymen against one another for his own benefit, Trump is an enemy of the people. I truly fear that if he is able to ‘save us’ from a RIGGED ELECTION then this country will go up in flames. (On top of all this, as evidence to your own cluelessness, you have the audacity to wonder at why we ‘leftys’ hate looking at your MAGA hats?)
The blood of this crime will largely be your heads Christians; because of your laziness and failure to properly interpret God’s Word—to instead rely upon depraved liars to divine it for you. You’ve led alright; but you’ve led us into a trap, into backing an evil man to evil ends. It is hard for me to express how ashamed I am of all of us. Thank you for adding to my life of shame. And to this end, if my life be required, I will die with my finger in the air towards the American Church and towards your champion. If Trump is your savior, I want nothing to do with you.
This breaks my heart.
Thank you, Church, for introducing me to a few dear friends for which I am profoundly grateful. But to all else, good riddance to what you collectively teach (by the very structure and environment in which your leaders do it.) As ever I will continue to roam amongst the ruins, ever hoping for our collective return to sanity and freedom. Pleading ever for you to come have liberty, also to warn that such is anything but free.
