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Donald Trump says “God saved him to make America great again.” However, the best rebuttal of his presidency so far has come from a priest – the Episcopal bishop of Washington.
The Reverend Mariann Budda’s sermon on Tuesday reached where business leaders and even Democratic politicians have struggled to reach. As Trump sat a few feet away in the community, she asked him to show mercy to gay, lesbian and transgender people and immigrants who are “scared” by his policies.
“Our God teaches us that we should be merciful to the stranger, because we were all strangers in this country once,” Budde said at the service. It was not a passing rebuke to Trumpism; it was an eloquent 15-minute argument for a different policy.
Trump sat there, fidgeted, then raged at the National Cathedral. His vice president, JD Vance, a Catholic, disagreed, whispering to his wife. Maybe they didn’t expect that. Because at the inauguration the previous day, they were welcomed in a completely different religious manner.
Preachers described Trump’s return as a “miracle”. One pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, invoked Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in his honor.
In 2023, the charismatic Sewell was expelled from his church in Detroit because its constitution was changed and he could disenfranchise regular members. Shortly after the inauguration, he launched a crypto token, telling X users, “You must buy the official coin of Lorenzo Sewell.” The price of the currency then quickly fell by more than 90 percent.
Who represents the Christian view of Trump? Is that Sewell with his pro-Trump, for prosperity a conversation about self-confidence, or a liberal Buddha who wants to speak for the marginalized? And, if Christianity can encompass both outcomes, is it of much use in understanding and dealing with Trump?
Budde supported her address with references in the Bible. She is in line with Pope Francis who has criticized Trump’s planned mass deportations of immigrants as a “disgrace”.
In contrast, pro-Trump spirituality often seems to rely on taking words out of context. Sewell stripped King’s dream of its intended meaning. (As for Sewell’s oratory, let me just say: “Free at last” is not meant to sum up what the audience feels when you stop speaking.)
Or take a combination of Christianity and growth. Another conservative speaker at the inauguration, Rabbi Ari Berman, suggested that George Washington called faith and morality necessary for “American prosperity.” In fact, Washington said they were key to “political prosperity.” The context back in 1796 was an appeal for national unity and a warning not to believe in the “absolute power of the individual”. And Trump would squirm through that speech.
But pro-Trump pastors are accepted as a valid part of the church like anyone else. And the chairs are also at the president’s place. According to Michael Emerson, a researcher of religion, practicing Christians are now overwhelmingly Republican, as liberal Protestants and Catholics have disproportionately stopped going to church.
Last year, Trump won about 60 percent of the Christian vote and more than 80 percent of white evangelicals. He paid a secret to a porn star, vowed to veto any federal ban on abortion, and doesn’t seem to have put his hand on the Bible at the inauguration. But some white evangelicals see him as a useful vessel, someone who will allow them to steer the conversation.
Ironically, after repeatedly invoking God in his inaugural address, Trump complained that Budde’s sermon mixed politics and religion. One thing Sewell and Budde agree on is that you can’t keep politics out of Christianity. If the church simply chooses to bless whoever is in power, it ends up being compromised.
The question arises: is religion downstream from politics? Will Trump’s supporters simply change their faith to the policies they prefer and his opponents do the opposite? The answer is probably: mostly, but not always. There’s certainly no point in listening to a preacher if you don’t think he’ll ever change his mind.
“When we know what the truth is, it’s a duty to tell the truth even when, especially when, it costs money,” Budde said. Her achievement should not be measured by the number of people who come to her next service. It should be measured by how many other people feel a duty to speak out against what they know is wrong.
