There Actually Is Anti-Christian Bias
Its Just Not Where You Think It Is
(In this column, I will be referring to Christian Nationalists as “MAGA Christians.” There are many types of Christian Nationalists, and not all are full-on MAGA. Therefore, in this article, the term “MAGA Christians” will refer to those who religiously and cultishly support the goals and objectives of the Trump administration, are willing to persecute non-MAGA Christians, and seek only one expression of Christianity.)
The “Anti-Christian Bias Task Force”….Really?
Suppose you were initially as perplexed as I was about Trump establishing an “Anti-Christian Bias Task Force,” when the overwhelming majority of Americans are Christian. In that case, I think I’ve put the puzzle pieces together on this one. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Examine the two photos above and compare them. If you see something strange in them, you are not alone, and you are correct. Some Christians are being persecuted in one photo, but not in the other. I will come back to this picture.
It is important to understand how MAGA Christians are infiltrating the White House and collecting favors from Trump for their unwavering support for the criminal President’s election. On February 6, Donald Trump, via executive order, established a task force to “eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.”
Donald Trump doesn’t care one blue suit at a Pope’s funeral about anti-Christian bias. No, there is no anti-Christian bias in the United States. It is a stretch of credulity to believe that in a country which is still roughly two-thirds Christian, there is an “anti-Christian bias.” But that is what the Trump administration would have you believe, because he stands to gain something from it.
You Have to be the Right Kind of Christian
The truth is that there is anti-Christian bias against those who are “not the right kind of Christian.” Meaning, anything other than a conservative, evangelical, white, and MAGA Christian can be persecuted and discriminated against.
Stay with me and I’ll show you what I mean.
Among the examples cited by Trump to “prove” anti-Christian bias by the Biden administration was the arrest and sentencing of six so-called prolife activists who blocked the entry access to an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. The activists had violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The Act is controversial, but does not allow prolife people to block the entryway. They did, and their guilt was never in doubt.
It has become clear that for Trump and his trusty MAGA Christian advisors, it is anti-Christian bias when pro-lifers are arrested for breaking the law. Religious freedom means only certain kinds of Christians are warranted protection…in this case, pro-life, MAGA Christians.
However, not all Christians are pro-life, and many Christians uphold the right of a woman to choose her bodily autonomy over the strict religious interpretations of conservatives. But they aren’t the “right” kind of Christians. According to Trump, only pro-life conservative Christians are being persecuted, therefore, we need to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.”
Do you see the incongruity?
According to the Trump Administration, it is also anti-Christian bias if a government agency tries to uphold the rights of transgender individuals, rooted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Trump’s executive order misleadingly accuses the Biden Administration:
The Biden Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sought to force Christians to affirm radical transgender ideology against their faith. And the Biden Department of Health and Human Services sought to drive Christians who do not conform to certain beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity out of the foster-care system.
This is not true and is misinformation. There are many Christians who support and will uphold the rights of those who have a different gender identity than their birth sex. But for some reason, it is only anti-Christian bias when conservative evangelical, MAGA Christians have their view challenged. The assumption is that there is only ONE Christian position on this issue…the conservative-white-evangelical one.
Evangelical Persecution Complex
Evangelicals in America have long had a persecution complex of mammoth proportions, similar to President bone-spurs who believes everyone is picking on him. It is part of being evangelical. Just watch the “Left Behind” movie series if you like “B” movies, and you’ll understand the rapture-laden persecution complex. The binary world-view of evangelicals that divides people into believers and unbelievers, and us vs. them, requires that they are the ones who are always the object of persecution.
But wait…. now, they are the ones who hold the levers of power.
The Trump Administration, despite the fact that MAGA Christians are nesting inside the White House, is feeding this persecution complex on steroids. By pretending that only pro-life and non-gender-affirming Christians are the “right” kind of Christians and are being persecuted, he has given them a voice for their delusional marginalization and a justification to persecute those who have a different view. This delusional marginalization energizes them and, most importantly, gets them out to vote.
Paula White Returns to Washington
Now, re-enter Paula White-Cain, once again, into the halls of power. On February 7, the day after the announcement about the “anti-Christian bias task force, Donald Trump announced his appointment to the newly formed “White House Faith Office.” Paula White-Cain will run that office.
Pastor Paula White-Cain returns to the White House as a Special Government Employee and Senior Advisor of the newly created White House Faith Office. The announcement described her as “a celebrated New York Times best-selling author, teacher, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, mentor, popular TV personality, and spirit-led preacher of God’s Word.”
Ah…such a matron she is.
In reality, she is a scandal-ridden, prosperity gospel preacher who has fleeced the flock for her own personal wealth and aggrandizement for decades. She is a self-described Charismatic Prophetess, a Seven Mountain Mandate promoter, a wicked demon exorcist, and a spiritual warfare soldier who now sits in the White House and advises the most powerful person on the planet. And she is Trump’s personal spiritual advisor…a marriage made in hell.
Paula White-Cain tells Trump everything he loves to hear. He is the “chosen one” to save America. He is the greatest leader in the history of the United States and should be enshrined on Mount Rushmore. And he is the one to protect Christians (the right kind of Christians) from the onslaught of secular-demonic attack.
Nothing is beyond her continual fondling of Trump’s ego. He will give her whatever she wants because of her unadulterated adulation and votes she produces. She and others of her ilk have told Donald that they are the ones being persecuted and maligned. In truth, it is they who want to marginalize and discriminate against those who don’t conform to their MAGA Christian view of the faith.
Trump’s Transactional Relationship with MAGA Christians
There is a mutually beneficial relationship between Trump and his MAGA Christian allies like Paula White. For Trump, as usual, it is a transactional relationship. He promotes their interests and claims them to be the only true faith, and they persecute and silence other Christian voices in opposition. MAGA Christians are, for Trump, another tool he can use to go after his detractors and critics. His authoritarian-narcissistic personality requires absolute obedience and fealty, and MAGA Christians help to soothe his fragile ego.
Just as Christians who came into power after the reign of Constantine in 313 began persecuting and banning pagan practices, so the Office of Faith under the Trump administration is seeking out and discriminating against all religious beliefs not consistent with the MAGA Christian brand. It is a tried and true formula for authoritarian success.
Bishop Mariann Budde is the “Wrong Kind of Christian”
Lets get down to specifics:
Here is an example that the whole nation witnessed at the beginning of Trump’s second term. Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde spoke at the prayer service for the President the day after the Inauguration and said she “decided to make an appeal to the president” because of “how dangerous it is to speak of people in these broad categories, and particularly immigrants, as all being criminals or transgender children somehow being dangerous.”
She spoke to Trump publicly and said,
Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are transgender children in both Republican and Democratic families who fear for their lives.
And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in our poultry farms and meat-packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shift in hospitals — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, and temples.
Have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. Help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land.
Imagine that…a gospel message about mercy. But Bishop Budde is the wrong kind of Christian. The reaction was swift and sharp. Trump called her a “nasty woman,” and a list of heavy-hitter groups of the Christian right attempted to paint Budde’s message as a form of secular ideology, suggesting her beliefs about LGBTQ+ people and immigrants were not representative of true Christianity.
Additionally, calls from the right to censor, defrock, and deport Budde and calls to end tax exemptions for the Episcopal Church reveal the real nature of Trump’s MAGA Christian “religious freedom” regime. Religious freedom is reserved only for those who march in line with MAGA policy and the MAGA Christians who have infested the White House.
Cole Muzio, president of the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Frontline Policy Council, responded to a video of Budde’s sermon on X, formerly Twitter. “There’s a special place in hell for this self-proclaimed preacher of the gospel,” Muzio said. The Toledo Proud Boys posted on Telegram: “This so-called ‘bishop’ is not serving God! Rather, she is an instrument of Satan!” Anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Matt Walsh referred to Budde as a “witch” on X.
All because she asked for mercy for immigrants….let the demonization begin!
Not only do the MAGA Christians on the right refuse to accept any version of Christian faith other than their own, but true to extreme theology, they will characterize their opponents as Satanic and demonic. By claiming Budde and others are not true Christians, they can be demonized, just like the pagans under Roman Christian Emperors.
It is open season.
Non MAGA Christians Push Back
Many are now beginning to speak out against this rising religious authoritarianism. On May 1, a group of Christian leaders issued a public letter condemning Trump’s “Anti-Christian Bias Task Force.” In part, the letter spells out the hypocrisy of Trump’s efforts that have closed the American door to real religious and political refugees fleeing persecution:
We are appalled by the hypocrisy of the Trump administration in shutting the door on our siblings in Christ who are attempting to flee real Christian persecution around the world, and call on the administration to restart the U.S. refugee resettlement program. Far from being a protector of Christians, the major threats to Christians in the United States are coming from Trump’s own administration. Authoritarian theocracy does not serve the interests of Christians. We have already seen that any Christian who steps out of line with this administration will be targeted, which greatly diminishes how we can follow Christ.
We denounce the “Anti-Christian Bias Task Force” and call on the Trump administration to immediately stop its attacks on Christians and Christian organizations. We will not sit idly by while our faith and the name of Christ are used to justify the march towards authoritarianism.
We fear that the 'Anti-Christan Bias Task Force' will be weaponized to privilege one tradition within Christianity over others, ironically creating anti-Christian bias even as it claims to combat it."
You can find a list of signers of this letter here.
These leaders can see through the tactics of this task force and the aim of the MAGA Christians that control the policy. Additionally, some see this effort by Trump’s MAGA Christians as a cover for white supremacy.
It is time to return to the picture at the beginning of this column.
Back To The Picture That Speaks a Thousand Words
On April 28, prominent pastor and anti-poverty activist the Rev. William Barber and two others were arrested while praying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Barber said this was an ongoing action aimed at challenging the Republican-led budget bill.
The Religious News Service reported the incident this way:
The arrests occurred roughly 15 minutes after Barber, the Rev. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Steve Swayne, director of St. Francis Springs Prayer Center, started praying in the Rotunda as dozens of police stood nearby, some prepared with plastic handcuffs. The three took turns praying, lamenting potential budget cuts to social safety-net programs such as Medicaid, often chanting together: “Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of your mercy. When we cannot depend on the courts and the legislative power of human beings, we can still depend on … the power of your love and your mercy and your truth,” Barber said in the Rotunda as police began to surround him.
In trying to explain the arrests, a Capitol police spokesperson said Barber and two others were charged with “crowding, obstructing and incommoding,” explaining that demonstrations in congressional buildings are “not allowed in any form, to include but not limited to sitting, kneeling, group praying, singing, chanting, etc.”
Is that right?
Take a look at the other picture next to the one of Barber being arrested. In March 2023, Christian Nationalist worship leader Sean Feucht held a prayer-worship service in the Capitol Rotunda, nearly in the same place as Rev. Barber. Feucht, who gained notoriety during COVID by encouraging churches to gather unmasked in person, was joined by Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado). Like Boebert, Fuecht is also a supporter of Donald Trump.
In stark contrast, Feucht’s event was significantly longer than Barber’s brief prayer session, and while police spoke with participants, no one was arrested. Why the incongruence? Where were the plastic arrest straps? What is the difference?
Capitol police make a weak reference to it being after public hours, but that begs the question….what was Sean Feucht doing in the Capitol after public visiting hours? Who let him in, and why was he allowed to conduct a full worship service?
People such as Sean Feucht and Lauren Boebert are MAGA Christians, supportive of Trump and his policies. Therefore, they are given religious freedom, whereas those who are “the wrong kind of Christian,” like Budde and Barber, meaning they oppose Trump’s policies, will be arrested when trying to demonstrate their First Amendment rights. Those who oppose the President are demonic and must be stopped.
Welcome to the new MAGA Christian authoritarianism and a new definition of “religious freedom.” Religious freedom now only applies to those who express unflinching support and agreement with the Trump agenda. Those who oppose will be silenced, ostracized, and persecuted.
Rev. Barber’s resolve is not shaken, however. Despite the intensity of the response in the Capitol, Barber said he is unmoved and plans to continue demonstrating — and praying — in the weeks to come.
“Just as Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers, so we have to be willing to put our bodies on the line,” he said. “I pray that impacted people will (come) again, not to go to get arrested, but to arrest the attention of the nation.”
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: Some people are so afraid of not getting into heaven that they have to make life hell for everyone else.