Syncretism

For those who may have missed this last week:

Donald Trump [has absurdly] demanded an apology from the Episcopal bishop of Washington after she made a direct appeal to him during a prayer service marking his inauguration to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers who are in the United States illegally.  Referencing Trump’s belief that he was saved by God from assassination, the Right Rev. Mariann Budde said, “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”…later, in an overnight post on his social media site, he sharply criticized the “so-called Bishop” as a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater”…adding…“She and her church owe the public an apology!”…

She has, of course, refused to apologize, as well she should; she is 100% within the bounds of her station as a Christian clergywoman to ask a king for mercy for others.  The sooner and more emphatically a clear line is drawn between actual Christianity (following the New Testament teachings) and whatever the fuck it is that Trumpists stand for (claiming to follow certain cherry-picked Old Testament laws in combination with a lot of ugly anti-Christian nativism), the better.  I’m not a Christian, but I respect principled people who adhere to actual religious teachings; that does not mean opportunists who follow some kind of hodgepodge syncretism of leader-worship, jingoism, bigotry, and a grab-bag of superstitions sprinkled with a few Biblical quotes.