By Holly Kozelsky
In a Sunday school class five or six years ago, a question had to do with how is religion hijacked or misused. I answered that it is inappropriate for vendors, politicians, etc., to ride the coattails of Christianity (or any religion) to lure customers or voters and influence, and it is naive and wrong for people to idolize or fall for or kowtow to vendors and politicians who cater to us by claiming religion.
That was the days of the rise of social media influencers selling monogrammed big cups (or whatever) proclaiming it was for Jesus, and in political leaders pretending to care about evangelical Christians, such as when Trump held a Bible up in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church on June 1, 2020, to make a political point. A lot of Christians fall hook, line and sinker for this kind of pandering.
My Sunday school message was simply that we should separate politics and religion and not, through our naivete, be easy targets to messages we may not otherwise be thinking through clearly.
In the realm of politics, religion is a politician’s effort to look more like you and me, so we’d be more likely to feel comfortable with him and to go along with his ideas. Religious actions by a politician also can be red herrings. A “red herring” is a piece of information that is, or that is intended to be, misleading or distracting. That term comes from 17th and 18th century Britian, when strong-smelling smoked, salted fish were used to train hunting dogs to follow a scent or to distract the for it. It became a term used in literary analysis. Agatha Christie books confound, frustrate and even delight with red herrings.
And now “red herring” has become a red herring for my point on politics and religion, so back to it.
Apparently I did not explain myself well in that Sunday school class, because the others in that class vociferously defended Trump (including on “what those women are accusing him of” and that “he just can’t catch a break” and “we’re all human.”). After all – “He held a Bible up on national TV! He loves Jesus!”
Trump continued being tacky about religion such as through advertising the $60 Lee Greenwood “God Bless America Bible” (for which he was paid $300,000 – and think about all these good Gideons who go through a lot of trouble and expense to give away Bibles to as many people as possible for free!).
Now it’s grown to this: The president posted an AI image of himself as Jesus on his own official Truth Social social media account. Why, it’s just the most inspirational thing you’ve ever seen. Someone must have told AI: Put every patriotic symbol there is, and dress Trump like Jesus, and have him heal someone with a magic touch, and have other people look up at him in awe.
In this image Trump, with a few fewer wrinkles and a better hairstyle, is dressed in a white robe with an open red robe around it. He holds a beam of light in his left hand. His right hand is touching the forehead of an old man in a hospital bed, and light shines from his hand and behind the old man’s head.
Gazing up at Trump worshipfully and in awe are a bearded man in his 50s in a baseball cap, a young lady with praying hands, a young female nurse or doctor with a cap and a stethoscope around her neck, and a handsome young soldier. (Would it surprise you that they are all white?)
In the background are the Statue of Liberty, a multi-columned white building, fireworks, three fighter planes, a bald eagle, an American flag, another bald eagle and another government building. In the sky at the top of the image float four cloud-like silhouetted men like cherubs in a Renaissance painting, except that four of seem to be soldiers (who look slightly like Star Wars characters) and the one in the center is some kind of demon or horror-movie villain.
Evangelical journalist David Brody said the image went “too far” and crossed “the line.” Marjorie Taylor Greene called it “more than blasphemy. It’s an Antichrist spirit.” Conservative activist Riley Gaines said “Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this.” Conservative author and podcaster Michael Knowles wrote “It behooves the president both spiritually and politically to delete the picture.” Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer wrote “It’s inappropriate and embarrassing. It’s offensive.”
After lots of backlash, Trump removed the post, and said everyone misinterpreted it — he was supposed to look like a doctor, not Jesus.
Oh, NOW more Christians’ feathers are ruffled. I’m glad they are finally catching up.
