Trump: Cardboard Christian (August 14, 2016)

In the last two weeks Trump has made a renewed call to “the Evangelicals” for their support as he vows to protect and support Christian rights in the United States. This is not his first rodeo with the more explicitly political among their brothers and sisters, despite the large segments of this religious group who did not support his pretensions during the Republican primary contest.

There is a long tradition in American politics of avoiding direct attacks on another candidates personal faith, as long as (in modern America), he or she proclaims some version of religious adherence, i.e. they do not profess being an Atheist or practicing agnostic. That is another long standing tradition Trump has broken willy-nilly in the last year.

In his newfound self-proclaimed role as the Christian political rescuer, Trump has announced his own roots as a communicant practicing Christian, and offered proofs of his faith roots and beliefs.

Trump and the Family Bible

Shall we examine a few of the more striking items he has publically offered? Nearly a year ago he offered his ‘family bible’ in a 30 second video ad, and produced it at various secular rallies before voters and Christian oriented audiences (Liberty University, Values Voters) , for TV cameras and print reporters, along with his patented commentary. He must have felt the gesture effective, since he reprised his routine several times.

Of course, as so often the case, he did not produce his family bible. What he showed was the first bible presented to a child by a loving parent (his mother) when he attended Sunday school at Church at the First Presbyterian Church in Queens, New York. He showed the presentation page where his mother had written in longhand young Donald’s name and address (as he says on tape) in case he should lose it, someone might return it.

There is no record of whether Trump has the real Trump Family Bible, perhaps the one with the family genealogy inscribed in the front matter, as so many family bibles are in the U.S. There are no stories of where the Family Bible came from, how it was handed down through family generations, who was scheduled to receive it upon his parents passing, etc.

For all his story telling, there is no record I can find of Trump’s family childhood memories of reading the bible with his parents or siblings, learning verses to recite at Sunday school, or for Christmas or the Passover (Easter resurrection) holidays, or struggling with the names in the endless Old Testament lists of “begats and begats”. While we are on the subject, nor is there any anecdotal evidence from his three wives or five children, or his several grandchildren, of any Trump family private Bible verse or prayerful moments in the 70 years he has been around.

Were he the non-verbal type or uninterested in political support from his fellow believers, Trump’s paucity of memory on this score might be understandable. But he is certainly not non-verbal, and he certainly ardently seeks religious validation. Laying all that aside, we know that often a picture speaks volumes, and more powerfully that any written description.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds up his bible during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

There is a whole subset of Trump and the Family Bible pictures freely available. Here are two contrasting examples. In the first Trump is holding the Bible in Question aloft in his Right hand, while he declaims on its importance to him. Note the telegenic background with flags and his American flag lapel pin front and center, to drive home his message of religious fidelity.

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump holds a Bible as he speaks during the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual fall dinner, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

In the second, less guarded or more carefully staged shot, he holds the Bible in Question aloft in his Right Hand, again with a background of flags, and his American Flag lapel pin on prominent display. In this shot however, his Bible reveals a discernable Trump for President political placard clearly visible held between its pages, the way someone might press a rose for Mother’s Day from her child, or a memorial printed card for a lost loved one, or a special wedding or birth announcement.

Now I ask dedicated Christian believers, who among you would deliberately display their personal Bible with a political placard poking out for the cameras?

I thought so. An image worth a thousand words.

Trump’s Christian Childhood

Trump on his childhood religious background:

Donald Trump grew up in Forest Hills, New York, a suburb of New York City. He’s a New Yorker through and through.

I believe in God. I am Christian. I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book. First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica Queens is where I went to church. I’m a Protestant, I’m a Presbyterian. And you know I’ve had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion.

There has been a fair amount of sloppy and inaccurate reporting on Trump, including his religious background.

Here is one such example from the Huffington Post:

Trump’s parents were Presbyterians, and they and their five children attended Marble Collegiate Church in lower Manhattan. Donald Trump retained a connection to that church in his adult life. He and his first wife, Ivana, were married there in 1977. Though not currently an active member, Donald Trump has stated publicly that he considers Marble Collegiate to be his church.

From the Washington Post (correction):

Trump’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, formally joined Peale’s Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan — a venerable affiliate of the Reformed Church in America — during the 1970s.

As a matter of fact, Trump’s parents did not begin to attend the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan until the mid 1970’s. Donald Trump’s (b.1946) four brothers and sisters were born in 1937, 1938, 1942, and 1948, which means the youngest was at least age 25 (an adult) before the Trump family ever attended Marble Collegiate Church. Trump himself was 27 in 1973, well past being a child. So there was no religious influence from this church or its pastor, Norman Vincent Peale, on Trump’s religious views or practice, until well after he was already an adult.

Trump’s Version of the Lord’s Supper or Communion

In July, Trump was asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness. In response, Trump described taking communion.

“When I drink my little wine – which is about the only wine I drink – and have my little cracker, I guess that’s a form of asking for forgiveness,” he said.

The ceremony of the Lord’s Supper for baptized Presbyterians is considered a sacrament.

Presbyterians believe that God freely offers the sacrament of communion, or The Lord’s Supper, as a sign of grace and God’s relationship with believers. They do not believe in the transubstantiation, which is the belief that the bread becomes the actual body of Jesus Christ and the wine becomes his blood; they do believe Christ is genuinely present and offers strength to all who receive communion.

People take communion in the Presbyterian Church according to the customs of the individual church. They may approach the altar and take communion from the pastor or elder; they may stay in their seats while the deacons and elders bring communion to the congregation; or they may sit around a table. Wafers or actual bread is used, along with wine or grape juice.

Another similarity I share with Trump is that I am a baptized communicant member of the Presbyterian Church, since the age of 12 (more than 50 years). A small point, I know, but I have never heard a co-religionist refer to the communion element as a cracker, only as a communion wafer or bread or the Host. This bespeaks a poor memory, a negligent attitude, or a deep unfamiliarity with an essential religious ritual on Trump’s part.

The upshot is that Trump was raised, and identifies himself today as a Presbyterian. He is not a an active member of a Protestant denomination church congregation, he is not regular church goer, and he seems more than a little hazy on core Presbyterian ritual and beliefs.

Presbyterians Are a Mainline Protestant Denomination in the U.S.

From the Wikipedia entry on Presbyterians:

Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism which traces its origins to the British Isles. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the Presbyterian form of church government, which is governed by representative assemblies of elders. Many Reformed churches are organized this way, but the word “Presbyterian”, when capitalized, is often applied uniquely to the churches that trace their roots to the Scottish and English churches that bore that name and English political groups that formed during the English Civil War. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of grace through faith in Christ. Presbyterian church government was ensured in Scotland by the Acts of Union in 1707 which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. In fact, most Presbyterians found in England can trace a Scottish connection, and the Presbyterian denomination was also taken to North America mostly by Scots and Scots-Irish immigrants. The Presbyterian denominations in Scotland hold to the theology of John Calvin and his immediate successors, although there are a range of theological views within contemporary Presbyterianism. Local congregations of churches which use Presbyterian polity are governed by sessions made up of representatives of the congregation (elders); a conciliar approach which is found at other levels of decision-making (presbytery, synod and general assembly).

The roots of Presbyterianism lie in the European Reformation of the 16th century; the example of John Calvin’s Geneva being particularly influential. Most Reformed churches which trace their history back to Scotland are either presbyterian or congregationalist in government. In the twentieth century, some Presbyterians played an important role in the ecumenical movement, including the World Council of Churches. Presbyterians in the United States came largely from Scotch-Irish immigrants communities and also from New England Yankee communities that had originally been Congregational but changed because of an agreed-upon Plan of Union of 1801 for frontier areas. Along with Episcopalians, Presbyterians tend to be considerably wealthier and better educated (having graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita) than most other religious groups in United States, and are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American business, law and politics.

Presbyterians place great importance upon education and lifelong learning. Continuous study of the scriptures, theological writings, and understanding and interpretation of church doctrine are embodied in several statements of faith and catechisms formally adopted by various branches of the church, often referred to as “subordinate standards”. It is generally considered that the point of such learning is to enable one to put one’s faith into practice; some Presbyterians generally exhibit their faith in action as well as words, by generosity, hospitality, as well as proclaiming the gospel of Christ.

Listen to A Traditional Presbyterian Hymn Sung in Church (Holy, Holy, Holy)

Americans Overwhelmingly Profess Religious Faith (77%)

From the Pew Research Center Report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, (May 12, 2015):

To be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans – roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith. But the major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014.

Pew Religious Landscape Survey (2015) (interviews with 35,000 Americans):

Evangelical Protestant 25.4%
Mainline Protestant 14.7%
Historically Black Protestant 6.5%
Catholic 20.8%
Mormon 1.6%
Other Christian 1.7%
Non-Christian Faiths 5.9%

Who Are the Evangelicals?

From the Wikipedia entry:

Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, or Evangelical Protestantism is a worldwide, transdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity maintaining that the essence of the gospel consists in the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ’s atonement. Evangelicals believe in the centrality of the conversion or “born again” experience in receiving salvation, in the authority of the Bible as God’s revelation to humanity, and spreading the Christian message.

The movement gained great momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in the United Kingdom and North America. The origins of Evangelicalism are usually traced back to English Methodism, the Moravian Church (in particular the theology of its bishop Nicolaus Zinzendorf), and German Lutheran Pietism. Today, Evangelicals may be found in many of the Protestant branches, as well as in Protestant denominations not subsumed to a specific branch. Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.**

There are an estimated 285 million Evangelicals, comprising 13.1% of the total Christian population and 4.1% of the total world population. The Americas, Africa and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals. The United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals.

Music is a central part of the Evangelical and Pentecostal religious traditions.

Clara Ward and The Clara Ward Singers: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

From the National Association of Evangelicals:

Evangelicals are a vibrant and diverse group, including believers found in many churches, denominations and nations. Our community brings together Reformed, Holiness, Anabaptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic and other traditions.

Our core theological convictions provide unity in the midst of our diversity. The NAE Statement of Faith offers a standard for these evangelical convictions. Historian David Bebbington also provides a helpful summary of evangelical distinctives, identifying four primary characteristics of evangelicalism:

Conversionism: the belief that lives need to be transformed through a “born-again” experience and a life long process of following Jesus

Activism: the expression and demonstration of the gospel in missionary and social reform efforts

Biblicism: a high regard for and obedience to the Bible as the ultimate authority

Crucicentrism: a stress on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as making possible the redemption of humanity

These distinctives and theological convictions define us — not political, social or cultural trends. In fact, many evangelicals rarely use the term “evangelical” to describe themselves, focusing simply on the core convictions of the triune God, the Bible, faith, Jesus, salvation, evangelism and discipleship.

For the record, Trump has never publicly professed his personal belief in or practice of these four defining characteristics of Evangelicals as defined by their own organization:

Conversionism
Activism
Biblicism
Crucicentrism

How do the Major Protestant Sects Break Out in the Pew Survey?

Precise identification and classification of the status of all Protestant denominations in the United States is a daunting task, best left to serious scholars and dedicated experts, but the general outlines can be determined.

From the 2015 Pew Survey:

The new survey indicates that churches in the evangelical Protestant tradition – including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Presbyterian Church in America, other evangelical denominations and many nondenominational congregations – now have a total of about 62 million adult adherents. That is an increase of roughly 2 million since 2007, though once the margins of error are taken into account, it is possible that the number of evangelicals may have risen by as many as 5 million or remained essentially unchanged.

Of the major subgroups within American Christianity, mainline Protestantism – a tradition that includes the United Methodist Church, the American Baptist Churches USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Episcopal Church, among others – appears to have experienced the greatest drop in absolute numbers. In 2007, there were an estimated 41 million mainline Protestant adults in the United States. As of 2014, there are roughly 36 million, a decline of 5 million – although, taking into account the surveys’ combined margins of error, the number of mainline Protestants may have fallen by as few as 3 million or as many as 7.3 million between 2007 and 2014.

By contrast, the size of the historically black Protestant tradition – which includes the National Baptist Convention, the Church of God in Christ, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Progressive Baptist Convention and others – has remained relatively stable in recent years, at nearly 16 million adults.

Selected Moments About Religion During Trump’s Campaign 2015-2016

From The Atlantic (January 18, 2016):

There were many unbelievable moments over the course of Donald Trump’s speech on Monday at Liberty University, the evangelical college founded by the late Jerry Falwell.

There was his citation of the Bible: “Two Corinthians 3-17, that’s the whole ball game … Is that the one? Is that the one you like? I think that’s the one you like.”

There was the part where he ranked his favorite books, calling The Art of the Deal “a deep, deep second to the Bible. The Bible is the best. The Bible blows it away.”

There was his pledge to win the war on Christmas: “If I’m president, you’re going to see ‘Merry Christmas’ in department stores, believe me.”

As Trump was speaking, Russell Moore, the Southern Baptist leader, issued a stream of disapproving tweets: “Trading in the gospel of Jesus Christ for political power is not liberty but slavery,” Moore wrote. He added: “This would be hilarious if it weren’t so counter to the mission of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The evangelical writer Matthew Lee Anderson recently compared Trump to a prosperity-gospel televangelist—and indeed, Trump’s evangelical outreach has included a meeting with prosperity-gospel preachers.

From ThinkProgress (January 27, 2016):

On Tuesday, Jerry Falwell, Jr. — son of famous evangelist Jerry Falwell and head of the evangelical college Liberty University — formally endorsed Republican businessman Donald Trump for president. *** Trump’s campaign claimed the nod as a major victory for “the Donald,” and at least one media outlet crowned Trump as “the official evangelical candidate” — a highly sought-after distinction within the GOP, whose base includes millions of evangelical Christians.

Trump, like all GOP candidates, has worked to court evangelicals, but also repeatedly flubbed attempts to talk coherently about religion throughout his campaign. He has been unable to name his favorite book of the Bible, said that he doesn’t ask for forgiveness from God because he’s “not making mistakes,” appeared confused about the beliefs of the Presbyterian denomination he claims, and evoked laughter while speaking at Liberty University earlier this month by referring to a book of the Bible as “two Corinthians” instead of the more common phrase “second Corinthians.”

Trump couldn’t even hide his religious illiteracy when he tweeted out the news of Falwell’s endorsement, referring to the college president as “Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr.” even though he is not an ordained religious leader or reverend of any sort.

Despite this, Trump has continued to garner hefty support from evangelical voters, even as prestigious theological conservatives such as Russell Moore — head of the political arm of the Southern Baptist Convention and an actual reverend — openly criticize his candidacy as out-of-step with evangelical beliefs.

As it turns out, these biblically “prodigal” evangelicals are the heart of religious support for the equally prodigal Trump: According to the Wall Street Journal, only 38 percent of Trump supporters attend worship weekly or more, compared to 56 percent of social conservative voters and 43 percent of Republican establishment voters.

Watch Trump’s Video Appeal to Evangelicals Eve of Iowa Primary (January 30, 2016)

After all the appeals, Trump came in second to Ted Cruz. Trump received 24% of the Republican caucus vote.

From Trump’s radio interview with Bob Lonsberry in New York (WHAM 1180) (April 14, 2016):

In response to Lonsberry’s question about which verse in the Bible is his favorite, Trump initially responded “so many,” then followed it up by saying that “an eye for an eye” is a good verse for Americans to follow, even if it is, by his own admission, a little mean.

“Well, I think many,” Trump said. “You know when we get into the Bible I think many, so many. And ‘an eye for an eye,’ you can almost say that. It’s not a particularly nice thing, but you know when you look at what’s happening to our country, I mean, you see what’s going on with our country how people are taking advantage of us and how they scoff at us and laugh at us an laugh in our face and they’re taking our jobs, they’re taking our money, they’re taking our — you know, they’re taking the health of our country. And we have to be very firm and we have to be very strong and we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you.”

The phrase “an eye for an eye” appears elsewhere in the Bible, too. In Matthew 5:38, Jesus tells his disciples that instead of seeking revenge by taking “an eye for an eye” they should “turn the other cheek.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has given an interesting answer when asked about his faith. Last September, when Trump was asked “who is God to you?” he responded by talking about his business deals.

From Trump’s Meeting with Evangelical Leaders (June 21, 2016):

Trump recently accepted a relationship with Jesus Christ as his Savior, making him a “baby Christian,” Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said in an interview posted Friday (June 24) to Michael Anthony’s website, Godfactor. Dobson and Anthony, pastor of Grace Fellowship in York, Pa., spoke after the candidate’s meeting Tuesday in New York City with nearly 1,000 evangelicals.

“He did accept a relationship with Christ. I know the person who led him to Christ, and that’s fairly recent. … I believe he really made a commitment, but he’s a baby Christian,” Dobson said.

Trump himself has not spoken about a born-again experience or a new personal relationship with Christ. Dobson told Anthony that Trump “doesn’t know our language,” noting the candidate spoke during the meeting about “religion,” but not “faith” and “belief.” Other words the candidate never used, according to transcripts: “Jesus,” “pray,” “Christ” and “Bible.”

“You gotta cut him some slack. He didn’t grow up like we did,” Dobson said.

And in a blog post about Dobson’s statement, John Fea, chair of the history department at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., called Trump’s meeting with evangelicals “the theo-political equivalent of money laundering.”

From Trump’s speech in Orlando Florida to Pastors (August 11, 2016):

Here in Orlando, he spoke to leaders of evangelical Christian groups, some of whom have privately expressed skepticism about Mormons. Trump stressed his difficulties in the country’s only majority-Mormon state — making an apparent play for support by noting that he has a “tremendous problem” in Utah.

Trump called Utah “a different place” and asked whether anyone in the crowd was from the state.

“I didn’t think so,” he said. Some laughed.

Trailing in the polls, Trump can ill-afford to lose support among Christian conservatives nationwide. He must find a way to prevent Utah from slipping away as he faces a daunting electoral map with little margin for error.

With a subdued tone and a suggestion that a winning presidential campaign could get him into heaven, Trump spoke for 40 minutes Thursday afternoon to the crowd of 700 pastors and their spouses.

“Once I get in, I will do my thing that I do very well. And I figure it is probably, maybe the only way I’m going to get to heaven. So I better do a good job.”

Still, evangelical Christian leaders have been split over the Republican nominee, in part because of concern about his coarse comments about women, immigration and other topics. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has called Trump’s campaign “reality television moral sewage.”

Trump on God’s Forgiveness

From CNN Interview (July 18, 2015):

Donald Trump talked about his Christian faith Saturday, but said he’s never sought forgiveness for his sins.

Trump made the comments about his faith during a Q&A at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa. The event is a gathering sponsored by several socially-conservative Christian organizations, including the Family Research Council, a socially conservative lobbying organization; Liberty University, the world’s largest evangelical university; and the National Organization for Marriage, a group established to prevent the legalization of same-sex marriage.

“People are so shocked when they find … out I am Protestant. I am Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church,” he said.

Moderator Frank Luntz asked Trump whether he has ever asked God for forgiveness for his actions. “I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

Trump Struggles With God’s Forgiveness Question

Watch Frank Luntz Interview with Donald Trump video

From CNN Interview (July 22, 2015):

Following Donald Trump’s appearance last week at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, CNN’s Anderson Cooper sought out clarification on Trump’s assertion that he’s unsure if he ever asks God’s forgiveness.

Cooper used part of Wednesday’s interview to ask follow up questions for Trump in what some commentators believed were awkward comments he made regarding forgiveness and communion. During the CNN interview, Trump fired back at Cooper’s citing of certain polls and other assertions, telling him “people don’t trust you.”

During the interview the current GOP frontrunner stressed that he “likes to work where he doesn’t have to ask forgiveness.”

Trump has reiterated on several occasions on the campaign trail his Protestant and Presbyterian background, and more recently, his admiration for his former pastor, Norman Vincent Peale, a popular Reformed minister.

Cooper followed up asking Trump if “asking for forgiveness” is a central tenet in his faith life.

“I try not make mistakes where I have to ask forgiveness,” Trump answered.

When further asked about repentance again by Cooper, Trump said “I think repenting is terrific.”

“Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?” asked Trump. “I work hard, I’m an honorable person.”

From CNN Interview (January 17, 2016):

After months of reflection, Donald Trump says he still doesn’t regret his decision not to ask God for forgiveness for his sins.

In an interview on Sunday with CNN, the Republican presidential frontrunner said that he does not regret never asking God for forgiveness, partially because he says he doesn’t have much to apologize for.

“I have great relationship with God. I have great relationship with the Evangelicals,” Trump said in the interview before with the Evangelicals,” Trump said in the interview before pivoting to his poll numbers among Evangelical voters.

“I like to be good. I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don’t do a lot of things that are bad. I try to do nothing that is bad.”

Late last year, Trump told Republican pollster and focus-group guru Frank Luntz that when the real-estate mogul has done something wrong, he tries to correct his error without getting God involved.

“I am not sure I have,” Trump said when asked if he’d ever asked God for forgiveness. “I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

From Politico (June 8, 2016):

Though he remarked last year that he has never asked God for forgiveness, Donald Trump suggested in an interview published Wednesday that he plans on doing just that.

In an interview with columnist Cal Thomas, Trump was asked, “You have said you never felt the need to ask for God’s forgiveness, and yet repentance for one’s sins is a precondition to salvation. I ask you the question Jesus asked of Peter: Who do you say He is?”

“I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won’t have to be asking for much forgiveness. As you know, I am Presbyterian and Protestant. I’ve had great relationships and developed even greater relationships with ministers. We have tremendous support from the clergy. I think I will be doing very well during the election with evangelicals and with Christians,” Trump said, according to the transcript.

These are the most extensive comments Trump has offered on the role of God’s forgiveness in his spiritual life. Whatever they are, they are not Christian, or Presbyterian beliefs.

It is literally inconceivable that someone raised as a Presbyterian, who worshiped at Sunday School and Church services, who attended Confirmation Classes, and was baptized in the Presbyterian faith, does not know the Lord’s Prayer. He will have heard it, recited it, or sung it hundreds or thousands of times. Like a religious equivalent of the Pledge of Allegiance to other Americans.

The Lord’s Prayer (Traditional version)

Our Father, which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth,

As it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, 1662)

Someone not immersed in Presbyterian doctrine might be unaware of the place of the Lord’s Prayer following the Sacrament of Communion, but not Donald Trump, on his own testimony.

Trump dithers when asked the question, for reasons that are not clear, and not defensible. Trump’s feigned confusion over the central importance of asking for God’s forgiveness, repeatedly and often, as part of the Presbyterian tradition he claims to honor, means straight out either he is not a Presbyterian Christian, or he is a liar about his professed faith.

Take your pick.

Partial Summary of Donald Trump’s Religious Attitudes

Trump was baptized in a Mainline Protestant denomination. He considers himself to be a Presbyterian communicant to this day. He is not an active member of a church congregation, and does not attend religious services regularly. He has struggled to explicate primary spiritual doctrine in his own faith. He has stumbled on questions of basic Bible knowledge.

His religious affiliation is not with an Evangelical denomination or Church. He has not had a fundamental “Born Again” experience. He does not subscribe to the basic tenets of Evangelical Protestant faith. He is thrice married, twice divorced, and an admitted adulterer, who fathered an out of wedlock child. Evangelical authorities are split about the depth and sincerity of his recent faith proclamations.

He has compared his early biography to the Bible as his favorite book, partly in jest. He has suggested the way he can earn his way to Heaven is by winning an election for President, partly in jest.

Caution

Let me be clear. There is no religious test for any candidate to be elected President of the United States. That is one of the signal strengths of our pluralistic society and our precious liberties, including the Freedom of Religion guaranteed in the Constitution.

At the same time, most Americans hold deeply felt private religious convictions, and they don’t like faith treated in a cavalier or off-hand manner. In particular, they don’t appreciate someone posing as a genuine person of faith to gain personal advantage or deceive others.

Trump has not shown fidelity to the honest spiritual values and precepts of religious Evangelicals, nor any serious commitment to their core faith doctrines, of whatever denomination.

Ted Cruz has advised Americans and Evangelicals to vote their consciences. So has Paul Ryan. But they are just politicians who may have an agenda. More importantly, your faith demands you examine carefully the choices before you. Trump is temporary, your faith is permanent.

Trump has shown the rest of us a Cardboard Christian faith: paper-thin, insubstantial, and constructed for public display. He would be better served if he just said he was raised a Protestant, but has fallen away from religious practice as an adult. He has tried to be of good character in the most important parts of his life, his business ventures, whenever he can.

Americans as a whole may feel differently about their own individual faith, but they could credit him with telling it like it is. In the meantime, at the very least, he should obey the biblical injunction (John 7:53-8:11):

So when they continued asking him, he (Jesus) lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

As a believing Christian, Trump ought to lay off the Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Muslims, while he’s at it.

Watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Andrea Bocelli Sing ‘The Lord’s Prayer”

A Final Note

Our friends and neighbors in Baton Rouge and across Louisiana are suffering from the Once in a Hundred Year flooding and storm event visited upon us since last Thursday. Fortunately only six people have perished, but 24 inches of rain fell over three days here, 10,000 are in shelters, and 20,000 of our citizens had to be rescued. The storm has moved to western Louisiana but flooding there and further south in the state continues.

There has been an outpouring of community self-help and support for loved ones and strangers alike that is truly amazing to watch. The worst trials are yet to come, as those who have lost their possessions and houses struggle with the cleanup and rebuilding.

My home was spared flooding, but the waters came close on Sunday evening (within 10 feet of the front door). I am very fortunate, but escaping the damage I see all around me feels like pure random chance. Another couple of hours rain on Sunday would have been a different story altogether. There is no joy in avoiding this disaster.

Prayerful thoughts and reflection from Americans elsewhere about First Responders and community preparedness for natural disasters can only help the situation. Everyone here is already involved, giving or receiving. Louisiana will recover, sooner than expected.

Amen

Selected Additional Sources on Trump’s Religious Views

http://undergod.procon.org/view.background-resource.php?resourceID=87

http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

http://theweek.com/articles/634443/what-donald-trumps-religion

http://hollowverse.com/donald-trump/

http://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-shows-off-his-family-bible-in-message-to-evangelicals/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZwpTdARrC8

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/01/18/trump-courts-evangelicals-butted-sots.cnn

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/30/465009973/donald-trump-holds-up-bible-in-appeal-to-the-evangelicals

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2015/07/donald-ivana-trump-divorce-prenup-marie-brenner

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ann-coulter-excuses-trumps-extramarital-affair-it-started-church

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20122177,00.html

*Norman Vincent Peale and the Marble Collegiate Church:

Trump’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, formally joined Peale’s Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan — a venerable affiliate of the Reformed Church in America — during the 1970s.

Peale, who grew up a Methodist in Ohio, preached on Sundays to several thousand worshipers at Marble Collegiate, where he presided from 1932 to 1984. He lived the life of an aristocrat, with a Swiss chalet, a Fifth Avenue apartment and an estate in Upstate New York.

Norman Vincent Peale’s Marble Collegiate Church is an affiliate of the Reformed Church in America, and Peale himself was an ordained Methodist minister (1922). Neither the Methodists, nor the Reformed Church, are considered part of the Evangelical movement.

**Billy Graham, perhaps the most important and influential evangelical preacher in the 20^th century. The father, not the pale and insubstantial son, Franklin.

William Franklin “Billy” Graham, Jr. (born November 7, 1918) is an American evangelical Christian evangelist, ordained as a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status in 1949 reaching a core constituency of middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants. He held large indoor and outdoor rallies; sermons were broadcast on radio and television, some still being re-broadcast today. In his six decades of television, Graham is principally known for hosting the annual Billy Graham Crusades, which he began in 1947, until he concluded in 2005, at the time of his retirement. He also hosted the popular radio show Hour of Decision from 1950 to 1954. He repudiated segregation and, in addition to his religious aims, helped shape the worldview of fundamentalists and evangelicals, leading them to appreciate the relationship between the Bible and contemporary secular viewpoints.

Graham was a spiritual adviser to American presidents; he was particularly close to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson (one of Graham’s closest friends) and Richard Nixon. He insisted on integration for his revivals and crusades in 1953 and invited Martin Luther King, Jr. to preach jointly at a revival in New York City in 1957. Graham bailed King out of jail in the 1960s when King was arrested in demonstrations. He was also lifelong friends with another televangelist, Robert H. Schuller, whom Graham talked into doing his own television ministry.

*** From the Wikipedia entry for Jerry Falwell, Jr.:

Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr. (born June 17, 1962) is the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, appointed in 2007 upon his father’s death.

Falwell attended private schools in the Lynchburg area, attending Lynchburg Christian Academy, where he graduated in 1980, and attended Liberty University, where he obtained his B.A. in Religious Studies in 1984. Falwell then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he obtained his J.D. in 1987.

Falwell is licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia to practice law in Virginia, United States District Courts in both Eastern and Western districts of Virginia, the Fourth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, and before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Since 1987, he has served in private practice, being the General Counsel of his father’s entities, serving on the Board of Trustees of Liberty University in 2000, and later serving as Vice Chancellor from 2003 until his father’s death, and as Chancellor since then.

So Falwell, Jr. is a lawyer, and not a preacher or ordained minister in any denomination. Jerry Falwell, Sr., the founder of Liberty University (1971) and the socially conservative Moral Majority (1979), was an evangelical Southern Baptist preacher (1933-2007), who graduated from the then unaccredited Baptist Bible College (1956), but was later awarded two honorary religious doctoral degrees (Doctor of Divinity from Tennessee Temple Theological Seminary, Doctor of Letters from California Graduate School of Theology).

Extra: It would be a shame to include some religious music in this post and not include the Queen of Gospel and the epitome of New Orleans Jazz. So I wont.

Watch A Closer Walk With Thee performed by Mahaliatrum Jackson and Louis Armstrong in July 1970 at the Newport Jazz Festival.