Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:46 pm
Of all the outrages that should anger all Americans, the idea of a foreigner inserting themselves into American politics should top the list; no matter what the issue is. Americans on the left were incensed when Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu butted in to America’s foreign policy, and they were angered when a Canadian corporation lied and tried to force an environmental hazard’s construction on American soil. However, there is very little outrage that another foreign leader is inserting himself into American politics and it is a mystery why.
Now, no-one on the left is really interested in defending presidential candidate Donald Trump; he is a particularly nasty, and vocal, Republican purveyor of hate like the rest of the field of aspiring nominees. But even as a typical Republican, Trump is an American citizen running for the highest office in the land. According to this nation’s Constitution, there is no such thing as a religious test for serving or running for any office so whether Donald Trump is a Christian or not is no-one’s business; especially not a foreigner.
In the same manner that it was an outrage that Republicans made an issue of President Obama’s religion, one cannot sit idly by when the Pope question’s Trump’s Christian bona fides; especially when Pope Francis cannot claim to be a “true follower of Christ; more on that later. What is further telling is that the Pope has never questioned the Christianity of the other Republicans seeking the presidential nomination or his GOP followers in Congress; they have all exhibited the exact same level of hate, barbarism, and un-Christian values as Trump and have been at it much longer than “the Donald.”
Apparently Pope Francis determined the Donald is not a Christian because he promises to deport more immigrants and force Mexico to pay for a wall along the border. Pope Francis responded to a reporter’s question about Trump and said, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel.” Since the Pope is about as well-versed in American politics as he is “the gospel,” one wonders if the Pontiff believes that every “Republican person” who thinks only about taking food, healthcare, housing, retirement, and clean air and water from Americans is “not Christian.”
Since the Pontiff has no issue declaring Trump is not Christian for his views, then it is more than reasonable to expect him to label every Republican in Congress, state legislatures, and governors’ mansions as “not Christian;” but then he would have to include himself in the same group and it is likely why he stopped after singling out Trump.
He leads a church that violates at least three scriptural utterances of which he is personally guilty as Pope, “a real Christian.” Although it is true that Francis talks more like a Christian than previous popes, and much more than the world’s population is used to, he does not walk the talk.
For example, the religion’s namesake, Jesus Christ, said that the stairway to heaven is closed to the rich who refuse to sell everything they own and give it to the poor. It is beyond refute that the Catholic Church holds immense wealth, and yet Pope Francis has not directed his underlings to begin selling off the Vatican’s significant assets to give to the poor; something Jesus Christ said is a requirement to be “a real Christian.”
The Pope’s acolytes in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are regular violators, with the Pope’s blessings, of the bible’s command that Christians submit to government authorities and follow the law of the land. The USCCB has been leading the opposition to the “government authority” that says a woman has the Constitutional right to her own reproductive healthcare choices. The same passage in Romans also commands Christians to pay taxes; something the Church goes out of its way to avoid even when it is required.
As a matter of fact, the official Catholic prohibition on contraception and abortion are in direct conflict with the Christian god’s own words that a fetus, a zygote, a sperm cell, or an ovum are not living beings. Still, according to a 1968 Papal encyclical, Humanae Vitae, it is a mortal sin for a woman to use contraception or terminate a fetus that the official Church regards as a “living being;” something the god almighty of the Christian bible says is just not true. Where is the Pope’s condemnation of the other Republicans running for the presidential nomination for opposing god’s word? Something even a secular humanist would regard as being “not Christian.”
One can hardly label someone else “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall when the organization they lead violates their god’s own words and requirements for what it means to “be Christian.” And, if the Pontiff cannot refrain from inserting his holy self into American politics, the least he can do is pick up the Constitution and read in Article VI, Clause 3 that there is “no religious test as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” It is of no consequence whether the Pope or anyone thinks or believes that Donald Trump is “not Christian;” it is also none of their business.
This screed should not be misconstrued as any kind of defense of Donald Trump, or an attack on Pope Francis. It is, however, the same response to Benjamin Netanyahu inserting his foreign self into American politics and Republicans attempting to impose a “religious test” on President Barack Obama. Even if the Pope had uttered the truth and included all Republicans as “not Christian” and demanded his surrogates in the USCCB to submit to governing authorities, his criticism of Trump would still be intolerable…true enough, but still intolerable and hypocritical.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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