CARLTON FLETCHER: America is losing its faith … don’t blame the president

Why do you sing Hallelujah, If it means nothing to ya?

— Damien Rice

We have a faith problem in the United States. And while a whole lot of people want to lay the blame at the feet of our president, that’s a cop-out.

Sure, President Trump has done plenty of un-Christian things while in office – things that have nothing to do with any religion except Trumpianity – but blaming him for the actions of others is perhaps the laziest method of finding a scapegoat there is.

Let’s start with the people who call themselves Christians. These “faithful” watch Trump take actions and hear him say things that break the commandments and tenets on which their faith is based, and rather than condemn him for such actions (or even pray for him) they make excuses for him.

The president makes fun of the handicapped, calls his enemies – i.e., anyone who doesn’t agree with him – names that aren’t even in the Trump Bible, and threatens to take action against them personally, and his “Christian” followers laugh with glee. He tells lies that are obvious lies, and these followers simply refuse to question him.

Trump spreads false witness against any who challenge his unmatched ego, and suddenly these people, countries, businesses, etc. are enemies of the “Christians” who follow the president as if he were the actual basis for their religion.

 And these are people who are pastors, sit on deacon boards, in positions of authority or are the elders of their churches. If any question the president’s words or actions, they not only are enemies of the country, they are outcasts in their places of worship.

There are others among the many millions who have turned away from the churches they were raised in because, they say, they are “spiritual” people, not “religious,” who use the actions of the president to justify their disdain for what they call “organized religion.” “These people worship Trump, not God,” they say as they sleep in through the Sunday church services that had long been part of their lives.

I’m probably about the last person in the world who should cast aspersions at people because of their faith – or lack thereof – but I think anyone who has even the most tenuous grasp on this country’s history realizes how vital religious belief was in the formation of America. And while those principles that guided the country throughout its history have eroded to the point of being unrecognizable today, it’s hard to believe that current churches and religious groups would allow their faith to be shaken to its breaking point by a charlatan whose only religion is his own cult-like following.

How pathetic is it to see a purported billionaire sitting in the most powerful office in the world using that office to hawk quasi-religious trinkets (with his own flair, of course) to further his own wealth? And how even more pathetic is it to be among the duped who paid outrageous sums of money for this junk paraphernalia?

As the president co-ops what was once this country’s unshakable faith for his own good, feeding his enormous ego by renaming various landmarks for himself, I can’t help but wonder if so-called religious leaders – especially in the mega-churches that are primarily about entertainment and bilking struggling families out of money they need to pay their bills (watch Danny McBride’s hilarious “Righteous Gemstones” for a look at what goes on behind the scenes at these institutions) – will allow this man to continue to tear down the foundation of their faith until it becomes unrecognizable.

When that happens – and it looks quite likely – let’s don’t all point our fingers at Trump and try to lay the blame at his feet. Even the blind can see what he’s been doing throughout his career. Let’s turn that blame around on ourselves. We’re the ones who are sitting idly by while this abomination goes on around us.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected].