Trumpism Is Emptying Churches: The former president’s embrace of White Christian militantism coincides with a precipitous decline in religious affiliation in the US

Donald Trump, a 77-year-old Bible salesman from Palm Beach, Florida, has emerged as the nation’s most prominent Christian leader. Trump is running for president as a divinely chosen champion of White Christians, promising to sanctify their grievances, destroy their perceived enemies, bolster their social status, and grant them the power to impose an anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ, White-centric Christian nationalism from coast to coast. That Trump doesn’t attend church and has obviously never read the book that he hawks for $59.99, seems of interest exclusively to his political opponents.

What might catch the attention of some evangelical conservatives, however, is that Trump’s ostentatious embrace of White Christian militantism coincides with a precipitous decline in religious affiliation in the US. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, one-quarter of Americans in 2023 said they were religiously unaffiliated. “Unaffiliated” is the only religious category experiencing growth. In a single decade, from 2013 to 2023, the percentage of Americans saying that religion is the most important thing, or among the most important things, in their life plummeted to 53% from 72%.

KairuByte,

Correlation does not equal causation.

EatATaco,

Sure, but this article is talking about how it causes it. It might be dubious and disagreeable.

bradorsomething,

It makes people click the link, that’s all it has to do any more.

assassin_aragorn,

It’s hard to say if this claim is correct or not without looking at the data. Religiousness was already on the decline before Trump took office. We’d need a graph that shows that decline speeding up since 2016, and probably even more in recent years as evangelicals have gotten more and more unhinged.

OldWoodFrame,

Weird opinion article with unfounded assertions.

snooggums,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Coincidence is not causation.

People waking up to conservatives using religion as a cudgel for decades is not something that should be laid at one person’s feet, he is just riding along for the ride. Wish the media would stop slapping his stupid name on everything conservatives have stood for far longer than he claimed to be a Republican.

rayyy,

conservatives using religion as a cudgel for decades

True, but the orange grifter has taken it to astounding heights.

Rivalarrival,

They aren’t leaving church because Trump.

They are leaving church because church leadership worships Trump.

Religions with members who don’t support Trump are doing just fine.

EatATaco,

Religions with members who don’t support Trump are doing just fine.

Curious, do you have the numbers to back this up?

Ashyr,

Anecdotally, I’m a former pastor who hasn’t stepped foot inside a church in four years because of Trump and these people.

I almost walked out of church in 2016 when the head pastor thanked God for Trump from the pulpit. I hung on till the pandemic and when the church insisted on becoming centers for disease, I was just through.

ChunkMcHorkle, (edited )
@ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world avatar

deleted by creator

Ashyr,

Thanks. It’s been very difficult because I’m not an ex-Christian, but I’m not one of them anymore either. I doubt I ever really was.

I still want to be a pastor though, to talk about God and theology and support others as they go through life. It was my entire adult life.

I just don’t think there’s a puzzle out there that will fit my jagged little piece.

ChunkMcHorkle, (edited )
@ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world avatar

deleted by creator

Ashyr,

That’s absolutely my hope, though I’m not sure if it will ever be properly realized. Thank you for the encouragement.

For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for my part in the system that hurt you and so many others.

ChunkMcHorkle, (edited )
@ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world avatar

deleted by creator

Passerby6497,

I don’t know if you’ve already looked into it, but check out a non-denominational church in your area. Most of my family is reformed Catholic, and my grandfather was the only one who attended a real church. I’m not a fan of them, but my uncle and mother found solace in ND churches to fill their spiritual needs.

I’ve been in more than a few of them, and someone like you might do very well in one. I enjoyed listening to the sermons for the most part, and it’s always nice to see someone who doesn’t dress up bigotry and hatred in the trappings of religion.

Ashyr,

I really appreciate the suggestion, but I think my personal hesitation is that most churches hide their problems fairly well. So long as they’re not waving Trump flags or maga hats, it can be hard to know how healthy a church is until you’re reasonably invested in it.

I just don’t think I could handle that sort of discovery right now.

Passerby6497,

That’s understandable. I hope you can find a community that you want to be a part of.

captainlezbian,

I totally get that tbh. I’m naturally drawn to religion and when I look at the benefits to society that pastors can provide I see a lot of capacity for it, but I’m queer and drawn to paganism. In a different world I’d’ve been a pastor or priestess or whatever. Thankfully I’ve got another career I’m called to.

I’ve heard the term seeker used to refer to people who just feel called to religious wisdom more than to a specific dogma and I kinda like it. No matter where I go I’m looking to better understand the same things. What I saw in Catholicism and was drawn to there I find in a way that makes more sense in my current understanding of old gods.

JimboDHimbo, (edited )

People waking up to conservatives people using religion as a cudgel for decades centuries.

This isn’t a FTFY, its just that some demographics have and continue to be oppressed and/or controlled via religion.

CaptainSpaceman,

Theres plenty of reasons people are done with organized religion, Trump is merely one of those reasons.

Starkstruck,

Yeah I’d say he’s more a symptom of the overall issues driving people away from churches.

ininewcrow,
@ininewcrow@lemmy.ca avatar

I am as anti Trump as the next guy, I think anyone that wants to follow that political ideology has lost their minds … but I was thinking the same thing about the reasons why people are moving away from religion … It was happening anyway … “correlation does not imply causation”

Gradually_Adjusting,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

It’s just a continuation of the John Birch society and their ilk, whether they realize it or no

Schadrach,

I doubt Trump is even a major one. It’s probably a much bigger factor that baby boomers are dying off and boomers are much more religious than GenX, Millenials, or Gen Z.

elfin8er,

So you’re saying that the biggest factor in people leaving religion is people leaving religion?

Schadrach,

Less people leaving and more too many people not really signing on in the first place, at least not beyond possibly being forced to attend as kids. Combine that with the baby boomers being an unusually large generation (hence the name) and in the process of dying off, and…

Short version - anything even kinda popular among boomers that isn’t ubiquitous among the following generations is going to decline due to the sheer number of boomers and religion is experiencing a genuine decline in rate of uptake in addition to that effect.

In other words, Trump isn’t causing people to leave religion so much much as people aren’t really leaving religion so much as not really joining up in earnest while the existing flock slowly dies off.

space,

The mixing of politics and religion is one of the big reasons.

For me, the way churches and church people have treated the pandemic was absolutely disgusting. They preach about loving each other, but showed a complete lack of empathy towards vulnerable people by continuing to hold services despite the risks involved. Also, most people in church were either wearing masks under their chin, some not wearing one at all. I got covid from church.

CaptainSpaceman,

They continued to hold services because theyre a business first and foremost, and shuttering the business temporarily meant shuttering forever.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

Working in a restaurant shows how disgusting Christans are. The Sunday brunch/lunch crowd are rude, impatient, dirty, and tip poorly. They come from a place where they’re ostensibly being told to love everyone and then forget everything before they get in their car.

captainlezbian,

Yeah I’d probably still be catholic if they were cool with queer people and women.

Dagwood222,

The cornered rat has entered the chat…

The more the “Christians” try to prevent change, the more people they will drive away from the church.

Son_of_dad,

Don’t do that, they are indeed Christians not “Christians”. I don’t accept the no true Scotsman fallacy, these people are indeed Christian, they are the dregs of what that religion teaches. Own it, fix it, don’t just claim everyone who sucks in your religion isn’t a “true Christian”

RavenFellBlade,
@RavenFellBlade@startrek.website avatar

I disagree with this on the basis that Christ explicitly teaches His followers to Love unconditionally, care for the vulnerable and needy, and makes an example of those who use the sanctity of the Temple for personal gain. People who call themselves “Christian” while very deliberately doing the exact opposite of the things Christ taught are very literally not “True Christians”, because they do none of the things commanded of them by Christ. This differs from the “No True Scotsman” because there is a whole specific list of criteria differentiating a True Christian from a false one.

Son_of_dad,

I also remember Jesus telling his followers to sell their properties and buy swords. Also remember them violently lopping off a Roman soldiers ear (why does god incarnate need armed followers?) and Jesus himself being violent in the temple. Jesus was an apocalyptic cult leader, trying to get himself martyred by pissing off the religious authorities and by calling himself king while in a Roman province. Disturbing the pax Romana during a pilgrimage month, when the Roman Legion was called in to the city to keep pace during Passover.

Kase,

Not disagreeing with your point, but the soldier’s ear probably isn’t the best example. Luke 22:49-51:

When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

mzesumzira,
@mzesumzira@leminal.space avatar

I agree for the most part, and I left the Catholic Church I grew up in for that and many other reasons.

However, isn’t Christ’s message supposed to be “you shall love your neighbour as yourself”? When it becomes “hurt your neighbour as much as you can” does it make sense to still call it Christianity?

Since it’s been that way basically from the beginning though, maybe well meaning Christian people should just step away and start over.

intelisense,

I’ve always understood ‘neighbour’ in this context to mean ‘fellow Christian’. Everyone else is fair game.

captainlezbian,

That’s theologically insane. It’s been doctrine at times and is how catholic slaving was justified, but it flies in the face of one of the recurring themes of the gospels: that you need to love your enemies and people you don’t like. That’s the point of the Good Samaritan, it’s the at the time equivalent of “a priest and a well respected christian ignored an injured Christian, but then some random Muslim guy showed up and just helped this stranger just because he was hurt, be like the Muslim guy”

Dagwood222,

I get your point. Mine is that there’s the ideal and the reality. I’ll give the title to the ideal and let the self righteous know they are pretenders.

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