Patrick Semansky / AP
President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John’s Church across Lafayette Park from the White House Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night.
Friday, Sept. 25, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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Each presidential election cycle, the candidates court the “faith vote.”
This year is no different, but President Donald Trump — the man who uses the Bible and churches as political props and tweets profanity — feigning interest in, or any representation of, the faith vote is disingenuous at best.
My faith and belief in God and Jesus Christ are at the core of who I am. I try to teach my children the two great commandments — love God and love your neighbor. To love a God who is merciful, kind, just and no respecter of persons. To follow Christ, who was the peacemaker; his brother’s keeper; and the perfect example of empathy and unity. These are the values I strive for, whereas Trump’s America is rampant with “us vs. them” mentality contrary to these teachings.
That mentality is damaging to unity in religious (and all) communities, where if you are not for Trump, you must be against God, America or the Constitution. This is a false dichotomy and a dangerous narrative. It quells diversity and threatens our democracy.
Brigham Young University law professor Michalyn Steele warns that as followers of Jesus Christ, when we resort to that “us vs. them” mentality and “otherize” people, who is the “them?” There is no “them.” Followers of Christ are to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those in need of comfort and bear one another’s burdens that they may be light.
In the incredible racial and social unrest flaring this year, Trump has done the opposite, unapologetically showing that he lacks empathy. In fact, he told Bob Woodward that he doesn’t feel “at all” the need to understand the anger and pain of Black Americans. Trump has shown his opinion that some lives are inherently more valuable than others; this is also evident in his intentional downplaying of COVID-19.
The cartoon character Daniel Tiger teaches kids “you can be more than one thing” — a fairly simple concept. You can want to dress up as a doctor and a firefighter. I can love my country and acknowledge its systemic racism and racial inequality — a problem not limited to America.
I can uphold the Constitution and want due process and equal protection for all people. I can support the message of Black Lives Matter and know that all lives matter.
I can support law enforcement and want them to be held to high standards.
I can be a patriot and be grateful for the sacrifice of our Armed Forces, including my grandfathers, and support athletes’ free speech in kneeling or not taking the field for the national anthem. I can support law and order and recognize where the law is imperfect.
I can discuss fact-checked, credible information I may disagree with and dismiss lies and conspiracy theories.
I can be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
We are not single-issue people. Things are not always absolute or mutually exclusive. Participating in democracy requires the intellectual effort to work through these issues. God gives us a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) and we ought to use it.
Daniel Tiger also teaches kids to “use your words.” We desperately need words of civility in political discourse, particularly among people of faith. My 4-year-old son can watch Biden’s Democratic National Convention speech in its entirety, but not a Trump speech because he is always calling someone stupid or crazy, telling us we are in danger, or saying get the “hell out” of our country.
He should come with a warning label.
Our words — real words, not name-calling, snarkiness or reposted inflammatory social media bites — matter.
Religious leader Jeffrey Holland urged people to be committed to freeing the world from hunger, poverty and school shootings, and to value the “gift of personal dignity for every child of God, unmarred by any form of racial, ethnic, or religious prejudice. Undergirding all of this is our relentless hope for greater devotion to the two greatest of all commandments … (which) forever will be the only real hope we have for giving our children a better world than the one they now know.”
How can we get there with Trump reelected? We can’t. We won’t.
The Center for American Progress recently reported on the ways Trump has harmed religious communities, beyond his dialogue. Specifically, this administration has politicized and mismanaged its response to COVID-19; undermined religious freedom; turned its back on religious communities fleeing persecution in their home countries; advanced Christian nationalism to cover for harmful policies; undermined democratic norms, including separation of church and state; and caused faith-based nonprofits to lose billions in funding. Yet the chance to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court vacancy gives Trump an opportunity to accrue political capital with religious conservatives, many of whom will allow their feelings on abortion to outweigh Trump’s otherwise incompatibility with their respective faiths.
While Trump courts the faith vote, let’s be real about who he is and not compartmentalize or justify support for him aside from, or in spite of, our faith.
Kendal Weisenmiller is a wife, mother, lawyer and person of faith. She lives in Las Vegas.
