TOPICS – Page 102 – * Failed Pols

Although Donald Trump’s base consists largely of white evangelicals, not all evangelicals see Trump as the Anointed One. To those who do, however, speaking out against Trump, his behavior, or his policies, is akin to blasphemy. Indeed, many evangelicals appear to have embraced the dogma of “Trumpism” as part of their Christian theology.

Last week, however, about 50 evangelicals, concerned about the negative perception of American evangelicals, met at Wheaton College, a conservative Christian school in Illinois, to discuss the future of the evangelical movement in the era of Donald Trump as president. Several who attended the invitation-only gathering left after the first day, offended by the “fault-finding” toward Donald Trump and his supporters, and characterizing the event as a “Trump bashing.”

Many are concerned that, to the rest of the world, including Americans who don’t support Trump, “evangelical” is synonymous with “Trump supporter.” And they’re concerned that “Trump supporter,” in turn, is associated with white racism, divisiveness, and nationalism.

“When you Google evangelicals, you get Trump,” said Doug Birdsall, honorary chair of the international evangelical movement Lausanne, and organizer of the Wheaton event. “When people say what does it mean to be an evangelical, people don’t say evangelism or the gospel. There’s a grotesque caricature of what it means to be an evangelical.”

“Trumpist” evangelicals stress that whomever God puts into office is there for His purpose (except, apparently, Barack Obama). Indeed, it’s easy to see God’s hand in the matter when the one who wins the election appears to further your agenda. The evangelicals are pleased with Trump’s judicial appointments, and they’re over the moon with Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (putting things in place for some elements of Biblical prophecy to come true, they believe).

Yet, despite Trump’s “pro-Christian” moves (does anyone really believe Donald Trump makes any decision on the basis of its “Christ-centeredness”?) a growing number of evangelicals feel that association with Trump has tainted the movement.

It’s difficult to understand how a group of people who claim to follow the teachings of a man (Christ) who is believed to symbolize goodness, mercy, love, and empathy, can reconcile their political choice of a modern-day leader (Trump) who is the antithesis of those qualities. On the other hand, it’s refreshing to know that some members of that same group find the association with Trump to be repugnant.

“No matter what happens to American evangelicalism, it is here to stay, says Darrell Block, of Dallas Theological Seminary, and a co-organizer of the gathering in Wheaton. Perhaps, but will we ever be able to undo the negative association of evangelicalism with Donald Trump? It may be that the only hope for those evangelicals who don’t want to associate themselves with Trumpism is to change the name of their movement.

Faith leaders reportedly hold anti-Trump meeting | Fox News [2018-04-19]

Leaders Criticize Trump right or wrong??? | [2018-04-19] Truth Time Radio

“Climate change is a hoax, and the earth is flat.” Though it’s true that we create our own reality, the government should not be in the business of creating an alternate reality for its citizens – especially by censoring scientific evidence in order to do so. In this case, officials at the U.S. National Park service have attempted to alter reality by deleting every reference to the role of humans in causing climate change, in the draft of a report by scientist Maria Caffrey.

Caffrey, a climate scientist at the University of Colorado, worked as a contractor for the National Park Service. Drawing from years of research, she created the report for the agency when she realized that they were relying on data compiled from inconsistent sources and research methods. The report examines sea level rise and storm surge, and projects the future risks from both for 118 coastal national parks. The intent of the report is to protect parks, their employees, and their visitors from the effects of climate change.

The climate change risk report, created during the summer of 2016, has yet to be released. Though it acknowledges natural as well as human contributions to climate change, the report focuses on the human component, because that, to a large extent, is what is under our control. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, however, all mentions of human activities contributing to climate change were deleted. Included in the deletions were all instances of the word, “anthropogenic,” meaning “originating from human activity.”

Climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck, Dean of the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, said, “To remove a very critical part of the scientific understanding is nothing short of political censorship, and has no place in science. Censorship of this kind is something you’d see in Russia or some totalitarian regime. It has no place in America.”

Though current EPA head Scott Pruitt says he believes in climate change, he has questioned the impact that humans have had on it. Pruitt has resisted the science linking the effects of climate change to human activities, as the EPA attempts to reverse a long list of environmental regulations. Shortly after his confirmation as head of the EPA, Pruitt approved a number of EPA website changes, deleting references to climate change.

If it’s true that humans have not contributed to climate change, why not bring that scientific evidence to the forefront to back up (or disprove) government policy? Why is the Trump administration and its various agencies instead working so hard to present a reality in which the concept of climate change, and words like “anthropogenic,” don’t even exist?

National Park Service officials delete references to humans’ role in causing climate change from draft report | Climate Change News [2018-04-08]

Human Role in Climate Change Removed From Federal Science Report | Black Bear News [2018-04-08]

Category: TOPICS

Not All Evangelicals Want to Be Associated with Trumpism

Climate Change, the EPA, and the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind