What’s the worst thing that has happened to Christianity in America? Could it just be Donald J. Trump?  I could ask the same question about America. What is the worst thing that has happened to America?, and I could also say Donald J. Trump. I think that everything Trump touches is cheapened. Trump has cheapened Christianity and he has cheapened America. To take something large and then divide it just cheapens what is left. He has done this to both Christianity and to America. Can the unity of either Christianity or America be restored to strengthen them? Not when you have people like Trump that achieved power through division and not through unity. Our division is what has weakened this country. I have read that 40 million Americans have left the Church in the last 25 years.  I Googled asking why are Americans leaving the Church? It gave me multiple reason and I will explore some.

One reason are the changes in the Social and Political Landscape. It stated that about a quarter of the young people that have left the church is because they disagree with the church’s stance on political and social issues. I think that some of the social issues of the church have become huge political issues at the same time. As the separation of Church and State gets more and more blurred religious issues like birth control, and abortions have become political issues. The more people that leave the church the more churches will try and use the Government to force their religion down our throats.

Another reason is Physical Limitations and Work Constraints. As regular wages have not kept up with the actual cost of living in this Country too many people have to work more than one job. Jesus walked among the poor to lift them up but today it is our poverty that is driving people away from the church. Churches are now big businesses that don’t walk among the poor and the vulnerable. As I have stated in my last blog I live in Florida and we have a Church almost on every corner. Florida has a huge homeless problem. I would think that this would be a huge opportunity to show how the teachings of Jesus was suppose to work. In Florida they are viewed as a problem that needs to be hidden away. There is a lot of money in Florida but not a lot of services to lift people out of poverty. There is a growing caste system in Florida that continues to grow. I have stated that every job should pay a livable wage, if people were paid a livable wage maybe there would be more time for the Church.

Another reason is Lack of Acceptance. Jesus accepted all. Many Christians not so much. Different lifestyles that do not align with the teachings of the Church are often condemned by not only many Christians but also the Church itself.  The Bible say “Judge not that ye not be judged”. Too many see the Church and Christianity as being all about judging. There has been Church leaders that have said that Gays and Lesbians should be all killed. Where in the hell is that in the teachings of Jesus?  Some social issues the church deems important are not in the gospel. What the church winds up selling is hate and not the message that Jesus projected at all in the gospel. You will not find abortion in the Gospel but you will find feeding and helping the poor and the sick. What do many churches and Christians do? They hate and don’t have acceptance. They outlaw abortion while letting the poor starve. They pressure State and Federal Governments to suppress women’s right and do absolutely nothing about the growing homeless population that is in Florida. As I have stated that every job should pay a livable wage. That is not wealth redistribution. That is just doing what is right. People see that doing what is right is not very important to an awful lot of Christians.

Trump has compared himself to Jesus. The thrice married man that cheated on all his wives and even paid hush money to a porn star compares himself to Jesus. Trump has posted “It’s ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you. But I have seen the verse…?” The post they referenced Psalm 109:3-8. He is comparing Jesus’s dying on the cross for our sins to him losing his fraud judgment. If you believe the story of Jesus than you know that he sacrificed everything. Trump doesn’t even know the meaning of sacrifice. He is a billionaire selling Bibles claiming that they are the only Bible that is endorsed by Trump himself. Does that mean that all those Bibles that the Gideon’s left in all those hotel rooms are not “real Bibles” because they have not been endorsed by Trump? Trump may just represent the money people that Jesus got mad at for defiling the Church.  Trump has actually tarnished what a Christian actually is. If I hadn’t already walked away from the Church I would surely now.

I have written that the Evangelicals have turned their backs on the teachings of Jesus and worship at the feet of Pontius Pilate. Too many Churches stand against Gay, Transsexuals, the Homeless and the Poor. I see nothing in the Gospel that Jesus stood against anyone of these people. He didn’t even stand against Rome. He just stood by his message to everyone of personal responsibility to thy neighbor. Too many Churches hide pedophiles that have sexually preyed on the children that they are suppose to be protecting. Every week you read another story of a priest or minister that has been preying on our children. That one issue alone has forced many to reevaluate the Church and its teachings. The Commandments they have claimed as God’s Laws are pretty much ignored by the very people that are demanding that we display them in our schools. Many of the same people that are preaching that the Church is the solution are the same people that are pushing guns as the same solution.

When I was growing up the message was not hate but love but then again there were no Born Again Christians back then either.