The Pope and the Pagan
Trump is not an atheist, confident yet humble in the search for a God-free morality. He is not an agnostic, genuinely doubtful as to the meaning of existence but always open to revelation should it arrive. He is not even a wayward Christian, as he sometimes claims to be, beset by doubt and failing to live up to ideals he nonetheless holds. The ideals he holds are, in fact, the antithesis of Christianity — and his life proves it. He is neither religious nor irreligious. He is pre-religious. He is a pagan. He makes much more sense as a character in Game of Thrones, a medieval world bereft of the legacy of Jesus of Nazareth, than as a president of a modern, Western country.
As usual when this blog references Christianity, I am not talking about the banal power-worshipping Christianity of the American middle-class, but of the revolutionary, love for the scum of the Earth, Christianity of the Sermon on the Mount.
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” – Matthew 5:13
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:20
“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” – Matthew 5:29
“Give
not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again
and rend you.” – Matthew 7:6
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” – Matthew 7:21-23
All from the Sermon on the Mount. None of it exactly universalist or humanist or loving-of-the-scum-of-the-earth.
…and, yes, I know perfectly well that you know all this; and, yes, there’s plenty of material in there militating in the exact opposite direction. But it bothers me when people decide to claim historical texts, especially scriptures, for their own very contemporary ideologies. And this applies as much to all-loving hippie moral communism as it does to mainline American don’t-rock-the-boat puritanism.
The Christianity of Christ was weird, and not designed for contemporary-age humans, and anyone giving it an honest look now will encounter something alien and repulsive.