Donald Trump, a 77-year-oldĀ Bible salesman from Palm Beach, Florida, has emerged as the nationā€™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 doesnā€™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 Trumpā€™s ostentatiousĀ embraceĀ of White Christian militantism coincides with a precipitous decline in religious affiliation in the US. According to the Public Religion Research Institute,Ā one-quarterĀ of Americans in 2023 said they were religiously unaffiliated. ā€œUnaffiliatedā€ 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%.

  • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Thatā€™s correlation, not causation, at best. In fact, it might be the other way around.

    The precipitous decline in Christianity is more likely the reason theyā€™re getting more aggressive.

      • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        If he doesnā€™t get in this is a foregone conclusion. Untaxable donations, tax shelter for purchases. Every Trump property will become a church campus, every collection attempt religious oppression.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The precipitous decline in Christianity is more likely the reason theyā€™re getting more aggressive.

      Thatā€™s exactly what this is

      Since the 1990s, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join the growing ranks of U.S. adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or ā€œnothing in particular.ā€ This accelerating trend is reshaping the U.S. religious landscape, leading many people to wonder what the future of religion in America might look like.

      Itā€™s a 35 year old trend theyā€™re trying to pin on the wannabe fascist in chief.