Trumpgod

Originally published as 2016 began, early in the Trump ascendency

​

--

​Please consider that The Donald is not the problem, but simply a convenient local god.

From the beginning human tribes created gods that suited their needs and fears de jour.

The One True God thing is fairly recent, less than 8000 years, and really a lot less than that.  Anyhow, every religious has subgods, though under other names.

Millions of scared Americans​ watched TV and

created Trumpgod, but it could have been any 

​handy ​

demagogue

​

.  

​

Trumpgod

 comforts them by soothing their fears of dangerous OTHERS, and making them feel (1)special and (2)safe.  

​All he asks in return is submission. ​

There's a lot of Trumpish 

​narrative​

 in the Old Testament, about the chosen people crushing all their enemies

​. Some of it is scary graphic

.​

  Most of the iterations of that particular

​ly nasty and jealous 

 god exiled aliens, built walls, and vanquished foes as violently and dramatically as possible

​, demanding​ 

ab

​so​

lute personal fealty. 

But don't concern yourself with Trump.  

​Trumpgod doesn't even have all that much to do with the realtor named Donald. ​

  And know this: if Donald 

​vanished this afternoon

, they'd pick 

​another god

 in a quick hurry.​

​  Television makes quick god substitutions easy.

Notice: Donald is the darling of right wing religious people, and he's a functional atheist with a history of liberal statements, while Cruz and the crew try to sound like preachers.  Donald can contradict himself twice in the same sentence, make up stuff that's obviously false, deny any scientific reality and trash the truth to make Ted Cruz blush, and the followers don't care. They love it!  Stop Trump forces spent $40 million in anti-Donald ads last weekend, and his ratings went up!  

They didn't know that attacking Trumpgod just strengthens the devotion of his members.

There is only one viable explanation for all that devotion​

​ and denial in the service of protecting the prophet:  Religion.

The smug mainstream watched it all happen, certain Trump would self-destruct, and never realized that a huge movement was afoot, a religious movement with a huge appetite, fueled by hunger for comfort and full of rage at outsiders.  A religious mob, especially one that feels ignored and powerless, will turn any convenient icon into their god of the hour.

It's religion, in the most radical sense of the term.  And it explains why the Trumpgod is so powerful. 

Is Pope Francis a Wimp? Amoris Laetitia

Published originally in 2016

The Pope just sent us all a massive letter with hundreds of footnotes. So far he is pissing everybody off. Rightwingers lament the watering down of moral teaching. They rail against Francis' failure to marginalize and condemn anyone who deviates from their favorite rules. Leftwingers are outraged that the Pope just re-iterated old teachings, only in a kinder, gentler way. 

My take is that this Pope's no wimp.  He also no Trump or Sanders, yelling platitudes and peddling impossible promises.  With 2000 years of history, some so ugly and some sublime, this Pope is nudging the Church toward actually adopting Christian values, without alienating over half the world's bishops and the entire African continent.  Tough task.

You can read the 259 page document yourself. Apostolic Exhortation: Amoris Laetitia.  Most say it's a snoozer in spots, and occasionally beautiful.

It's billed as promoting "Family Love."  It's about self-sacrifice, compassion, and all the rest. It sidesteps contraception and promotes responsibility, a relatively recent trend. A couple of takeaways for me:

 1. If re-married Catholics go through some process of discernment, preferably with the guidance of the clergy, they can start going to Communion again.  No renouncing their current marriages or being branded as "living in adultery."  Since he's writing for the whole planet, Francis can't get too specific about how a local process would work, but it's clear he wants Catholics in "irregular marriages" back on board as full members.  Yes, he's careful to avoid changing any basic doctrines, but he's still angering hateful reactionaries who prefer "us against them" Catholocism.  They know what this shift  will mean.  Liberals, disappointed, note that the change is buried in footnotes. Here's a juicy example of the kind of hatred and rage Francis is attracting -- click for right wing rant.

2. If you're gay, you can stay.  And you have a fundamental right to be free from oppression, discrimination, or marginalization, even if the Church won't bless your marriage any time soon. 

 According to Francis every gay person, and presumably every LGBTQ person, must 

be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, and ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression or violence.

There's a lot more, and this statement isn't new, but here Francis isn't preaching to the liberal choir in the West.  He's talking to Africa too, and the Middle East, where just being gay can earn you imprisonment or the death penalty. 

Nobody is thrilled with this document, except boring incrementalists.  The right wing fringe deplores its failure to condemn anybody (except those who discriminate and sow discord).  The left wing fringe mostly doesn't care about any papal document, but the few who do claim it's cowardly and doesn't go nearly far enough.

Read it for yourself, or at least a summary from fairly conservative Catholic magazine.  Ten Takeaways from the Pope's New Message