Photo by Pat Bean.
For four years I’ve been racking my brain to find a reason the Christian Right has been supporting a man more flagrantly sexually immoral than the former president they condemned so heartily for his sexual sins.
To my way of thinking, it felt like the Christian world had been turned upside down. But finally, a light bulb in my fuzzy brain was ignited. One simple reason is that the Christian Right is a predominantly patriarchal society. It wasn’t that I didn’t know this. It was the reason I left my church almost 40 years ago. Its teachings stressed that woman would not have access to the highest degree in heaven without a man.
To have remained in that church would have been that I accepted being a second-class human, and I hadn’t accepted that from the minute I could think for myself at about six years old.
It is most common in religious right thinking that a man has to lead, and even if a man isn’t a good person, too many male Christians and concurring females, felt it was better to put a man in charge of this country than a woman, especially one who thought she was as good as any man.
This explains, to my dimwitted brain, why this country has had to put up with four years of bullying, lying, racism and flagrant egotism from a man who considers himself first and all others second — if even that.
To think that anyone who considers himself a Christian and voted for this man today, especially after actually accepting his faults, continues to blow my mind.
And why our leaders in Congress, many who spoke out against him before he gained office, did not call him out for his behavior and continued to back him saddens me. Sure, they got some of their political goals met, but only by accepting that the end was more important than the means.
I don’t expect our president to be perfect. No one is. But I do expect him to be a decent human being.
I should have written this blog earlier – and not waited until I was biting my nails over today’s election results. They are already down to the quick. I suspect that whoever wins, we are facing some tough days ahead.
Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.
Pat Bean's blog 
Like you, I am bewildered how this could have happened, but more so, how it was allowed to continue for four years. Hoping that light prevails over this darkness. Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you!
Thanks Back Roads. I suspect I might get some unpleasant comments for my blog, so it’s was especially nice to get yours first.
Excellent insights.
I’m still baffled why the same “Christians” turned their backs on someone who was knelling in prayer daily in the Oval Room. But they did, viciously, casting us all on the route where we find ourselves today.
I can go through my Bible I can start ripping out entire chapters that are being trashed and ignored by those “believers.” We could start with Proverbs, which the current incumbent of the White House has obviously never read, much less observed.
Or how about the Golden Rule?
Thanks Jnana. I just hope there are more people who think like you and I out there.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Pat. I might add two more reasons:
– It is a quid pro quo. The Christian Right gets what it wants most of all: domination. In a misguided interpretation of the freedom-of-religion clause in the constitution, they get THEIR religious beliefs imposed on everyone else.
– It gives those people self-esteem, when they can praise themselves for “forgiving such a sinner”.
Let’s keep or fingers crossed and hope for the good of this country,
Pit
Your comment means a lot to me Pit, I appreciate it and your faithful following of my blog very much.
You’re most welcome, Pat.
I just read an article in a German newspaper that there’s even a “Nuns for Trump” group! They have a YouTube video out where a nun – for 15 minutes – prays for Trump with a rosary in her hands. UN.BE.LIE.VA.BLE!
Take care, and stay healthy,
Pit
Bravo Pat! Maybe the Christian right are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Maybe the label right applies, but Christian not so much. Maybe they are shrouding themselves in ersatz belief to hide their racist agendas.
Thanks Cindy. I normally avoid political rants. Your Bravo Pat! makes me glad I didn’t today.
“ersatz belief” – Now that’s an excellent term, Cindy!
hear, hear!
This is the best piece I’ve ever read from your blog. Honest clear concise to the point. Without being partisan. I love it.
Your words are exactly what my thoughts have been for these last four years. If the actions of this man since the election hasn’t made them ashamed of themselves finally, then there is no hope for the future of the church.