I recently noted, after the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump, a group of folks I know posting prayers for Donald Trump.
I've noted this before.
In this instance, I post the example below.
Now, let me start off by noting, that praying for anyone, particularly those in some kind of danger, distress, or bad situation, is a Christian thing to do, and should be done. That's not the point here.
What is, is the adoption by some Christians, and more particularly by some Catholics, of the concept of Trump as a Christian warrior, is badly misbegotten. The "Cause his enemies to stumble and fall into confusion and panic" line is particularly worrisome. Indeed, if he were granted "clarity", it seems to me that he'd have to spend darned near all of his remaining days on Earth in reparative acts of repentance.
There's not an observant Christian in this race.
Indeed, while praying for Trump should be done, and for Kamala Harris as well, the real question in this race, if you are an observant Christian, is not necessarily which of these two candidates should you vote for, but rather should you vote for somebody else.
I'd suggest that at least if you live in a state which is going to go for Trump, or going to go for Harris, you must in fact vote for a third party.
Lets start with the situation I find myself in. What if you are an observant Christian, or more particularly a Catholic, and live in a state Donald Trump is going to win. As an observant Christian, you should not vote for Donald Trump.
First of all, there's no real reason to believe that Trump himself, in spite of some, particularly Evangelicals, claiming him as a Christian, is a Christian. He's a nominal Presbyterian, we know, but if he actually believes any Presbyterian doctrine, he must be an extreme Calvinist that believes in predestination as he apparently feels he can do whatever he wants and it doesn't really matter.
Personally, he's a serious polygamist who has not only repeatedly married, divorced, and remarried, but he's had at least two well known affairs while married.1 His conduct towards women in general is abhorrent.
He's also a constant liar, with serious lies being a grave sin. He tried to steal the 2020 election, which is obviously a grave sin.
Among the horrific lies he's spread are ones about immigrants. And he's threatening to deport millions of people who are, granted, illegal aliens, but who now live in the country, with some having done so for a very long time.
What some will say, is that Christians have to vote for him, as he stands opposed to the moral decay that's brought about such things as transgenderism, and he stands against the sea of blood that the Democrats would unleash in regard to abortion. Both of those are valid point, although on abortion he's modified his position to one that resembles that of a lot of Democrats.
Then there's Kamala Harris.
Harris is a Baptist, but hardly reflects the traditional religious positions of the Anabaptist Protestant faith. She isn't a serial polygamist, to be sure, but her spouse had a prior marriage, which is problematic in Christian theology. Setting that aside, as it's become so common amongst Christians, and as it is ignored by most of Protestantism, its her views on other things that make her a no go for Christians.
She's in favor of the current Democratic platform that fully endorses the horror of Roe v. Wade, which she'd see enshrined as law. The current GOP platform is silent on abortion, as an act of cowardice, but the Democrats are all in on it.
The Democrats are also all in on transgenderism, something for which there's no evidence as being grounded in nature, and may well be grounded in mental illness. And while confusing the boundaries between natural marriage and genders has not been a big issue in this campaign, it's clear where the Democrats are on that as well.
For those reason, an observant Christian cannot vote for her.
But you don't need to.
At least you don't need to, as noted, if you live in a state that's going hard for Trump, or hard for Harris.
The only political party that really squares with Christianity is the American Solidarity Party. If you've heard the Four Things homily I noted the other day, it's the only party you could be a member of and not be squirming in your seats.
It's the only really moral choice in this election, and if you live in a state that's going hard for Harris or Trump, I'd argue its the choice you have to make. In those states you don't have a "lesser of two evils" choice, but rather a protest against evil requirement. Voting for Trump or Harris in a state that's going hard for one or the other endorses their platform, and serves to only do that.
It also serves to reinforce the insane two party system that is not serving the country, at all and needs to end. It's time to end it. Voting for a third party starts that process.
Footnotes:
1. Recently I've seen it noted that Melania Trump is the first "Catholic first lady since Jackie Kennedy".
Yeah, well not a very observant Catholic. In the eyes of the Church she's in an invalid marriage for more than one reason. Barron Trump was, we'd note, baptized in an Episcopal Church, even though Catholics have a duty to raise their children as Catholics.
I don't know her current moral state, of course. She's not seen much with Donald. Given Trump's behavior, they may well be living as "brother and sister". But the point is that she can't exactly be held up as an example of public female Catholicism.
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