On my drive back home from fall break, I noticed a giant advertisement taken by the GOP with the words, “God Bless President Trump.” As a deist and a person who went to a Catholic high school, I got upset by this ad.
It’s highly unethical and disrespectful for a political candidate to use God as a rhetorical device to gain voters.
If do consider Trump’s past, where he admits to raping women and being able to get away with it because of his stardom, we can see that this doesn’t sound like something that would be approved by God. However, the phrasing of the ad makes it seem like God “approves” of his actions.
The most egregious example of the usage of religion and politics to fit into an agenda is the “God Bless the USA Bible.” This so-called bible is a King James bible that also includes the Pledge of Allegiance, song lyrics to “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood and other various patriotic inclusions.
In the Book of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus saw people selling various items in front of a temple, and Jesus, being the son of God, took offense to this and destroyed their tables, He said: “My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have turned it into a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21:12-17)
What we see in the modern era is merchants selling their own branded bibles for $60, including Trump’s version featuring his signature. Of course, Trump is using the psychological feeling of missing out with his advertisement of this bible, with them being “limited in supply.”
To me, the worst part of the Trump bible is the text on the cover, which reads:
“Donald J. Trump
45th President
of the
United States of America
The Day that God intervened
July 13, 2024.”
This cover is a lot for me to unpack. First of all, the text is placed above the words “Holy Bible.” This, plus the inscription stated above, reads to me that Trump cares more about himself than God. Not to mention the usage of God ‘intervening’ with Trump’s assassination attempt.
I remember my 9th-grade religion class at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge. The class taught me that if something were going to happen, it would’ve happened. God wouldn’t have intervened with anything because he gave us free will. If God could intervene in saving Trump from being assassinated, this starts up another line of questioning.
Why doesn’t God save children suffering from cancer? Why didn’t God intervene during the Columbine or Parkland school shootings? Why did God only intervene to protect former President Trump?
This makes me feel like Trump is being disingenuous in his belief in God. His bible has been approved by him, even with his signature. First and foremost, Trump is a successful businessman who knows how to sell a product, but the word of God should not be a product. The word of God should be revered and not used as a way to get funds from believers.
The reason why I have such a problem with this is that I am a believer in God. I believe that there is a deity who created all of the existing things in the world. I believe in one holy apostolic church, but I do not believe that there should be mixing between church and state.
The church should not influence the state, and the state should not influence the church. They are two separate entities that should co-exist for the betterment of humanity, and mixing them will only cause discord between all involved parties. Trump, in his egotistical campaign, uses God in an irreverent and, quite frankly, disrespectful manner and makes me think twice about his campaign strategies.
Andrew Sarhan is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Baton Rouge, LA.
