Stereotyping people is generally wrong because of the complexity involved but it is also useful, because of the complexity involved. It is convenient to categorize specific groups of people into neat boxes with corresponding labels.
There was once a time that terrorism was not associated with Islam and a Catholic priest was not synonymous with pedophilia. The majority of Americans, even the nonreligious ones, thought that religiosity is something that is good…or at least not harmful.s
Then 9/11 happened and the cover-ups of the Catholic Church about pedophile priests were revealed. Various evangelical scams and scandals also became the staple of news such as Peter Popoff’s scam and Ted Haggard’s sex scandal.
Many Americans started to be suspicious about religiosity at the same time that American political stances become more polarized between the conservatives and the liberals. Religion has been one of the political flashpoints in the divergence of beliefs about public policies – from reproductive health to education, from evolution to climate change.
Public distrust of religiosity and conservatism is not limited to the extremist stereotypes but also include right-wing evangelicals. These are the right-wing evangelical Christians who mix religion with politics in an effort to establish a theocracy in the United States.
American evangelical leaders have been seduced to the dark side of the force. They are seen less now as credible moral arbiters and far more as greedy and power-hungry opportunists who are preying on people.
Right-wing evangelicals are now synonymous with fanaticism, narrow-mindedness, ultra-conservatism, science denialism and general hypocrisy.
Republican politicians have hijacked the evangelical Christian churches for their own agenda. These assured a solid support base for their theocratic ambitions while the pastors of these churches gained more wealth and power.
Hence, the brand credibility of the right-wing evangelicals has been eroded as far as the moderate majority of Americans are concerned. On the other hand, those who belong to the right-wing evangelical churches have further dug into their trenches of denialism.
The most zealous adherents of the right-wing evangelical brand are in denial that they try to use political power to impose their will. These are the neo-fascists in the U.S. government who are trying to demolish the secularism wall dividing church and state.
Ultra-conservative Republicans and their right-wing evangelical allies are doing their best to demolish secularism. In states wherein Republicans are dominant, for instance, they are trying to reintroduce religion in the public school curriculum by including creationism.
Science denial among right-wing evangelicals is not limited to Darwinian Theory of evolution in biology but also glaringly present in the issue of climate change. The denial of the former might not have immediate serious consequence but denying the latter has more immediate repercussions for the survival of the human species.
Moral hypocrisy is rampant among right-wing evangelicals. Most of them are ‘pro-life’ advocates who denounce safe abortion yet they tend to neglect the basic needs of children.
Many of them also favor military aggression as foreign policy despite the cost of life involved. They are pro-militarization yet they do not seem to care about the plight of the veterans.
Right-wing evangelicals oppose marriage equality yet they seem to tolerate the marital infidelity of many prominent Republican politicians.
Many evangelical preachers and churchgoers proclaim high moral standards in public service but they are supporters of Donald Trump.
Humanist commentator, James Croft, has this to say about evangelicals and Trump:
“The religious right in America has always been a political philosophy based on bullying, pandering, projecting strength to hide fear and weakness, and proud, aggressive ignorance. That’s what it’s been about from the beginning. Trump has merely distilled those elements into a decoction so deadly that even some evangelicals are starting to recognize the venom they have injected into American culture.”
Trump is supposedly the antithesis to traditional Christian values of neighborly love for strangers in need but his skewed views about immigrants seem to be attractive among right-wing evangelicals.
Right-wing evangelicals and the Republican politicians they support exhibit the most unchristian values. They do not have the basic empathy for the poor that they want to take away food stamps, universal healthcare and basic social safety nets.
The evangelicals lost public credibility simply because they have become the antithesis of Christian charity. They have become more obsessed with power than charity or kindness.
See video below for commentary about evangelicals and Donald Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk1s6t4uGZw
