We knew that Donald Trump has already attracted some of the most extreme elements of the religious right, such as John Hagee and Lance Wallnau. But this weekend, we learned just how retrograde some of Trump’s fundie supporters are. It turns out that a guy who is now one of Trump’s go-betweens with fundies actually hinted he wouldn’t help victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake unless they turned from Voodoo.
On Friday, Time magazine reported that Trump was making a concerted effort to mend fences with Hispanic evangelicals. As part of that effort, Trump’s “liaison for Christian policy,” Frank Amedia, brokered a meeting earlier in the month between Trump and the National Hispanic Leadership Conference, a prominent group of Hispanic ministers.
Something about Amedia triggered the spidey senses of the folks at People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch. They did some digging, and discovered that Amendia led a team from his Touch Heaven Ministries to Haiti after the earthquake. However, Amedia let it be known that he might not help earthquake victims who practiced Voodoo.
But don’t take my word for it. Take Amedia’s.
“We would give food to the needy in the short term, but if they refused to give up Voodoo, I’m not sure we would continue to support them in the long term because we wouldn’t want to perpetuate that practice. We equate it with witchcraft, which is contrary to the Gospel.”
As I write this, I am literally shaking with anger. This yayhoo actually let it be known he’d turn away people who had lost everything if they didn’t renounce Voodoo. Sadly, Amedia wasn’t the only one engaging in this despicable practice. A number of Voodoo practitioners actually converted to Christianity because they feared it was the only way they’d get badly needed aid.
There are literally no words for how callous and offensive this is. These people literally lost everything. They didn’t need to be preached at. They needed to be loved on. Most charities–even fundified ones–would never turn anyone away in such a tragic situation because they practiced the “wrong” faith.
Just in case there was any doubt Amedia meant what he said, he visited Haiti in 2011 and blamed Haiti’s two-century plight on “the curse of Voodoo,” which has denied Haiti “a fathering spirit.” Watch here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIoZMBtZ8yk
We’ve heard this before. Soon after the earthquake, Pat Robertson claimed that Haiti brought the disaster on itself by making “a pact with the devil.” He got deservedly slammed for this across the spectrum–including on Free Republic. Free Republic, people. That’s how out of touch Amedia is.
Amedia splits his time between Miami and his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. He pastors Touch Heaven Church in Canfield, Ohio; a suburb of Youngstown. It turns out that this church is up to its eyeballs in the New Apostolic Reformation, the overtly fascist offshoot of the religious right that believes it can bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world. You may recall that Wallnau is the architect for the NAR’s strategy for taking over the world, the “Seven Mountains strategy.” Amedia brands himself as an apostle, prophet, and evangelist. In other words–at his church, his word is the law.
Amedia recently got his own show on Daystar Television Network, “Deep to Deep.” Like most fundicostal-oriented networks, Daystar scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Jim Bakker airs there, remember. But does Daystar condone turning away disaster victims because they have the “wrong” faith? Perhaps we should ask them on email, on Facebook and on Twitter–politely, of course. And perhaps we should tell Amedia how heartless and cruel we find his behavior–politely, of course. Let him have it on email, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
When I first saw signs that some fundies were flocking to Trump, I wondered–what kind of pastor would hitch his wagon to a guy who finds it acceptable to plaster private cell phone numbers on social media, mock the disabled, and condone thuggery from his supporters?
Well, now I know–a pastor who is callous enough to even think about turning away earthquake victims who have lost everything just because they aren’t saved. The more I think about it, Trump and Amedia deserve each other.
