By now, most of you may have read about Donald Trump’s spine-chilling inauguration speech. But that wasn’t the first scary speech on Friday. Nope, not by a longshot. For veteran religious right watchers like yours truly, one of the invocations was at least, if not more, unnerving than Trump’s dystopian speech.
When Paula White was tapped to give an invocation at the ceremony–the first woman to do so–it raised a lot of eyebrows. She was one of many prosperity gospel pastors who attached themselves to Trump during the campaign. She’d also been the target of a Senate investigation into her finances in 2007.
But none of that apparently mattered to Trump. He and White have been friends for the better part of 15 years. She is the chairwoman of Trump’s culture warrior-laden Evangelical Advisory Board, and reportedly helped the Donald get saved.
Watch what happened when White took the stage, courtesy PBS.
White offered her prayer in the name of Jesus in a sharp break from tradition; most pastors who pray at inaugurations take a more inclusive line. However, the really unnerving moment came at the end:
“Let these United States of America be that beacon of hope to all people and nations under your dominion–a true hope for humankind.”
I didn’t watch the inauguration live, in part because I had no desire to line Trump’s pockets. But a number of my friends who have stronger stomachs than me did watch–and they were dumbfounded at how White closed her prayer. After watching it myself, I can only agree. Christians believe that Jesus is the true hope for humankind. Not any one person, not any one nation.
Oh, that’s right. We’re talking about people who believe God is so determined to end abortion, marriage equality, and a number of other societal ills that he hacked the election in order to put a guy in the White House who finds it acceptable to plaster a private cell phone number on social media, mock the disabled, condone violence at his rallies, and degrade women.
White is serving as Trump’s principal spiritual adviser. If this invocation represents the kind of advice Trump is getting, it’s yet another reason this administration should make us shudder.
(featured image courtesy White’s Facebook)
