Trump’s evaluation lunch comments mark the end of American secularism

At. 08:15 on Thursday, President Donald Trump spoke at the breakfast of the congress. A few hours later he spoke again at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington Hilton. The redundancy is due to the discomfort some had with controversial right -wing religious figures that had gravited to the national prayer breakfast in the past. Under President Joe Biden, there were two separate buzzing breakfast, only one of which participated. Thursday, There were suggestions that there will be – or should be – only one breakfast next year.

In any case, prayer breakfast is never good to eat for secular Americans. Thursday’s double head was no exception.

Tonal were both events at Trump’s Tachycardic Rhetorical Standards of 2024, reluctant, cool, even calm. However, the consequences of what was suggested by the second assembly are burning. America’s non-conservative Christians, non-Christian and non-believers should take into account, just as all those who believe that some form of secular governance is necessary for well-being for any liberal democracy.

Secular governance that we all know, is not Donald Trump’s fantasy. He gave a stream of statements about this effect at both breakfast. But no one was more alarming than his notice That he appointed legal lawyer Pam Bondi to lead a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias”:

“The mission of this task force will be to stop all kinds of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at DOJ, which was absolutely awful, the IRS, the FBI … and other agencies. In addition, the Task Force will work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and move the sky and earth to defend the rights of Christian and religious believers nationwide. You’ve never had that before, but this is a very powerful document I sign. “

For Trump, the word “Christian” refers to what we might call Maga -Christianor the types of Christians who voted for him (ie Evangelical, Pentecost, Conservative Mormons and Traditional Catholics). He does not refer to Christians who did not voted for him, such as liberal Catholics, Main Line Protestants, Members of Different Afro -American Churches and so on.

It is true that Trump mentioned “religious believers” would be defended, but in view of Elon Musk’s attack on Lutheran charities and Vice President JD Vancce’s Jousting with Catholic BishopesNot to mention Trump’s repeated criticism of Jews, I have a hard time believing.

Yet, the business ending centering this executive order of the term “anti-Christian violence.” What type of violence does Trump have in mind? Present at the speech was Paulette Harlow. In October 2020 she stepped in illegally and Barricaded himself In a abortion clinic. A nurse was injured in the subsequent melee. For this, Harlow was sentenced to two years in prison. She was then pardoned by Trump. Will the officers who arrested her and the charges who tried her case be the goals of AG Bondi’s Taskforce (a step we’ve seen with FBI agents who accused January 6 -rebels)? Was the anti-Christian violence?

Can talk be a form of violence? The Left has made such arguments for decades, and one can always count on the right to appropriate an argument it was once frightened. Is it discussing development in a public school room Christian? Is the recognition of the existence of transgender people a Christian to Maga -Christian? Given that T and Q for LGBTQ has been removed from The Ministry of State web siteOne wonders what kind of “liberal” definition of anti-Christian violence that the task force will entertain.

A few days ago, Rep referred. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y. Five alarm fire. Still, Trump’s remarks on Thursday confirm my belief that American secularism has already been burned.

From the late 1970s, the Christian Right has led a masterful judicial campaign to run a form of Political secularism Known as “Separationism.” The Separation Wall between Church and State was burnt down to Earth Decades ago. This is evident in a number of the Supreme Law decisions that have completely recorded the separationist status quo that was introduced under the warren and burger courts and topped in the Kennedy era (see, for example, Justice William Rehnquist’s dissenses in Wallace v. JaffreeAt Zelman v. Simmons-HarrisAt Arizona Christian School Teaching Organization v. Winn and Kennedy against Bremerton School District; and Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s dissent in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Gavin NewsomAt The American Legion v. American Humanist Association and Shurtleff v. City of Boston).

Trump’s double breakfast helps us understand how far we’ve moved from JFKS Ring “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” Compare it to this president’s revival tent proclamation: “Let’s bring back religion. … let’s bring God back to our lives. “

Many call for new Ideas and new management In the Democratic Party. As for questions about church states, I think a similar demand could be set by these secular Americans, believers and non-believers seeking a revised game plan from their own movement leaders. The question is no longer how secularists can Rebuilding on the separation wall. The does not exist anymore. The new question is: What kind of innovative judicial approaches and cultural activism can be conveyed to avert the impending establishment of a particular form of Christianity in the US government?