Letters to the Editor: The media’s obsession with pro-Trump cultism is killing mainstream Christianity

To the editor: After reading so many articles on the religious right’s idolatry of former President Trump, this deeply troubled Christian is not alone in feeling anger and grief that my faith has been publicly hijacked and represented by this extreme and distorted version of Christianity. (“At far-right roadshow, Trump is God’s ‘anointed one,’ QAnon is king, and ‘everything you believe is right,’” Oct. 12)

The Christian “left” doesn’t really exist, because anyone who sincerely follows Jesus knows how much he prioritized caring for the disadvantaged and loving others just as they are. Is it possible to give this faction of Christianity some representation in the news?

You may have to look harder to find those folks, because they in no way resemble the human version of the golden calf being idolized by the religious right.

You can start at Brentwood Presbyterian Church, a place that has loved and supported me and my family for years. I grieve when I look out at empty pews and realize so many miss out on this, unwilling even to enter the sanctuary because there is an assumption that all religious organizations are like the one gracing your front page.

Linda Regan-Johnson, West Los Angeles

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To the editor: I have some questions for the attendees of the ReAwaken America tour.

Which Trump is God supporting? The man found liable for sexual abuse and defamation? The twice-divorced and three-times married man who cheated on his wives? The man who paid off an adult film actress to keep quiet about an affair that he insists never happened?

Is God supporting the man who belittles people with disabilities? Is God supporting the former commander in chief who reportedly did not want to be seen with wounded veterans? Is God supporting the head of a corporation that has been convicted of fraud?

Which Trump is God supporting? I’m confused — and terrified by these people’s zealotry.

Steve Paskay, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The last thing these evangelical Christians want is for a truly secular democracy to succeed.

No, they don’t openly push for theocratic government. Instead they strive to foster a nominal democracy, wherein their God’s faithful enjoy favored status. Pious evangelicals will tolerate alternative beliefs, but only if they are kept marginalized.

Sure, Trump’s personal qualities hardly personify evangelicals’ ideals, and his inept, chaotic governance confounded most of them. Yet they can’t help but back him: After all, a Democratic president might honor the constitutional mandate to keep church and state separate.

Kendra Strozyk, Cameron Park, Calif.

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To the editor: I freeze in fear reading of the adoring masses that revere Trump as the “anointed” one.

My brain circuits to North Korea and the blind adulation of its citizens to their dear leader. Fear races through my cells, and I can hardly focus on the words.

The elected Republicans with sealed lips must rip off their shackles, speak brave words and apologize for supporting such an enemy of democracy before it’s too late. There’s very little time remaining to save us.

Roz Levine, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I don’t know which is more frightening — that the lines between church and state have disappeared, or that I don’t hear the roar of disapproval from mainstream Republicans.

This is an attack on democracy that can only be thwarted by sensible people raising their voices loudly and clearly to drown out this madness from the far right.

I implore my Republican friends to stand up against this attack on our country and on democracy.

Barbara Busch, Santa Barbara