Among the group that usually prefers to portray America as “A Christian Nation,” there is a lot of hate filled and xenophobic rhetoric these days. Let’s be clear: hatred and the practice of any legitimate religion are incompatible. You cannot simultaneously hate and love.

There are many things that have brought us to this day. The prosperity gospel, its second cousin, the Law [sic] of Attraction brought moderate to liberal religionists, and the entertainment factory that masquerades as religion but really is nothing more than a white person’s prosperity gospel, the American evangelical mega-church movement brought the moderate to conservatives. Throw in a dash of consumer capitalism for good measure and here we are.

All of these “religious” movements have as their focus not God, not the other, not the widow or the orphan, but me, the church-goer. They ask how I can solidify my relationships, my salvation, my career – a veritable “me-fest” of religion. When someone comes along whom I perceive to be a threat to me or my stuff, they must go. This isn’t religion, it’s selfishness writ large. What it gives you is Donald Trump.