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submitted 8 months ago by vexikron@lemmy.zip to c/usa@lemmy.ml

Why do so many evangelical Christians support former President Donald Trump despite his decades of documented ungodly behavior?

An in-depth report from The Economist shows that it has a simple explanation: They believe that God personally appointed him to rule the United States.

In fact, the report cites a survey conducted by Denison University political scientist Paul Djupe that around 30 percent of Americans believe Trump "was anointed by God to become president."

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[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 84 points 8 months ago

100% of this 30% hasn’t read their Bible.

[-] Sharpiemarker@startrek.website 39 points 8 months ago

And have long term brain damage due to lead poisoning.

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[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 19 points 8 months ago

100% of Republicans haven't read it, or they wouldn't be Republicans.

[-] LemmynySnicket@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Was talking to my masseuse and when she heard I went to catholic school, she asked "so you've read the whole Bible prolly right?" And I was like..."ya, more than once. Is that not common for your side of the aisle?" She just chuckled. She is by no means a fervent believer, but her circle is and she still found it uncommon that I read it.

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[-] HowMany@lemmy.ml 68 points 8 months ago

To be fair, a shocking number of Americans are, at best, complete dumbasses.

I'll bet that number and your number are pretty close.

[-] Cyberflunk@lemmy.world 56 points 8 months ago

30% of POLLED people who answered phones..

Not "of Americans" fuck this click bait shit.

Fuck the op, fuck the news sensationalizing this fucking lunatic shitgibbon

[-] vexikron@lemmy.zip 25 points 8 months ago

Howabout fuck you, read the actual cited academic study that I've posted links to and come back with an actually valid criticism.

[-] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

He would prefer to think it's just the media reporting that a sizeable percentage of the country not only disagrees with him but would probably smile as the person you're responding to was jailed or harmed.

Can't totally blame him. "OMG u fuktard itz tthu mediaz making cheeto poplar!!1!" is much easier to deal with than reckoning with the fact that a) he was elected once, and b) based on current polling, he's likely to be elected again.

It's quite literally the same problem of the right, just reversed. The media are the problem, let's not look at the reality that is quite apparent all around us because it's scary.

[-] vexikron@lemmy.zip 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Well if we are going based on what they said, its likely they havent read the actual source material and/or they have a problem with polling methodology.

Again, I am looking forward to a substantial statistical and or methodological criticism of the polls and studies referenced.

Its always fun watching people who have no idea how statistics or polling or scientific studies work try to criticize such things.

EDIT; Your explanation is possible as well. A lot of people have kneejerk reactions to things that clash with their worldview. See uh, nearly all of the entire history of politics and societies for all of history.

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[-] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

Read the actual study. And also, like... look around you, if/when you go outside, and actually pay attention. Have you not noticed?

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[-] HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 45 points 8 months ago
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[-] davel@lemmy.ml 30 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Both the RawStory and The Economist articles are quite vague about what specific 2021 Pew poll they’re talking about. I’m very skeptical of this 30% number. The Economist article itself made no such claim.

[-] vexikron@lemmy.zip 29 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In fact, the report cites a survey conducted by Denison University political scientist Paul Djupe that around 30 percent of Americans believe Trump "was anointed by God to become president."

Not a Pew Research Poll.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/full-armor-of-god/2B21DC6F17E88C6DF7275F45A66DF104

I'll see if I can find it on open scholar or something similar.

EDIT: Here we go!

https://annas-archive.org/md5/da76eb110551fd4028c9c0a8e185f0ce

You can thank Cambridge for paywalling scientific knowledge for why the article is so hard to find.

I mean it took me about 10 minutes, but I guess most people do not know how to do research on the internet.

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 8 points 8 months ago
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[-] avater@lemmy.world 30 points 8 months ago

30% of americans are idiots it seems...

[-] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 20 points 8 months ago

More like %30 of the 50 people they interviewed in some Alabama Walmart parking lot. Polls like this are blatant propagandist horseshit.

[-] vexikron@lemmy.zip 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Again, not a single random bullshit poll. These articles from raw story and the economist are based on multiple different polls done in a statistically valid way by well known amd respected pollsters, and a comprehensive academic study of the matter. Ive linked the main study elsewhere in this thread.

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[-] InputZero@lemmy.ml 7 points 8 months ago

I know I'm going to step in it by commenting, but the polls are usually accurate. It's how they're reported that's not. The data from polls themselves often say how limited in scope they are, but that doesn't make a good headline and never makes it into the story. It takes a real nerd to be interested in stats and real stats are boring.

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[-] Godnroc@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Hey, that's an improvement! That's down from the typical "a majority of Americans".

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[-] roguetrick@kbin.social 28 points 8 months ago

Divine right of presidents theory would also make all the Democrats appointed by God. But this shit is evangelical personal relationship with God nonsense, so I guess God told them personally that he appointed Trump to be president.

[-] lili_thana 14 points 8 months ago

Knowing how Evangelicals are, they'd claim that the dem presidents are Satan deceiving people or, like in the case of Obama, are potential Antichrists. They need Satan to be powerful enough to fear and they use anything they can to reinforce that.

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 24 points 8 months ago

And when a Democrat is elected? The same group denies, denies, denies.

If God is all powerful, why did your guy lose?

Either God isn't all powerful, or he's not your guy after all...

[-] vexikron@lemmy.zip 13 points 8 months ago

We are so fucked.

If Trump wins, he is literally at this point stating he will be a dictator, that he wants to get rid of vermin people, and that he is very concerned about the purity of the blood of the nation.

If he loses, these deranged imbeciles have /a lot of guns/ and I am convinced they will basically figure out how to top 9/11, either in one concentrated burst of insanity, or more likely exceed it in body count in something like a few weeks of domestic terrorist attacks around the country.

The possibly even more terrifying thing is that roughly similar numbers of Americans believe in all or a substantial amount of the QAnon nonsense, and the Venn Diagram between QAnon adherents and Trump is God's President people is practically a circle.

50 million delusional angry armed psychopaths.

I sure hope I can get into Canada within a few years.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

50 million armed, delusional, and angry, but have you SEEN them? ;)

Any serious resistance and they run off like the giant babies they are.

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[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 24 points 8 months ago

“With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion.”

― Steven Weinberg

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[-] profoundninja@sh.itjust.works 14 points 8 months ago

Statistically my opinion doesn't even count because I'm not American.

But i get the 30% crowd on this. For that buffoon of a human being to become president. Maybe there was divine intervention. But whatever God exists, is fucking with us for entertainment.

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[-] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

And that same group thought that Obama was put in power by Satan. They used it as an excuse to ignore laws. "I follow gods law, not mans" and other such stuff that flagrantly violated the very rules established by their god.

Romans 13 1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

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[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 8 months ago

Saw this unhinged video on the old site about a week ago. Woman being interviewed was going on about how much the shitbag cares about USA and how much he cares about us. These people cannot reason about anything logically. He gives no fucks for anyone but himself, yet this asshole was saying he gives a fuck about his supporters / USA citizens. I hate stupidity. I hate gullibility.

I had a sociology professor who stated that we hate most in others what we fear most in ourselves. Checks out.

[-] jtk@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 8 months ago

despite his decades of documented ungodly behavior

Because they also have decades of documented "ungodly behavior" (dumb phrase given god is a complete asshole) and want someone in charge that will let them continue it. Why do people insist on equating "christian" with "good"? If you saw some dude with "Good Guy" tattooed on his forehead, would you trust them? That's exactly what the cross has symbolized since it's inception.

[-] xkforce@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

As a plague?

[-] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I'm not surprised, just disappointed.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This smells of bullshit. You can't get any of the numbers or methodology without paying. (Generally academic abstracts at least include their methodology if not their conclusion)

Which is because this is a book. This isn't a study it's a fucking advertisement.

Just looking at the publicly available numbers from respected groups like Gallup, 47% of Americans are religious. This would mean that 63% of religious people in the US believe God anointed a president.

Furthermore, 31% of Americans believed Trump had won the election as of 2023. (Gallup again) This would assign a mere 1% of those people to non religious, or at least, not believing he was anointed by God.

These numbers are highly suspect. However I'll stop short of saying the book itself is wrong. The free pages available on Google books talk about taking a comprehensive approach to Christian Nationalism in the US. Not this headline. It would not be the first time reporters read something an academic wrote and went off with a take away that was nowhere in the book or study.

What's far more likely, (without having paid for a subscription because fuck that and OP's free links don't work) is he said something along the lines of 30% of Christians believe he was anointed by God to bring Christian governance back to the the US. (Their ideology not mine, according to PEW, 24% of US adults identify as Evangelists) Not that he is anointed now. Of course there's serious overlap between evangelists and people who believe Trump won, but it is not 1 to 1.

Overall these are things we've known for a while. But finding out 30% of Americans believe in Divine Right Monarchy would be a big deal. And burying it in a book on a tangential subject would be completely irresponsible. It would be the watershed of a whole series of studies to support or refute. I highly doubt Rawstory has the right takeaway on this.

Edit -as always, it takes far more effort to track down what was actually done and said than to print a spurious story. So the Rawstory article simply points to the Economist article as it's citation. The Economist article has this to say -

A survey in 2023 by Paul Djupe of Denison University in Ohio found that a quarter of Americans believe in modern-day prophets and prophecies.

And

In a survey conducted by Mr Djupe shortly before the election, three in ten Americans believed Mr Trump “was anointed by God to become president”.

It also says they see Trump like the Persian Emperor who, while not Jewish himself, secured their freedom. So this was before the election, with no polling after the election. Only the observations of Christian Nationalists and Apostolic Militants combining to form the January 6th insurrection. Simply put we don't know how many still believe he's anointed to be elected. And how many people thought God would intervene after the election or still believe he will intervene.

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[-] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 11 points 8 months ago

30% of Americans or 30% of voters?

[-] vexikron@lemmy.zip 7 points 8 months ago

About 10 or 20 minutes after I posted the story, I found the actual study by Dennison University that is the basis of many of the claims.

Here is the /official/, paywalled, abstract only link on Cambridge's journal or study publishing site:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/full-armor-of-god/2B21DC6F17E88C6DF7275F45A66DF104

And here are various links to the full study provided by scientists amd volunteers who believe information should be freely available:

https://annas-archive.org/md5/da76eb110551fd4028c9c0a8e185f0ce

I have not had enough time to read it but given that 40% + of American adults believe in the Biblical Creation narrative of the world and do not believe in evolution, I'm pretty confident the 30% figure refers to basically American Adults, ie potential voters, in this context.

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

It doesn't say. That and the fact that this is reporting on other reporting, a kind of "reaction video" of journalism should be enough to ignore that number.

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[-] derf82@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

It’s the prosperity gospel. Evangelicals are convinced god gives money to people he likes. Trump has money, as do most Republicans, ergo, god must approve.

Why that doesn’t apply to George Soros, Nancy Pelosi, or any other rich Democrat I don’t get.

[-] Custoslibera@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Isn’t it obvious?!

Those democrats made a deal with Satan.

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[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 9 points 8 months ago

[they believe that] God will use Trump to crush opposition to Christian nationalism and restore Christians as the nation's rightful political rulers.

i've said for years that all the so-called "hypocrisy" of the christian right supporting the decidedly unchristian donald trump vanishes when you account for one fact: he'll let them hurt who they want to hurt.

[-] ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

The same 30% would agree that president God was appointed by Trump

[-] mateomaui@reddthat.com 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

If that were true the size of the crowd at his inauguration may have matched the myth told about it.

[-] Marthirial@lemmings.world 6 points 8 months ago

White Christian Conservatives are one of the most scary things out there. Those fuckers are twisted, hateful and dellutional.

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[-] max 5 points 8 months ago

Like the king is king because god wants.. Wait why is this so similar to 1300DC?

[-] doingless@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

I'm not asserting that the polling is wrong, but I would say that for many people polled it could be misunderstood.

From a Biblical worldview, God can influence leaders. Both who is put into office, and to some extent even change their hearts about situations to control their impacts in the world.

That is to say God can, not that every leader is chosen by God and even less so that every leader is approved by God. Many times God is shown allowing bad leaders as a judgement of the people.

So even among those polled who said they believe he was appointed by God, it doesn't mean all of them thought it was a positive endorsement. I think if God chose him, it's because he's the leader we deserve.

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but from God; the powers that be are ordained by God.

If you believe in the Bible you must accept that every single leader is chosen by skydaddy.

Of course if you believe in the Bible you also must believe that somehow this process breaks and the all-powerful leader of the universe is powerless against dark forces that corrupt leaders.

Got to love that they can't even keep the plotholes out.

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this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
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