Unholy Alliance
- Darren Phillips
- Oct 8, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 7, 2025
By falsely claiming his father “literally saved Christianity,” Eric Trump is preying on conservative Christians’ misplaced sense of victimhood (see persecution complex) and irrational hatred of "godless liberals."
The sad irony here is Eric’s father has arguably done more to harm Christianity than any other U.S. president in living memory. He’s done this by further politicizing the faith, by expropriating the Christian brand for his own political benefit, and by unwittingly exposing a mountain of latent bigotry and other heresies within the church, particularly among high-profile evangelical leaders who have foolishly aligned themselves with an objectively cruel, amoral figure of worldly power.
Americans are leaving the church in droves, and seekers and would-be Christians will now likely give the church a wide berth because of this unholy alliance with Trump. The so-called Moral Majority set the stage for the evangelical movement’s eventual demise. MAGA closed the curtains.
In the end, white evangelicals sold their souls for Supreme Court seats and needless racial affirmation. Donald Trump played ‘em like fiddles and laughed all the way to the White House.
Maybe Eric is right. Perhaps his father — by unwittingly exposing widespread bigotry and hypocrisy within the evangelical movement — has indirectly saved Christianity by motivating true followers of Christ to finally stand up and be heard.
Perhaps this is an opportunity for true Christians to redefine Christianity in America. Perhaps this is an opportunity for them to cut away the dead limbs so the proverbial fig tree may finally flourish and bear new fruit, to publicly release themselves from the shackles of political manipulation, and to disengage from the “foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels” of contemporary American politics. By exposing the evangelical movement’s dark underbelly, perhaps Eric’s father has provided a unique and unsolicited opportunity for true Christians to tear it all down and rebuild.
"Maybe Eric is right. Perhaps his father — by unwittingly exposing widespread bigotry and hypocrisy within the evangelical movement — has indirectly saved Christianity by motivating true followers of Christ to finally stand up and be heard."
Protestantism, at least in contemporary America, has become a tragic parody of everything it sought to overthrow under Martin Luther. Evangelical leaders like Falwell and Franklin Graham are the new medieval papacy, and the GOP the new Medici.
What comes next? Will the reign of Eric’s father prove to be the impetus for the next great schism? Can those devoted to love and forgiveness, humility, acceptance, generosity, hospitality, inclusion, empathy and self-sacrifice — all principles Jesus Christ embodied and exalted — finally emerge as the true face of Christianity in America? ✚
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Note: Image and additional web links added in 2025.
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Trump looks like the incarnation of a presidential candidate for a formerly Christian culture that sometimes likes to think of itself as Christian, but worships money and power instead of Jesus
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