Donald Trump's Christian Talk Isn't Convincing Britain's Christians
In the months leading up to his election and now as President, Donald Trump has been wearing his Christian credentials firmly on his sleeve. But on the other side of the Atlantic, in Britain, Christians view America's new leader with a mix of skepticism and suspicion.
For all his Christian card waving, what they want to see from Trump is a man who doesn't just talk the talk but who walks the walk, and so far, they're not convinced.
At his inauguration, Trump followed tradition by being sworn in on a Bible. Nothing too unusual there; American presidents have long been placing their hand upon the Bible during the swearing in ceremony – although Trump unusually coupled Abraham Lincoln's one with one from his own childhood.
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There were also some references to God and Scripture in his inauguration that observers could have reasonably expected to go down well with Christians. In America, where the faith of the nation's leader is far more important than in cynical Britain, that might be the case.
Notably, he referenced Psalm 133 when he said: "The Bible tells us: 'How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity.'…When America is united, America is totally unstoppable."
But in Britain, Trump's comments did little to reassure the many Christians who are ill at ease with the intentions and rhetoric of America's new President, Christian or no Christian.
The response of Paul Woolley, deputy chief executive at Bible Society England and Wales, was not to commend the billionaire business mogul for giving God a mention. It was to express concern.
Indeed, writing on the website of the Evangelical Alliance UK, Woolley said President Trump's use of scripture was "troubling".
While he could forgive Trump quoting Psalm 133 out of context – "we've all done it, even Jesus," he said - what he found harder to forgive was "the ends to which" the President was drawing on scripture.
While the Old Testament people of God were being called to be a blessing to all nations, and love God and neighbor, he explained, Trump on the other hand appeared to be driving at something else altogether – something antithetical to the principles laid down in the Bible itself.
"The tragedy of Israel's history was that the nation and its leaders lost sight of this God-given vocation to be a universal blessing and reverted to nationalism and self-interest instead," he wrote.
"Donald Trump is not alone among world leaders in talking about putting the national interest first. That language was used by both sides in last year's EU referendum debate. It is entirely appropriate that political leaders seek the wellbeing of the territories they govern.
"What is unacceptable is using the Bible to promote an inward looking and nationalistic vision of human flourishing that is so alien to the one the Bible itself promotes."
