Declaration Opposing President Trump's False and Immoral Claim to Be a Christian

DECLARATION IN OPPOSITION TO PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FALSE AND
IMMORAL CLAIM TO BE A "CHRISTIAN" AND TO HIS DECEITFUL
MANIPULATION OF THE CHRISTIAN EVANGELICAL VOTE

During the last presidential election, Trump gained an overwhelming 81% of the evangelical vote. Analysts call this the pivotal margin that won the election. According to Jerome Socolovsky (editor of Religion News Service): "If you take away the evangelical share of the vote .... Hillary Clinton would have won by a landslide." [1]

Trump aggressively courted this vote in the hope it would play just such a key role. In that effort, he made the claim that he is a "devout Christian." At the same time, Trump has a long and documentable history of making false and misleading statements. One news article verifies the astounding number of **3000 lies within 466 days of being in office**. [2] Given this background, combined with many actions Trump has engaged in within this presidency itself, it is a very legitimate question to inquire whether Trump's claim is valid.

As a tool aimed at stimulating that conversation, I have produced a video. It holds up the Sermon on the Mount and other key ethical teachings of the Gospels in the Bible and compares them to numerous stances and actions taken by Trump since coming into office, as well as documented incidents from earlier. Viewers are invited to look at this comparison.

If Trump did engage in deception in order to manipulate this voting bloc, it would rank as one of the most colossal frauds in history - having led to an upset victory placing him into the most powerful political office in the world. As this evangelical vote is once again expected to play a pivotal role in the 2020 presidential election, there is a critical and urgent need to not only look more closely at his claim but do so in a way that spreads public awareness.

The presidency of the U.S. is a position with major global impact. The program asks key ethical questions. If that power is being used to inflict grievous harm and yet it is being done in the name of Christianity, then is it not entirely legitimate for Christians to raise this issue in the public arena and ask questions? Is Trump a "wolf in sheep's clothing"? If so, is it not the moral responsibility of those who take the Christian faith seriously to expose this?

When the comparison is made, this program draws the conclusion that Trump unequivocally fails the test and has indeed engaged in a massive deception. In the belief that such a deception should not be allowed to essentially "steal" another presidential election, a Declaration at the end of the video calls for viewers to sign their support in order to elevate the visibility of this issue. In order to disseminate this Declaration to the public, I am submitting it as a petition on GoPetition.

It is my belief this petition will be of interest to a very significant portion of the population. For that quite substantial segment which already identifies itself as "Christian", the interest would be quite natural. But even that segment which does not see itself as Christian will have an interest due to the universal ethical issue of engaging in fraud.

All are invited to please look at this video. At 16 minutes, it is a fairly quick view. In the utilization of visual imagery and audio, this video presents the case for support of this Declaration that extends far beyond the limited scope of this written appeal.

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGNDsC-Ipg
[Technical note: To fully capture the audio, it is best to use headphones]

Prayerfully, Gary (Zuriel) Houser

SOURCE LINKS:
1) https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/11/11/post-election-analysis/33332/
(in transcript of program)

2) News article: "President Trump Lied More Than 3000 Times in 466 Days",
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/politics/donald-trump-3000/index.html