So have you had your fill of talking about God and Donald Trump?
I realize that I wrote an "On Religion" column for the Universal Syndicate about the alleged armies of evangelicals who think The Donald is the candidate blessed by God to get this nation back on the path to something or another, something EPIC, something GREAT, again.
Then we did a GetReligion podcast on this subject (click here to listen) and then I turned around and backed that with a GetReligion post offering more background. It was all pretty shameless.
Then I came to New York City to spend two weeks teaching at The King's College, the home of the rebooted version of the full-semester student journalism program that I ran for years in Washington, D.C. We are at Broadway and Wall Street and, thus, around a corner or two from, you got it, the Trump Building in lower Manhattan.
Right, but there hadn't really been a GetReligion-linked exploration of Trump and God that included lots of '70s dance music and one-liners. In other words, early this week I hopped on the R train and headed to the Empire State Building to spend an hour with my friend Eric Metaxas on his national radio show.
Want to listen? Click right here.
This was right after Metaxas -- a very funny man in a Yale University sort of way -- bombarded Twitter with all kinds of jokes riffing on what the Bible would sound like if Trump had written it. If you want to see the whole #TrumpBible collection, click here. This is at the website of The New Yorker, for heaven's sake. That's class.
Here's the news-related intro and a few verses:
#TRUMPBIBLE Donald Trump recently said the Bible is by far his favorite book -- "not even close" -- but when pressed to share a favorite verse or two, he declined, saying religion was "a private thing" and he didn’t "want to get specific." Many concluded he doesn’t read the Bible, so to silence his critics, Trump today via Twitter released his "Favorite Bible verses" ...
* In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was TERRIFIC. And also YUUUUGE. #TrumpBible
* Look, I prefer Messiahs who don't get crucified, okay? I mean, I've given a lot to his churches. A LOT. Face it, he let us down. #TrumpBible ...
* Take a little wine for thy stomach's sake. And if you're eating the Surf & Turf you can go with the red OR the white. Your call. #TrumpBible
* Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. For a season. #TrumpBible
For a season. Classic.
We did discuss some issues linked to the post and column I had written, focusing on the ongoing media struggles to use the vague term "evangelical" in a doctrinal context, as opposed to using it as a political label, alone. Also, World Magazine had just come out with a poll of major evangelical leaders that showed very little support for Trump (and lots of support for folks who speak Spanish).
So there is that question again: Who are the evangelicals who back Trump, who is an old-school mainline Protestant kind of guy? Are they celebrity watchers or the active church people in pews, pulpits and places of leadership?
Also, why is Metaxas so hooked on the music of Wings, Elton John and the really, really bad years in the Chicago repertoire? I don't mind his constant use of this Warren Zevon classic. That song is EPIC, GREAT and, yes, YUUUUGE.
Again, to listen in click here.