By embracing Donald Trump, it is now clear that evangelical Christian churches in the U.S. are not charities. Their primary purpose is to rally support for self-centred, self-aggrandizing Republican politicians and provide opportunities for photographs of themselves with the President in the Oval Office.
They no longer– if they ever did– have a “charitable” purpose.
The question is, does Christianity itself have a charitable purpose? You might argue that genuine believers still have a real spiritual commitment to the words and ministry of Jesus Christ. I would point out that that is exactly what the church continues to claim while they really support Donald Trump. It is what they claimed all along. Now we know the truth: they never meant any of it. Not the “blessed are the meek” or “thou shalt not commit adultery” or the imprecations to treat kindly widows and orphans, and, especially, the “strangers at your gate”. Read through this list and consider Trump’s policies toward migrants.
The evidence is overwhelming: it is a lie, plain and simple.
There is almost nothing in any Trump policy that could legitimately be said to be charitable or spiritual or religious. He promotes guns. He promotes abuse of the environment. He promotes ignorance and irresponsibility. He is a pathological, chronic liar. Yes, he appoints anti-abortion judges, but that is a patriarchal interest, not a genuinely Christian one– because the only time Christians assert that they are pro-life, is when it comes to the consequences of sex, and only while it is still in the womb. As far as war or guns or the military or capital punishment goes, they are enthusiastically pro-death.
When it comes to defending soldiers accused of war crimes, they spare no effort to pardon them, even if they murdered prisoners in cold blood.
The Constitution clearly forbids any effort by the State to “establish” a religion. By granting charitable status to churches affiliated with the church of Trump, the IRS is complicit with violations of the relevant statues.