Jan. 27, 2025

Trump vs A Sermon

Let’s discuss the political fallout from a sermon.

Show Notes
Transcript

Let’s discuss the political fallout from a sermon.

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. I really did try.

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I want everyone to know this right from the beginning.

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I really did try not to talk about this. I

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really did. When this became a big controversy, I was like,

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I'm just not getting involved. Let everyone yell, let everyone

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just throw a fit. I'm going to move on. I

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am not going to get involved. And then my daughter

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starts sending me tiktoks and I'm like, oh, I have

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to get involved. So here we are. I'm about to

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get involved in something I don't want to get involved in.

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I know I'm going to tick off a lot of people.

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A lot of people are not going to like this.

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They're going to disagree. It may lead to a lot

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of people no longer listening to me. But here I am.

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I tried. I really did try. I try not to

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do this. I blame you, TikTok. That's why you should

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be ben well. Actually I blame my daughter who sent

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it to me. But it was a TikTok. So I

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blame TikTok. I blame someone. I know, I know what

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you're saying. You're saying you should just blame yourself. You're

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the one who hit the button to go live. Blame yourself. Hey,

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since when do we start blaming ourselves? Well, since when

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do we start taking personal responsibility? This is America. We

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don't do okay, Well, maybe maybe I should say that.

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All right, are you ready? Are you ready? Here we go.

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We're gonna do this. I'm gonna do my very best.

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I'm hoping this goes better than the last what three

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broadcasts that I have done. I'm hoping this goes a

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lot better. I'm gonna do my very best. But here

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we go. Let's let's go ahead and get this out

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of the way. Good afternoon everyone. It is Monday, January

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the twenty seventh, twenty twenty five. It is currently one

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twelve pm Central Time, and I'm coming to you live

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from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Ablee

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in Texas. So you probably have seen the video. It

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went everywhere, it went viral, and conservative Christians, oh, they

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had some very strong opinions. There was President Trump at

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the National Prayer Service, I think is what it was

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referred to, Yes, the National Prayer Service. There was President

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Trump sitting right there in the front pew. Right, there's

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President Trump. He's sitting there and the person stands up

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to speak, and when they speak, well, they say some

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things that well ticked off a lot of people, including

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President Trump. He did not appreciate the comments by the

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right reverend who spoke. He did not like it at all.

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He took to social media to talk about how upset

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he was. And then Christians lost their mind. How dare

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she does? Why did she do this? Oh, she's a

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she she should have been speaking, and I can't believe

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this and this is wrong and this is just not right.

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And everyone was upset and I was just like, no, no,

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not gonna get involved. But here I am. Why am

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I getting involved? Not because of what she said, not

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even getting involved necessarily because President Trump got his feelings

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hurt and got mad because he went to church and

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heard a sermon he didn't like. I mean, I mean,

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I'm not involved in any of that. I don't care.

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Why did I get involved? Because this is crazy. Here's

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the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Because our government,

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I mean, we don't have any other problems to worry

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about doing. I mean, everything is going so smoothly in

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our country. Everything has go smoothly in the world. I

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mean we, I mean we don't. We have so much

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extra time in our hands to get involved in really

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meaningless things because there's nothing meaningful to work on. There's

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nothing meaningful to try to fix. Right, So our government

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leaders took the time to put forth House Resolution fifty nine.

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House Resolution fifty nine h RES fifty nine if you

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want the cool abbreviation House Resolution fifty nine. It was

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introduced into the US House of Representatives on January the

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twenty third, twenty twenty five. All right, House Resolution fifty nine.

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It was introduced into the US House of Representatives on

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January the twenty third, twenty twenty five. It gives you

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the name of the representatives who it was co sponsored

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by different members. The resolution addresses the sermon delivered by

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the Right Reverend Marianne Egar bu d d E rhymes

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with Buddy. I think it's bud E, all right, so

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it's uh, let me give her name again, the Right

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Reverend Marianne Egar Buddy at the National Prayer Service on

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January the twenty first, twenty twenty five. This is okay,

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I'm even having a hard time even reading this. This

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is insane. So the US House of Representatives, you don't

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have anything else better to do, but you've got to

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address the sermon that was preached, because oh no, we

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don't like it. Lost conservatives, we don't like it. How

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dare you say something negative to President Trump? This has

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got to be addressed. Yes, you can tell that I

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am not. This is just ridiculous. Okay, So all right,

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let me take a deep breath, remain calm. So the

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House of Representatives, this resolution was introduced into the House

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of Representatives. It's House Resolution fifty nine. All right. It

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addresses the sermon delivered by the right Reverend Marianne Edgar

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Buddy at the National Prayer Service on January the twenty first,

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twenty twenty five, at the National Cathedral in Washington, d C.

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That's where the message was delivered, the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

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It expresses the sense of the House that the sermon

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was a display of political activism and condemns its message

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as distorted. So we have the House of Representatives condemning

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a sermon. What is happening? The National Prayer Service is

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a long time a longstanding tradition where the United States

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publicly affirms dependence upon God and prays for the success

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of the president and vice president. In this instance, President

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Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD. Vance participated in

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the service. The resolution criticizes Bishop Buddy for allegedly using

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her position to promote political bias instead of delivering a

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non partisan religious message. Hey your religious message. Hey, So,

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now I guess we want the government telling pastors what

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they can and can't preach. Oh wait, I thought conservatives

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would hate this. Other conservatives would be like, this is

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religious persecution. How dare you tell a preacher what they

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can and cannot preach? How dare you you're preaching? It

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can't have a religious bias. No, no, it can't be

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as they say, it has to be a non partisan

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religious message. Well, what if your religious message happens to

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be quote unquote partisan because it goes against a particular

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view or particular particular political ideology. Now, as of now,

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the ahres fifty nine House Resolution fifty nine, it has

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been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government

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Reform for further consideration. It is important to note, now

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I want to make sure I'm being very fair here

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that the House resolutions like this when express the sentiments

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of the House. But it does not have the force

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of law. So let's just make sure he does not

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have the force of law. It's just a resolution. But

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the whole thing is the House of Representatives are taking

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time to do this because they didn't like a sermon.

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Get over yourselves, how about focus on something else. Not

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a sermon, of course, caused a firestorm amongst conservatives. See

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following Bishop Maryanne Edgar buddy sermon on the National Awe

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at the National Prayer Service on January the twenty first,

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twenty twenty five. President Donald Trump expressed strong disapproval of

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her remarks and her sermon. Bishop Buddy urged the president

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to show mercy towards marginalized groups, including immigrants the LGBTQ community.

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She stated, in the name of our God, I ask

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you to have mercy upon the people in our country

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who are scared now and response. Now, of course, President

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Trump can't say hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, don't be fearful.

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Here's what I'm going to do now if you're here,

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and it could he could have tried to bring some

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sense of calm, some sense of peace, some sense of

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assurance to those whom he can give assurance and not

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give any false assurance to those of whom he cannot.

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But of course President Trump could not just say, listen

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to someone's possible concern and address it in a meaningful way.

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Who would do that, of course, not God's anointed Donald Trump,

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who's basically a part of the trinity. Now, no, no, no, no, no,

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no no. He took to social media, where he referred

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to her the bishop buddy, as a radical left, hardline

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Trump hater. He criticized her tone as nasty and described

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the service as very boring and unaspiring. His further demand,

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he demanded an apology from both the bishop and the

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Episcopal Church Church. This exchange highlights the tension between the

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administration's policies and religious leaders advocating for compassion towards vulnerable communities. Now,

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of course there's new segments about all of this. There's

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the sermon itself. It's on YouTube. Everyone can go and

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you can do whatever you want. My thing is, just look,

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President Trump can get all mad, he can get all upside.

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He is the President for crying out loud. How about

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you listening. Go Okay, Hey, I may disagree here, but

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I don't want anyone to have to be unnecessarily afraid.

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I don't want people to be unnecessarily concerned. Here's what

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I'm going to do now. Now, I can't promise you

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that I'm not going to do this. He could have

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addressed it in a reasonable rational way, but no, he

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didn't like it. He didn't like this. I want an

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apology from the entire church because I didn't like the song.

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Herman crying out loud, what kind of foolish And then

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the House of Representative is going to pass the resolution.

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Give me a break now. In her sermon at the

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National Prayer Service on January the twenty fifth, twenty twenty five,

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or January the twenty first, I apologize twenty twenty five

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Bishop Maryanne egar buddy, and I'm saying her last name incorrectly.

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I apologize, but it does rhyme with buddy. I think

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it's bud e. I think is the way you have

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to say it. Emphasize themes. Now, here's some of the

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things she emphasized. Themes of Unityoh oh, no, compassion, How

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dare you? We don't have any compassion here. We don't

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do that. We're Republicans, we're conservatives. We don't have compassion

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and mercy. How dare that is horrifying? She preached a

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sermon where she emphasized unity, compassion, and mercy. This is outrageous.

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This must be the end of everything, stop everything. We

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must address this. We can't have sermons that preach unity,

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compassion and mercy. She urged President Donald Trump to show kindness.

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How dare you that's horrifying? To show kindness towards marginalized groups,

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including immigrants and the LGBTQ plus community. She stated, in

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the name of our God, I ask you to have

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mercy upon the people in our country who are scared. Now. Now,

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from a biblical perspective, does her comments appeal to Do

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they align with scriptural teachings? Do they? Now? I know

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for many Christians you're like, oh, it's this really weird concept.

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Oh if you're LGBTQ you, or if you're an immigrant,

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a legal immigrant, then there's no mercy and no compassion.

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You're gonna go to hell and you need to go

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to jail. Now. Look, you can be against actions, you

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can be against sin. Do you is there still no

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place for a call for mercy and compassion? Is there

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not a way to handle this and lay aside the

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political rhetoric and look at it from a more biblical perspective.

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For instance, Leviticus nineteen thirty four instructs the stranger who

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resides with you shall be to you as a native

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among you, and you shall love him as yourself. Oh no,

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you can't do that now. Some people say, well, that's

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the Old Testament, but many of you will quote the

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Old Testament to call for the death of homosexuals. So

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you want to use the Old Testament commands to want

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certain people killed, but then you want to ignore the

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Old Testament comi to love people or show some kind

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of mercy and compassion. You can't have it both ways.

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And guess what. You're supposed to love your enemy. You're

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supposed to love your neighbor as yourself. I mean that's

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New Testament commands. But I mean, I mean that probably

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sounds liberal to some of you. That probably sounds like

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you know that I'm a leftist. Jesus taught multiple times

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about love and compassion for all. We see this in

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Matthew twenty five forty. Truly, I tell you whatsoever you

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did for one of the least of these brothers and

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sisters of mine, You did for me. So there's a

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balance there. Now you could, we could if you want

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to take the sermon apart and rip it apart and

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criticize it, then by all means, go ahead and do so.

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But does it need does it need the House of

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Representatives to pass the resolution? Did Trump have to get

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his little feelings hurt and go yell and complain and

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demand an apology? I mean, come on, that's just ridiculous.

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Can you imagine I'll just throw this out now. I'm

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gonna definitely get here. Can you imagine if a conservative speaker,

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a conservative pastor someone that you know, Christians are like, yeah,

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that's a man of God. He preaches the word of God,

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and he got up there and said something, and then

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Democrats passed a resolution condemning it and saying that it

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was wrong. Christians would be screaming, it's religious persecution. They're

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persecuting Christians. What are we going to do? It'd be

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all over Fox News. Give me a break. I think

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the sermon even was I think our comments probably, I

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think it was about ten minutes if even that, and

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the House, the House of Representative is going to pass

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a resolution for or a ten minute message, get over yourself.

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Trump's gonna get all mad because he didn't like it.

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Whole thing is ridiculous. Now her message carried implications for

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current political policies. It definitely did. It was kind of

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rooted in long standing biblical principles rather than partisan politics,

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whether you like it or not, It was rooted in

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long standing biblical principles love for the stranger, love for

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your enemy, love for your neighbor, mercy, compassion, and those

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are long standing biblical principles. Her focus on mercy and

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compassion kind of reflects core Christian values, suggesting that her

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sermon was consistent with biblical teaching and it was not

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merely a political speech promoting a specific ideology. I think

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you could even argue just from a factual basis. Forget

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whether you agree with her words or not. A factual basis.

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It was pretty basic kind of foundational Christian principles. She

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wasn't there to preach a sermon whether LGBTQ was morally

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right or morally wrong. She was saying compassion upon them. Well,

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you can have compassion upon people you believe are morally wrong.

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I need people to have compassion on me because I've

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been morally wrong about a million times in my Christian life.

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Now again you can find the sermon and maybe hopeful

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for you to watch it. I was gonna play it,

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but it's been everywhere. I mean at this point, if

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you haven't seen it, either you don't have internet, your

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phone is broken, or you've been away from planet Earth.

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It's been everywhere. But when I started seeing the tiktoks

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about the House of Representatives past this resolution was introduced,

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I was like, this has got to be the most

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ridiculous thing possible. So I'm like, is this not kind

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of like there's a hypocrisy here. See if democrats criticize

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a conservative pastor for political activism and a similar context,

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many on the right, come on, let's just be honest,

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would frame it as Christian persecution or an attack upon

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religious freedom. The discrepancy reflects a broader political and cultural tensions,

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where one side may defend religious leaders aligned with their views,

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but will condemn others with who do similar things or

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carry out similar actions. You can disagree with the sermon

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all day, that's okay, but come on, we're gonna pass

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a resolution. We're gonna get all upset about it. You

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just don't like it you move on. Right, how can

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we assess this? Well, how about let's look at the

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concept of double standards. Right, if one political group tolerates

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or even celebrates political messages from pastors aligned with their views,

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yet condemned similar actions from pastors with opposing views, I

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think that can be reasonably seen as hypocritical. I think,

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forget reasonably seen it's hypocritical. If a political group tolerates

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or even celebrates political messages from pastors aligned with their views,

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but then condemn similar actions from pastors with opposing views,

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that is reasonably seen as hypocritical. Now, some might argue

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that what constitutes appropriate religious expression depends on whether it

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adheres to the tradition or intent of the event. But

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this can be very subjective. Some would say, well, these

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comments were not all they should have been a part

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of the National Prayer Service, they shouldn't have been there,

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they should never have said that. But in this context

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it would be But that's subjective, right, who gets to

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determine what it is? Now? I could argue, how about

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we just stop all of this mixing the religion with

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the government and just stop having a national prayer service

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and just stop it. If church just want to pray.

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Let them pray. Just stop the whole mixing it up together. Yeah, yeah,

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you can tell that. This whole thing just frustrates me

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to no end. Now, Framing criticism of religious leaders hitting

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the microphone as persecution when it suits one side while

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condemning others as biased can indeed weaken the credibility of

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claims about religious freedom and neutrality. You can't. It just

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destroys any meaningful. Oh, this is persecution. It's persecution because

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they go after your side. Just stop. Everyone's biased, No

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one's neutral. The whole thing's just ridiculous. Just leave it alone.

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Find something else to worry about. The sermon is over,

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it's done, move on. She will continue to preach the

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message she wants to preach, and she has every right

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to do so. And conservative pastors can get up there

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and rant and rave and trump Trump Trump Trump Trump

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Trump trump Trump and preach Trump and be Christian nationalists

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and do whatever they want to do. I believe that

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you can disagree. I believe that my critique here I

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think it. I think it's it's I think it's fair.

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So I'm trying to argue for consistency. I'm trying to

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argue for holding both sides to the same stand. Now,

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I do believe this can ask broader I think it

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could raise broader questions about the role of religion and politics.

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I don't believe it belongs in politics. Get out of it,

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remove your self, flee from it. Politics is ridiculous, it's

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everything about it. Just get away from it. And when

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people begin to critique, are they critiquing it on the base?

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Now here's the thing. Christians will try to critique it

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on the basis of theology and religion, but it's more

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motivated by their own political ideology. They don't want anyone

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to criticize their precious Trump, who can't do anything wrong.

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He's basically God. Are they really concerned about religion and

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theology or they just don't want little Trump to be criticized.

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I mean, come on now, And her words weren't even

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that harsh. Their words were just like, hey have mercy,

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there's people scared. I mean, is that like you may think,

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well this is ridiculous. You may think is this the time?

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Is this the place? You could argue all of those things,

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And I'm willing to hear all of that, but come on,

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a House resolution for crying out loud. That's just ridiculous. Now,

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you could argue, well, have conservative pastors ever done anything similar? Well, you,

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Conservative pastors have often used their platforms to promote political messages,

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including during high profile events like prayer services, during their sermons,

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or even public endorsements of political figures. You want some examples,

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let me give you some examples. Jerry Fallwell Senior and

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the Moral Majority in the nineteen eighties. Remember the Moral

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Majority in the nineteen eighties. Oh yeah, I remember. Fallwell

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often preached sermons blending conservative theology with strong political activism.

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He used this platform to support Republican candidates advocate for

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conservative policies, essentially merging religion and political agendas together. That

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was going on in the eighties. How about Franklin Graham.

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I mean, come on, I mean, everyone knows who Franklin

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Graham is, right, He's the son of Billy Graham. He

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frequently used prayer services and public speeches to promote conservative

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political ideas. For example, during events like the National Day

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of Prayer, he has prayed for leaders and policies that

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align with his political view, often receiving criticism for perceived partisanship.

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It's happened on the other side as well. Both. Look,

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when if you're gonna bring religious leaders to a political

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moment and say speak, do you just want them to

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do you want them to speak their religious Do you

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want them to speak their religious convictions? Or do you

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want them just to speak whatever you want them to say?

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If you want if you just want them to say

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what you want them to say, just hand them a

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script and say dance, dance, dance, little puppy, Come on,

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come on, do a trick, stand up, turn around, sit,

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beg Or do you want a religious leader to speak

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their convictions whether you agree or disagree with them? Now,

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the thing is, should we have these religious leaders speaking

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at some of these political events. But if you're going

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to bring in the religious leader, if you're bringing in

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and a female Episcopalian bishop, what in the name of

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bubblegum did you think you were going to get Robert

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Jeffers Oh, I definitely know him right. He's the pastor

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first Baptist church located about two hours for me, about

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two and a half hours, maybe two. Has been outspoken

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supporter of conservative politicians, especially Donald Trump. He has used

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sermons public appearances to advocate for specific policies and praise

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political leaders who align with ideology, even in religious context.

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But wait, some of you can say, but these were

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all men, they were men. What makes this a promise?

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She was a woman? Oh oh wait, wait, wait wait

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Paula White. Oh yeah, Paula White. She's been a part

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of Donald Trump's spiritual advisory team. She has merged political

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advocacy with her religious platform. For instance, she has prayed

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for Trump's reelection during church services and events. Paula White's

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been right there and some of the events speaking. She's

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his spiritual part of the spiritual advisory team. Don't know

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if you realize this, She's female. National Prayer Breakfast. At

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these and similar events, conservative pastors have delivered speeches that

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lean heavily into political rhetoric, praising conservative policies or politicians

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while framing their positions as divinely or dane. Yeah, many

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conservative pastors believe that their political ideology is basically divinely

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ordained or their religious candidate is divinely anointed. Now, in

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these cases, guess what. Critics and those on the left

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have accused conservatives pastors of politicizing religion. Hey, hey, everyone

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does this and their supporters defend these actions as standing

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for biblical values or exercising free speech. See if the

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