Among his many arrogant pretenses, Donald Trump, the least practicingly religious President in America’s history, continually asserts that he is leading a great restoration of religion in America.
Seven years ago when Trump peddled this risible claim, I said Trump’s pompous false piety could be bad for church business:
I would feel like an ass (and you would rightly brand me as one) if I claimed to be the greatest advocate of atheism in South Dakota history. Donald Trump’s claim to be the greatest Presidential proponent of religion deserves similar shame and ridicule. Those very words show what the editors of Christianity Today acknowledge: Trump’s reign and professing Christians’ submission to it are a pox on religion. Trump and his evangelical flackers make Christians look like hypocrites and make God look like fake news. Trump isn’t bringing people to Jesus; he may be driving them away [Cory Allen Heidelberger, “What Is Trump Doing for Religion?” Dakota Free Press, 2019.12.21].
Religion professors Ryan Burge and Rick Richardson dig through some 2024 survey data from the Billy Graham Center Research Institute and find that churches embracing Trump really do turn some young people off going to church:
The Billy Graham Center Research Institute fielded a survey of 2,365 Gen Z adults (ages 18-28) through NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel between Aug. 9 and Sept. 26, 2024. This effort was supported by the Lilly Endowment, and the lead investigator for this project was Rick Richardson at Wheaton College. Buried in a battery about political de-motivators for church involvement was this statement: “Christians’ support of Trump has made me less likely to go to church.”
In the full sample of Gen Z, nearly half (48%) agreed with that statement in one way or another. About 1 in 5 young adults said they “strongly agreed” with that sentiment. Basically the same share (21%) were on the other end of the continuum and strongly disagreed that Christians’ support of Trump had made them less likely to go to church [Ryan Burge and Rick Richardson, “Half of Gen Z Says Trump Support Keeps Them Out of Church,” Religion News Service, 2026.07.20].
Burge and Richardson find distaste for Trumpy church among nonbelievers and believers:
According to this data, 72% of atheist members of Generation Z said Christians’ support of Donald Trump has made them less likely to attend a church service. For agnostics, it was slightly lower at 65%. Among those who say they are nothing in particular, a slim majority agreed with that statement, as well. Now, it’s important to note here that we can’t infer from this data whether this is the primary (or only) impediment for someone showing up to church on Sunday. It’s highly likely that there are many in these three groups who would not come to church for any reason, and the Trump connection is just a factor among many or a tidy way to explain their lack of religious participation.
But even among Gen Z Christians, there’s a significant share who said Trump made it harder for them to attend at all: 44% of those who identified as a generic Christian, 42% of Catholics and 30% of Protestant young adults said they were turned off by the Christian-Trump alliance [Burge and Richardson, 2026.07.20].
Churches, if you want to bring more young people to the pews, just be honest… and being honest means not pretending that Donald Trump exemplifies your Christian faith.
Just say it: radical christianic terrorism.
Within the New Apostolic Reformation, dominion theology supposes christians must control the seven “mountains” of government, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, family, and business in order to establish a global christianic theocracy and prepare the world for Jesus’ return.
Marjorie Taylor Greene supported Donald Trump but now she’s convinced he’s the Antichrist. The End Times fulfill a prophesy and welcome a supernatural extraterrestrial to create a one-world government but no higher being could be anything but predatory. It’s dystopian fantasy run amok. Trump’s people are broke, broken, disaffected, debt-ridden, desperate and determined to destroy civil society to wipe their slates clean so they can string up the bankers who enslaved them.
When my local Catholic Church preached that Trump had divine providence to rule – something not ever mentioned before about other presidents, governors, congressmen, or mayors – I found I could no longer step foot in that POLITICAL institution again.
I would further this argument for disenfranchisement to also cover congregations not holding up religious doctrines of helping the poor and the needy so that the accumulation of obscene wealth can be pursued. Church has become business, and the customer is always right.
Larry, in SD we don’t string up bankers who (economically) enslave, we plaster their names over as many buildings as those masters command.