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Gillian Butler's avatar

I don't actually believe that Trump is the Anti-christ, although he's a very damaged man and an abomination in any kind of public office. Indeed, his fruits show the person he is. My brand of Christianity calls me to pray for my enemies and even love them... so hard to do in the case of Trump. Matthew 25 is a favorite passage and continues to inspire our immigrant welcoming group at my church. Thanks for the fascinating read.

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Glen Brunner's avatar

With yet another terrific "Report," Thom, I take it you must must be on the mend...yeh? Well, I've long been fascinated with this "good vs. evil, God vs. Satan, and Christ vs Anti-Christ" debate that's been going on for millennia...so I was intrigued when you mentioned Kurt Anderson's book "Fantasyland."

I got it, read it, and immediately accepted his main point that we Americans love to indulge ourselves in "fantasyland"...any one we can find....be it from Hollywood, romance novels, or biblical lore. It just requires one essential prerequisite: faith. Believe because you can believe. Believe because you choose to believe. A suspension of rational thinking....or objective observation...or that thing called "evidence".....eh? And so we have had a huge chunk of our true-believing, "faithful Christians" go with their gut-feeling--what's left when the head is gone?--and don the MAGA hats to follow their charismatic (feel-good) charlatan who actually exemplifies the opposite of the things that these same people profess they believe in. Weird...totally weird....yeh? So I very much like the way you bring this subject back to "reality" by bringing up the "fruits" of DJT's actions--that's ground level stuff. That's "real." My conclusion is that the real contest here is not about "Christ vs. Anti-Christ" or even "good vs. evil" (because these are one-level-removed-from-reality mental abstractions)...but "reality" vs. "fantasyland"....or "rational thought" vs. "gut feelings." And, truth be told, the reality of this good vs evil stuff is much closer to home... and can only be accessed via self-reflection....something "true-believers" have a hard time with...else they would know who they are really, actually following.

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