Why have we had churches focused on the collective good for thousands of years, yet today we have (and there’s no easy way to say this) an ego-based administration steeped in ungodly crime, deception, cruelty, pedophilia, rape, and other indecencies possibly including murder, with no regard for the rule of law? How do millions of church-going citizens support them with glee?
Today, we have an inordinate number of citizens who live in a dissociative world. You know the ilk: “stolen valor,”; anti-vaxxers who die of COVID; farmers whose vote closes their own farms; CEO’s who fail to give election fraud evidence and lose their personal wealth; and social-media warriors who blindly repost. These are the same people who are told they’re always right so much that it’s hard-coded in their DNA, but why are so many prone to fantasy? It’s simple:
Feeling good, even if it’s fake, is intoxicating.
In this dystopian cyberpunk landscape, where costs are high and pleasure is capitalized, we need to stack all the good times we can get. When the downtrodden get perky moments (albeit a lie), it’s a win for them.
Are they still eating cats and dogs?
The Faces of Hypocrisy
All presidents take a vow with his hand on the Bible to uphold the Constitution, but what if a President doesn’t believe in either? Former Trump advisor Michael Cohen said that during the 2016 campaign, after a group of evangelical leaders prayed over him, Trump turned to him and said:
“Can you believe that bullshit? Can you believe that people believe that bullshit?”
In 2021, at the January 6th Capitol Riot, criminals bore religious symbols and committed violent crimes causing death, injuries, and extreme lawlessness. It was a marking point for the dark underbelly of America. The U.S. House Select Committee on January 6th concluded that the president was the driving force behind the attack. In 2014, Pastor Mark Driscoll built the Mars Hill megachurch which metaphorically collapsed after allegations revealed bullying of staff members. In 2020, Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, Virginia, fell from grace when a photo surface of him with a woman both with unzipped pants, and more lascivious accusations would soon follow.
During the pandemic, pastors refused to close churches while dismissing science as a lack of faith in God. Countrywide, evangelicals encouraged followers to refuse mask mandates and vaccine recommendations while spreading misinformation and claiming masks were a lack of faith. This echoed the era of witch hunts, when clergy would denounce women, midwives, and herbalists as witches, accusing them of using harmful, devil-worshipping magic. The clergy of that era wanted a monopoly on healing at a time when the Plague reigned. In 2020, congregational gatherings became centers of COVID outbreaks resulting in roughly 319,000 avoidable COVID deaths among the unvaccinated.
Supporters of the Republican administration trip over themselves justifying the proper age of consent to defend pedophilia, as if these acts of cruelty and chaos were up for reconsideration. The president’s name calling, contempt for his critics, and the ease in which he drops sexual, misogynistic, racist, and hate messages don’t need interpretation. Church goers continue to adore him. All of it stems from the ego, of which the message is clearly:
“I’m special and above the law and decency.”
We know of other organizations that believed they were above the law, because they were enacting God’s law. They were called the Taliban, and Al Quaeda. Because when you believe God is on your side, even the most disgusting acts are justifiable.
We know your opinion makes you feel good, but the expression of the ego is an achingly obvious sign of the church’s failure. On the world stage where America can be considered the exemplification of democracy and lawfulness, countries no longer see a stellar example to which to aspire, but instead a dark network of narcissists and sycophants capitalizing on a systemic flaw. The charade leverages the legitimate practice of faith to gaslight the working class. The world is thinking:
“America is no longer a model to admire.”
How Did the Church Fail to Spread its Message?
Many church-goers attend with sincere faith, while many others treat it as a social club or a comforting experience, but apparently, it’s not a strict theological adherence, or a call to exorcise one’s demons.
The Church Cannot Mandate Decency
The president is not a role model but many view him as a necessary instrument to achieve political goals, such as appointing conservative Supreme Court judges. However, the president’s behavior sets the example that gives license to behave the same. That leadership trickles down to all group scenarios; the classroom, businesses, our homes, and the streets. Every word the church breathes is about putting your ego aside, yet America is arguably driven by ego more than ever. Churchgoers care about their bibles, well-crafted sermons, and cupcake sales, but we’ve seen the religious create shameful cognitive gymnastics to rationalize their ungodly views on minorities, immigrants, crime, misogyny, rape, and pedophilia.
Are ICE murders part of the growth process? How long will the church look the other way?
Our current government, led by amoral imposters with hollow motives, is made possible by recruiting racists and misogynists who depend on wrath and envy without humility.
The wealthy who attended Trump’s inaugural seek financial favors through flattering gifts, such as the $40 million Melania documentary. For contrast, that $40 million could have gone to improved health in an entire city, similar to NYC’s Women Forward Plan which is projected to save 3,100 lives of mothers, and 35,000 infants nationwide by 2040, as well as supporting Thousands of individuals a year with mental health.
The Pope said Trump acts like many “tyrants” who fall from grace through arrogance. Then, in May 2025, Trump posted an AI image of himself as the Pope on Truth Social when the Catholic Church was in mourning the death of Pope Francis. Trump followed with, “I’d like to be Pope.” The New York State Catholic Conference warned Trump, “Do not mock us,” and stating the image was not funny.
Oxford’s definition of faith is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something”. His followers have given their faith to a fake. If the church does not strike a chord deep enough within us so we are violently averse to ungodly, ego-driven manipulators, then what good is it?
Is the church a place to avoid guilt over having done wrong, rather than a place to learn to do what is right?
Today, our egos are simply too hungry for feel-good lies to be relinquished by hallowed words. The Republican Party’s stranglehold on the Bible Belt is a bond that requires something transformative and definitive. Perhaps the collapse of America’s democracy, economy, and life as we know it, will break the bond that defines these devout followers.
The church can’t mandate decency or sincerity, but we need them for democracy to work because gullibility is not illegal.
Experiential Learning Replacing Sermons
At no other time in history has the credibility of the church been questioned as it is today. All parents know you teach by showing the child the repercussions of their actions. Words and lessons become background noise. We don’t learn by sermons, we learn through our mistakes. Ask Germany.
Perhaps the current egotistical administration is ordained by God so we can witness firsthand the fallacy of the methods and beliefs of the ego. Perhaps the divine needs to give us this corruption to teach us that supporting charlatans is not a means to justify a conservative end. If the Holocaust didn’t teach us enough, then how will words at the pulpit temper the ego? Do we allow ourselves to vote for immoral man three times because we know we can ask for forgiveness afterwards? Is forgiveness a loophole in our faith? Is this administration divinely sent so we will learn through experience?
Who does the follower rely on, the church or their ego?
If the church is ineffective, where do we place the blame?
Steps to Take
Sure, dad took you fishing, but he also beat and humiliated you. That residual anger has shaped how you look at the world. The first step is recognizing how past abuse controls your outlook on life. The first step is admitting you have a problem.
You want others to pay the price you did. You straightened up, now it’s their turn. Ironically, the person who bullied you sees themselves as the victim. What we must all remember is don’t let your “victim mentality” turn you into a bully. Stop the cycle of abuse.
Find a life away from deep-seated resentment and anger.
Know your dopamine addiction. When you hear information that makes you feel good, do you stop investigating and blindly parrot the information? Recognize that your news feed is as biased as you. If you clicked on crap, know that your preaching-to-the-choir algorithm will send you crap. Garbage in, garbage out. In the meantime, your dopamine fix is getting maxed out, making you feel intoxicatingly strong.
Like your food diet, consume healthy content.
Watch news from proven reliable and truthful news sources. The truth hurts because it didn’t ask you for your permission first. If a science book explains gravity, it’s up to you if you get angry about it. When this happens and you reject mainstream media, then the mom-and-pop news media sees an opportunity to feed you what you want to hear with no adherence to the truth. The result: they capitalized on a need, and you downgraded your knowledge.
Ask people what news sources they follow.
Years of studies show more voters won’t change the results. In 2020, voter turnout rose significantly to 66.8%, yet the margin in the popular vote did not change dramatically.
Tell people to watch reliable, unbiased news, and not to vote for billionaires.
Look at your passive aggressive humor. Do you dehumanize things people can’t control, like their race, sexuality, gender, or appearance? This could be a sign of a bigger agenda or lead to normalizing hate in you. Take a moment before making bold comments or jokes; ask whether you are punching up or down. Don’t tell that joke if you might say, “I was just joking.” And most importantly, have the courage to ask yourself the tough questions to dig deeper into the how, what, when, where, and whys of your emotions.
Grow up and stop the cycle now.
With the help of Liz Cheney, here are 11 steps to counteract the fascist system:
Contact your representatives at all levels.
Protest peacefully and lawfully.
Learn your rights and resistance and spread the information.
Send info, views, opinions, and evidence to the BBC, The Guardian, Substack, Blue Sky, and any media that allows you to spread the truth.
Leak whistleblower information to anonymous drop boxes.
Create a safe place for whistleblowers.
Support state-level resistance. Urge the DNC to send funding, legal help, and digital help.
Contact the International Criminal Court (ICC) and give facts about injustices and crimes (https://www.icc-cpi.int/).
Go after the loyalists, aides, sycophants, and the enablers that form the foundation of the system.
Research and disavow each one of the architects of Project 2025.
Go underground if necessary and go global if possible. Team up and accept help from anyone waking up and seeing the truth.
This dynamic is not new, but we have an administration brazen enough to exploit your emotional wounds through overt nationalism, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and misanthropy. Through the church’s failure to reach the American people, we witness a godless rule without integrity and the rule of law. So, with the combination of dementia and narcissism, we witness diabolical aberrational antics such as insults, malapropism, the gaming of the system, and putting on hold the fair treatment of all citizens. If this does not signal the end of the church, then perhaps the inevitable horrific lessons we will soon learn will give us a renewed hope for a different and better future.
