Idolatry in Politics

Before I begin, I want to address a mistake I believe I made in my post titled “Making Sense of January 6th” about the Capitol insurrection. In it, I said that there was a spiritual reason for the assault on the Capitol (which I stand by), but I believe I put too much emphasis on abortion and not enough emphasis on idolatry.

Idolatry is a word one doesn’t hear very much outside of a religious institution.  Some of you may be wondering what idolatry has to do with modern, everyday politics. Maybe some of you are wondering why I’m writing about it in politics or what relevance it has today.

Well, a nation that is supposedly, “under God,” has the Ten Commandments on the highest judicial building in the land, and mentions faith in God in its founding document (e.g. “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence…”, final sentence of the Declaration of Independence), must also adhere to His law for His grace to be “shed on thee” (America the Beautiful).

For the purposes of this blog post, I will only focus on the two US Presidents where I’ve seen the most idolatry: Barack Obama and Donald Trump.  When Obama was running for office and eventually elected back in 2008, many believed he would end racism simply because he had black skin.  Some even believed he was “the next Messiah.”  School kids sang songs about sunshine and rainbows under his presidency while others wanted him to be king.

On the other side, when Trump was running for office, many Republicans made him into the person they wanted him to be: an anointed “leader,” who Franklin Graham believes was chosen by God, wise super-patriot — not the despicable, vile, serial liar, adulterer, misogynistic pig he truly is.

The worship of Donald Trump and his policies is eerily similar to a scene from “Animal Farm” (1999), which strikes a prescient chord when viewed in the context of Trump’s appetite for power and control. Even post-presidency, people made a literal golden statue of Trump, a modern-day golden calf (Exodus 32).

Even those not in the mainstream media can see that many Republicans are deifying Donald Trump. Here’s Brian Tyler Cohen calling out a Newsmax anchor for cutting off a military veteran who shed a negative light on Trump.

So how is idolatry connected to the January 6th insurrection? Because an idol is someone or something that replaces the only infallible God YHWH as first in one’s heart, not just some statue someone bows down to worship or gives offerings to. The idolater will view their god as infallible and will also believe and act on anything that god says is true, even if it’s a blatant lie and crime. The insurrectionists placed Trump’s claims above God’s law (Romans 13:1-7) and stormed the Capitol like soldiers given an order (“Trump sent us”).

If presidents are viewed in any higher regard than public servants, they are being viewed in the light of idolatry. And a severe consequence of this idolatry, along with consistent and widespread lies of what Trump claims is a stolen and fraudulent election, resulted in a very dark January day that shocked the world.