Posted on 02/22/2017 2:10:13 AM PST by BlessedBeGod
Donald and Melania Trump are Christians who seem to occupy a grey area between churches.
At Donald Trump’s recent rally in Florida, Mrs Trump was at his side and at one point led the audience in the recitation of the Our Father. This strikes me as unusual, given the American obsession with the so called separation between Church and State. I am guessing that most people at the rally, including the Donald, were delighted, and most of anti-Trump America would have had their prejudices confirmed. Prayer has long been a bone of contention in America. Prayers are banned in American public schools, for example.
Melania Trump is Slovenian, and according to her Wikipedia entry, a Roman Catholic. She is noted for all sorts of reasons, being, for example, on the second First Lady not to have been born in America, and the first to be a naturalised American, and the first not to speak English as her first language. But if it is true that she is a Catholic, that makes her only the second First Lady to be so.
Of course, Melania and Donald’s union is not a regular one from a Catholic point of view, as he has been married twice before, and both previous Mrs Trumps are happily still with us. But there are many people who are in irregular unions who nevertheless strongly identify as Catholics and go to Mass, though not to Holy Communion, and who have had the children of their union baptised. In America great play is often made of politicians’ religious allegiances. Yet with Melania, few details are in the public domain, as far as I can see.
One thing that is common in American public life is the way people can move with some ease between denominations. Mike Pence has been described as a Catholic, but is now an Evangelical. Or so at least it seems, as he is loath to cast off the label Catholic. But the truth seems to be – it is truly hard to be sure one way or the other – that he now attends some sort of Evangelical megachurch and has, therefore left the Catholic Church. But one thing is certain: Mr Pence wants to appeal to both Catholics and Evangelicals, hence the way he has described himself as an “Evangelical Catholic”.
Sarah Palin made the same journey. She was baptised as a Catholic, but in early childhood her family embraced Pentecostalism. Though Mrs Palin has made no attempt to deny her Catholic origins, at no time has she claimed to be a Catholic still. Because she effectively left the Church as a little child, she has not incurred any canonical penalty.
Marco Rubio, another faded luminary of the Republican Party, also has a checkered religious history. He is usually taken to be a Catholic, and it is clear that he has been baptised and confirmed as a Catholic and married in the Catholic Church. However, it is also clear that he was for a time a Mormon, and has at various times worshipped in a Baptist Church. This amount of religious zig-zagging may be the sign of a tender and questioning conscience; there again, it may simply be an inability to stick at one thing, and yet another reason why voters looked at Mr Rubio and decided, after all, that they preferred Trump.
Another Republican with what is called a “complex faith journey” is John Kasich, yet another candidate who failed to dent Trump’s rise to power. Yet Kasich’s journey is not that hard to understand. He is a Catholic who has become an Anglican, as indeed have his parents. However, Kasich’s Wikipedia page contains this gem: “Kasich was raised a Catholic, but considers denominations irrelevant, while stating that ‘There’s always going to be a part of me that considers myself a Catholic.’”
Mr Kasich needs to be reminded that one can never be the member of two churches at the same time, and that Church membership is very important indeed. But he is by no means alone among Americans in trying to give the impression that one can have one’s cake and eat it. And just as there are some who try to belong to more than one Church, there are also those who identify as Christian without actually belonging to any Church at all. My best guess is that Melania, born a Catholic, and baptised as such, is now occupying some sort of grey area between churches. Her husband too seems to be in a similar situation: a generic self-identified Christian without much actual denominational allegiance.
Nevertheless, she led that rally in prayer. She may have been trying to tell us something in so doing. Is it that the Donald, unlike some Republicans, is a proper Christian, a man of fixed and coherent beliefs? Let’s remember that both Catholics and Evangelicals played an important role in getting Trump elected. Perhaps that Our Father was an acknowledgement of that.
How Christian were the Obamas?
Probably God only knows, and I didn’t read this as a hit job as might have been expected based on the headline and the common ways we see with journalism.
Interesting, but “how Christian” are any of us? An evaluation based entirely on church dogma, i.e., to what church one belongs, and not biblical teaching.
Particularly interesting to note that Kasich left the Catholic church for the Anglican (Episcopal) church; one of the most liberal “Christian” denominations on earth.
This article is the problem with denominations - they create “teams” that compete with other “teams” when, in actuality, the Body of Christ is one and, IMO, Believers are stronger for experiencing the catholic faith in its different forms.
Well, according to Obama, during the 2008 campaign he was never criticized for his “Muslim faith” and, according to his “pastor” Jeremiah Wright, when asked if Obama was a convert to Christianity, Wright replied, “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” I could go on, but you probably know the rest of the story.
Trump’s Bavarian Paternal Grandparents were solid Catholics with his Grandmother Elisabeth exerting a lot of influence on Trump’s Father. Trump’s Scots Mother raised Trump in her faith.
Melanie comes from a stauch Catholic Alpine culture very similar to Trump’s Bavarian Grandparents.
...” it may simply be an inability to stick to one thing”? Really? How about they are all searching & looking for the Truth?
How Christian are the consumers of the Catholic Herald?
Donald Trump’s father was known to be an honest, generous Christian man.
Here’s on unexpected perspective:
http://www.chareidi.org/archives5777/voera/afredtrumpvrh77.htm
How Christian is this dope. The “our Father”?
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
The prayer itself is interdenominational and even accepted by Jewish people if I’m not mistaken. This obsession with denomination is really unwarranted and even divisive in the eyes of the vast majority who voted for Trump. He’s supportive of western culture and the Judeo-Christian underpinnings of it, as is his wife Melania. That is a vast improvement over the outgoing administration.
The Catholic Herald is a solid, orthodox Catholic magazine, so, its readers would be orthodox Catholics (faithful to the Church, and horrified by Francis).
The obamas went to church so very few times - once was to hear a muzzle speaker.
Lets see how many times President Trump cancel the National Day of Prayer like that POS did.
Lets see how many times President Trump celebrates ramadan and welcomes filthy muzzles in the White House to dine, pray and smell the place up.
You’re right. The prayer is a classic Jewish summary of what observant Jews pray every day. It wasn’t composed by Christians, but by Yeshua ha Netzri, the Tzaddik Rabbi who was lost to the sands of time but is now being rediscovered; the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
I see Melania's prayer as a very good thing! Perhaps the issue of a so called separation between Church and State is really not an issue given the proper interpretation of separation of church and state.
Growing up we had no issue with bible reading and prayer in school. I would love to see the invented concern with church and state be clarified in terms of original intent. There is no religious denomination designated as official by the government, but we are free to practice our religion or to practice no religion.
It has been very sad to see the Democrats systematically remove God from our lives and from our constitution as they work toward their goal of a godless totalitarian government.
In God we Trust.
I must have missed where Melania was an employee of the government or held any official government office.
Which denomination of church she does or does not belong to I am not so concerned about.
Melania did very well, and I was blessed, indeed!
I believe it was sincerely from her heart.
Franklin Graham gave high praise for Melania !
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.