A select group of complicitous pastors gathered around the Resolute Desk in the now grossly gold-plated Oval Office to offer a prayer for this warmongering President, symbolically suggesting their support for his bombing of Iran and other wicked policies. The event became a viral video clip that was then shared self-servingly by the White House Communications advisor, Marge Martin. Imagine that, prayer became a photo-op for the President! AOL News, however, reported on it under the title: Donald Trump Prayer Session with US Pastors Leaves People Baffled. (It left me deeply disappointed.) Some viewers questioned the public nature of the moment, noting that prayer and cameras are not meant to be public companions. Indeed, I am reminded of the message from Matthew 5:5-8, NRSVUE:
5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[a]
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
I find great comfort in this biblical assurance that the hypocrites in this world, especially those claiming to be Christian, who need to be seen and heard when they pray, and who unashamedly joined hands publicly and anointed this president, will “receive their reward.”
I continue to struggle with understanding this dynamic in the MAGA far right, so egregious are his offences and objectionable his actions, among them his immigration policy, his grifting, the cover-up involving the Epstein files and most recently, his self-declared war in Iran. In her Substack account on March 7, 2026, Heather Cox Richardson cited the assessment of David Rothkopf:
In Need to Know, David Rothkopf today called out the madness of the fact world trade and global security is being shattered by a single man. “Not since Adolf Hitler blew his brains out in a bunker beneath the garden of the German Reich Chancellery on April 30, 1945, have the lives of so many people around the world been so buffeted by the psychosis of a single man.”
Why has Trump launched a war against Iran on a whim, attacked other countries, and upended world trade, Rothkopf asked. “Because he’s insane. Because he’s venal. Because he’s a malignant narcissist. Because he’s a sociopath. Because he has a fragile ego. Because those around him exacerbate and play to those traits to advance their own interests. Because CEOs and investors do likewise to fill their coffers. Because to some people, whether he is insane or malevolent or repugnant or not matters less than whether his actions will feather their nests, increase their power.
“Because they, the billionaires…play their games and the consequences for the little people down below, the consequences for us, hardly matter a whit.”
How all this can be at the core of an administration and its allies, mostly white Christian nationalists, baffles me. Yet, I am beginning to see signs of hope within the church and out on the political landscape. Last week, all eyes were focused on Texas and the primary win by James Talarico. His campaign and faith forward approach to politics has resonated with the people, not only in Texas but across the country. David French, the columnist for the New York Times, opined that Talarico is “a Christian X-Ray.” (March 8, 2026) He writes:
These days, I’m asked more about James Talarico than I’m asked about any politician not named Donald Trump.
Talarico is a 36-year-old Texas state representative and the Democratic Party’s latest and greatest hope for winning its first statewide election there in more than 30 years.
He’s also one of the most faith-forward politicians in the United States.
Talarico doesn’t just root his policies and ideology in his Christian beliefs; he’s a seminarian willing to dive deep into theology. When he’s arguing with the religious right about, say, Christian nationalism, he makes a specifically Christian argument to counter a poisonous Christian movement.
“Jesus liberates,” Talarico said in a sermon in 2023. “Christian nationalism controls. Jesus saves. Christian nationalism kills. Jesus started a universal movement based on mutual love. Christian nationalism is a sectarian movement based on mutual hate.”
Today, the church and those who want to represent it in the world need to be Christian X-Rays, able to see and confront the corrupt internal structure of parts of our misguided and miserable society. Lisa Lere is a national political reporter for the New York Times. Elizabeth Dias is The Times’s national religion correspondent, covering faith, politics and values. Together, they too interviewed Talarico, an interview in which Mr. Talarico delivered a matter-of-fact critique of how faith has come to be expressed in the American church. He warned that when “Christianity gets too cozy with empire, or with dictators or with authoritarians,” it weakens the “prophetic voice of the church.”( “In Senate Race, Talarico Challenges ‘Heretical’ Right-Wing Christianity.”) How true and how weak we have become! He also said:
“What’s happening increasingly in the American church is that people are starting with their politics and their faith is growing out of that — it’s a fundamental reversal,” he said. “People are baptizing their partisanship and calling it Christianity.”
Essentially, that is what took place in the Oval Office, much to the gilded delight of Donald J. Trump. Those who were gathered around him with the lens of the camera pointed toward them anointed him and his poisonous partisanship, calling it Christianity.
The challenge for these days is to reverse the reversal, that is; to start with our faith and let it inform our politics and guide our actions. Again, David French has offered some very helpful thoughts on what our focus must be. He writes:
I’m reminded of three related concepts — orthodoxy, orthopraxy and orthocardia. The first two words might be familiar to some of you; certainly the first one will be. Orthodoxy is the term for the traditional beliefs in any given religious tradition. Orthopraxy refers to righteous conduct.
The final word, however, is arguably the most important, even if it is easily the most obscure. I first heard of orthocardia in a Sunday school lesson taught by Josh Strahan, a professor of biblical interpretation and the New Testament at Lipscomb University, where I teach.
Orthocardia means what it sounds like — “having a right heart.” In essence, it means that our beliefs and behaviors flow from our heart — and that a right posture toward God and man both makes us eager to learn God’s truth (driving us toward orthodoxy) and eager to love our neighbor (pointing us to orthopraxy).
Life and faith and we can hope, politics is about orthocardia. Jesus knew and preached it. According to the evangelist Luke, who was also a physician, Jesus taught his recently chosen disciples about the importance of orthocardia, when sharing this insight:
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. (Luke 6: 43-45, NRSVUE)
The Apostle Paul did the same when explaining about living by the spirit, referring to its fruit:
5 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ[e] have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. (Galatians 5: 22-25, NRSVUE)
Would that we all might be of a right heart, who embrace the fruits of the spirit and live from the good treasure therein so that our words and work might be acceptable to God and show kindness and compassion toward our neighbors. Orthocardia is what will transform our poisonous partisanship and promote a more Christ-like Christianity.