LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The religion of Trumpism counters secularization

The cultic character of MAGA Trumpism constitutes not mere power politics, but rabid religion. And the electoral triumph of Trumpism therefore corrects simplistic understandings of the supposed secularization of Western societies.

For example, by venerating Trump, a steady 80 percent of American evangelicals enact their political identity in pursuit of power rather than truly Christian identity in pursuit of Christlikeness. But that political identity is itself, at its core, essentially religious.

Religion can be defined substantively as any worldview predicated on foundational belief in superhuman powers. The problem with this definition is that it excludes some prominent world religions such as Buddhism which have no such conception.

Alternatively, religion can be defined functionally not by what it is, but by what it does, not by its content, but by its consequences. Religion then includes anything that addresses existential angst, clarifies ultimate concern, and organizes everyday life.

More generally, religion involves the essential element of some notion of the sacred (whether superhuman or not), the social attribute of being a group phenomenon, the emotional attribute of generating affective experience, the cognitive attribute of holding a body of beliefs, the behavioural attribute of practicing a set of rituals, and the ethical attribute of enforcing moral codes.

Therefore, anything from humanism to capitalism to scientism can function as the altar of worship, politics readily included. By providing meaning and purpose, social cohesion and belonging, morality and social control, Trumpism is truly a functional religion of zealous fervour.

But perhaps the most definitive characteristic of religion is transcendence. Religion calls individuals to get beyond themselves to connect vertically with the divine, and/or horizontally with other persons, and to devote themselves accordingly. The white Christian nationalism of Trumpism is just such a calling for a “chosen people” with a “manifest destiny” to demonstrate “American exceptionalism.”

This transcendent purpose is obviously not a recent creation of Trumpism. American civil religion, like that of some other nations, has long sacralized the nation and centred it in an ultimate meaning system: messianic in character, a light to the world, the last best hope of humanity.

To highlight just one aspect of the religion of Trumpism, its morality is based not on care, fairness, or even factual truth, but rather on loyalty, authority, and purity. However, these values are actually amoral at best, and immoral at worst, depending on their context and definition.

After all, Nazi Germany was all about loyalty to the Third Reich, the authority of Hitler, and the purity of the Aryan race. Likewise, Trumpism is all about loyalty, if not fealty, to neo-fascist authority, and the purity of Americans whose blood is allegedly being poisoned by immigrants. More than high priest or holy prophet, Trump is the charismatic messianic saviour above the rule of law, despite his blatant immorality and narcissism.

As international journalist Milan Sime Martinic explicates in his luminous essay on “The Trump Religion: Understanding the Allure,” humans are “meaning-seeking creatures lost in an indifferent world. The banality of modern life leaves us yearning for purpose and transcendence. Our insignificance terrifies us; we crave grand narratives that place us at the centre of destiny. Religions grasp this need masterfully, binding communities under the banner of pious crusades.”

So, is society really secularizing?

At the national level, Western societies are now indisputably post-Christendom in that Christian values and language no longer overtly ground public thought and action, or guide social institutions and culture. At the organizational level, traditional houses of worship are shrinking precipitously in both number and size.

But two trends cast doubt on secularization. One is the massive cultural turn away from the external, collective, creedal order of traditional institutionalized religion, toward the internal, individual, experiential dynamic of spirituality—the surge of the “spiritual but not religious.”

The other is the equal spike in alternative public spheres now functioning as religion, spheres that did not do so previously in the dominant presence of traditional substantive religion. The conversion of militant masculine Christian conservativism to Trumpism is just one example.

Clearly, spiritual longing for connection with the transcendent persists, and long-term cultural trends in religion are at the very least more complex than simple, uniform, linear decline. Trumpism is just one salient and sobering example.