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Donald Trump and the Republican Party are facing furious backlash from faith leaders and parishioners concerned about the devastating impact that their sought-after budget cuts are projected to have on many Americans.
Trump, who has attempted to portray himself as anointed by God, is pushing for a highly unpopular bill that includes steep cuts to nutrition assistance and health care programs, along with tax cuts that would largely benefit the rich. And many literally ordained faith leaders are denouncing his goals.
In a letter to U.S. senators last week, an interfaith coalition of religious leaders from across the country slammed how the bill could potentially strip health care and food benefits from millions of Americans, and for pursuing a mass deportation campaign that could ensnare some of their parishioners — a concern shared by MAGA-friendly leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, as well.
“In our view, this legislation will harm the poor and vulnerable in our nation, to the detriment of the common good,” the coalition wrote. “Its passage would be a moral failure for American society as a whole.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to senators on the same day, praising the bill for seeking to crack down on abortion but denouncing other parts of the legislation:
We are grateful for provisions that promote the dignity of human life and support parental choice in education. These are commendable provisions that have long been sought by the Church. However, we must also urge you to make drastic changes to the provisions that will harm the poor and vulnerable. This bill raises taxes on the working poor while simultaneously giving large tax cuts to the wealthiest. Because of this, millions of poor families will not be able to afford life-saving healthcare and will struggle to buy food for their children. Some rural hospitals will likely close. Cuts will also result in harming our environment.
The bishops also denounced the “enforcement-only approach” to immigration in the Senate version of the bill, calling it “unjust and fiscally unsustainable.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who is a Baptist pastor, helped illustrate the growing religious backlash against the legislation when he brought a contingent of faith leaders with him to pray in the Capitol rotunda on Sunday.
The rotunda has been a site for faith-based resistance to the GOP’s budget for weeks now. In April, the Rev. William Barber II was arrested there alongside fellow faith leaders Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Steven Swayne as they held a prayer in opposition to the legislation. (The arrests resulted in tickets.) Five other faith leaders were arrested there the following week for doing the same thing.
At times, I think it may be easy for some to give in to MAGA’s messianic propaganda that frames Trump — flawed as he is personally — as some sort of spokesperson for religious Americans. But there’s a deep and enduring tradition of faith leaders standing up for liberalism and basic dignity in this country. And Trump’s policies — perhaps, none more than his self-described “big, beautiful bill” — are bringing that tradition to the fore.