There are many things that baffle me about the people that support the current occupant of the oval office, but I have to say the grand prize winner is the fact that the people I know who are most firmly in his camp are also the ones who profess to be the most ardent Christians.

I was raised Catholic and spent twelve years in parochial schools, so I’m pretty well-versed in Jesus’ teachings.

Jesus spent the last three years of his life preaching about the power of love, embracing those who society shunned, beseeching us to love our neighbors, care for the sick, to forgive always. His message was one of inclusion for all, kindness and compassion. He said we are our brother’s keeper, and we were all God’s children.

I find it mind-boggling that those who claim to be His followers have spent the last four years in worship of a man who is the antitheses of Jesus.

They worship a man who takes great joy in degrading and name-calling those who don’t agree with him. A man who has a decades-long history of scamming others out of their money and businesses, who has  cheated on all of his wives, who boasted that he sexually assaults women, (26 women have legitimately claimed that his boasts are true) who statisticians have calculated lies more than any other president in history (20,000 lies as of July). They worship a man who does not preach forgiveness, but encourages retaliation against those who disagree with his views. He openly encourages hatred and division. Isn’t that just so Christ-like?

How do they make sense of this in their head? How do they say they support him and still attend mass on Sundays without seeing the sheer hypocrisy?

Many I know live and die on the abortion hill. He’ll get rid of abortion! Every life is sacred! First off, if abortion was such a pivotal issue, I’m pretty sure Jesus would have mentioned it. You know how many times Jesus spoke about abortion? Not once. He never mentioned it. So don’t hide behind that drummed up talking point. And if your reasoning is every life is sacred, what about the ones that are already here? The ones whose skin pigmentation is darker than yours? Or poorer than you? Are their lives sacred too?  What about the ones fleeing violence and looking for refuge? I’m pretty sure Jesus mentioned something about that, and it wasn’t ‘f@#k them if they don’t have their paperwork! Let them go through the proper channels, and if they don’t, separate the families and lock them in cages!’ I’m sure there’s a Bible passage about that somewhere…

They use the same reasoning with homosexuality. We have to stop the gays and save the sanctity of marriage! Did Jesus mention that? Nope. Not once. Love. Love. Love. Love everyone. That’s what he said.

And if your response is he didn’t mention homosexuality or abortion because they weren’t issues back then…holy geez, I don’t even know where to begin to penetrate that innocent little mind of yours.

There are many people in my life who I love very much who continue to support this man. In many respects, I even understand why they do.

What continues to baffle me is their fervent claim that they do it because they are devout Christians.

Continue to support him. That’s your right, and I support that right.

But for the love of all that’s holy, stop saying you’re doing it because you’re Christian. You’re giving Jesus a bad name.