I AM WRITING THIS on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 26th, 2026, which means I’m writing while the Texas Republican Senate runoff election is underway. I am a Texan. Sen. John Cornyn, who has represented Texas for over 23 years, is facing Ken Paxton, the current Tx attorney general and the candidate who is endorsed by Trump. By the time I finish writing this, I will know which of them will face James Talarico in November,but I won’t publish tomorrow, Wednesday, May 27. Coincidentally, over the Memorial Day weekend, in my county of Rockwall Texas, a monument of the ten commandments was erected at the old County Courthouse. I did not attend the unveiling, but have read press and social media reports and seen many photos. There were plenty of small town politicians, leaders of churches, and local, patriotically clad citizens in attendance, including at least one Trump hat. It’s troubling enough to see a government building adorned with a monument to a particular religion, but what was most troubling to me is that, etched at the bottom of the monument is: “Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.” The plaza of the old County Courthouse was filled with people who appeared to be rejoicing. Where, though, are the righteous authorities in either my state or my nation?
Looking at emoji reactions to S.M. posts, it’s clear that many of my fellow LDS were rejoicing (along with other local religionists) over the monument. I get it. They appreciate an acknowledgment of their beliefs. The dedication probably made them feel that Christianity is winning, which would make them the winners. To me, that is an utterly foreign concept because I am a spiritually-inclined American who very much wants to maintain freedom of religion.
I have to be honest: I don’t understand why so many LDS are coupling with MAGA Christians. It’s like watching a grotesque, ritualistic orgy of dualistic hypocrisy on public display. [So long, MAGA readers. Glad you made it this far.] And in the background of this writing session, the run-off clock is ticking. Will Texas “conservatives” choose the most corrupt politician in Texas history? I’ll know soon enough. I won’t know–and don’t want to know–how many LDS “conservatives” vote for him. I already know they support Trump. Same thing. I’ve said for over 10 years that an amoral man will never be a moral leader. What I failed to realize is that immoral people volunteer to be led by an amoral man and that people don’t realize they aren’t the moral champions they perceive themselves to be. Corruption attracts corruption, and that says something about Trump voters. And now Paxton voters.
Some might say I shouldn’t be so harsh or, to use Mormonspeak, so “contentious.” Trust me, they won’t care what I think because what I think is rational and unflattering to them, which makes me evil in their view. So be it. If they were consistent, they’d admire me for being “tough.” There’s no assholery about “toughness” in “conservative” religious circles these days. But consistency isn’t really their thing. Their accusation of “contentiousness” is my version of transparency. Transparency isn’t their thing either, Epstein co-conspirators that they’ve become.
Here’s a Sunday School lesson: Religious freedom is not and has never been a tenet of Christianity. The Bible is a record of God destroying (or ordering the destruction of) people who didn’t believe in him and of driving them out for believing differently. The stories of Noah and of Sodom and Gomorrah show us this. And then there were the Canaanite nations–not only the Canaanites themselves but the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites whom God demanded Joshua drive out of the promised land. Each of these nations were wiped out or driven out because of idolatry (see Commandment #1 but ignore Commandment #6), child sacrifice (think Epstein while you’re at it), and other behaviors judged to be immoral according to the religion of biblical Israel. I repeat: religious freedom is not a biblical idea. The idea the Bible supports is “believe and follow the right God or face the consequences.”
“You don’t baptize properly; you don’t practice marriage the right way; you don’t eat and drink the right things; you don’t properly tithe; you don’t believe in the right nature of God,” and on and on and on. “You don’t vote for the right man.” If a biblical example is to be followed, at any point, any one faction of Christianity may be called “by God” to destroy the other faction/s and the justification and sanctification for such an atrocity would be found within the pages of the Bible.
The American ideals of personal liberty and individual rights were harvested by the founding fathers from the field known as the Enlightenment, not from the Bible.
Why do I feel so unsettled as closing time at the polls grows nearer?
So don’t talk to me about extremist Muslims and Sharia law if you’re marching this country toward extremist Christianity. Inserting a religious monument on a literal public square is part of that march. It is unAmerican, no matter how many flags you wave at the dedication.
Republican voters will choose Paxton. I know it. They still choose Trump. They no longer believe a moral compass matters.
I understand how your generic evangelical Christian can be suckered into supporting Trump but less so how LDS can be. Many/all evangelical protestants believe that all sins are equally bad and that all humans are sinners equally condemned without redemption. LDS don’t abide by this theology of sameness, and yet here they are, linking arms with MAGA Christians for political power. LDS don’t accept that an adult male who rapes a 15-year-old girl has committed a sin that is equal to that of a 15-year-old girl who fibs to her parents about being with her girlfriends when she was at an ice cream shop with a boy from her school. So why, Republican LDS, do you support Trump in front of your children? Who are you raising them to be? And why, evangelical “conservatives” have you justified voting for a man as obviously corrupt as Trump by saying he is “the lesser of two evils.” It is against your religious beliefs to measure evil in degrees. If sin is sin, evil is evil. You cannot be justified by your theology. The rest of us recognize “the lesser of two evils” excuses (which LDS used as well) as an admission of an inner, moral failing. You see, you didn’t just vote for the most vile candidate, you flew into his arms. And I fear Texans are doing the same thing all over again as I type.
Who am I to judge? I’m just a person who is so over the hypocrisy of proclaiming religious freedom is at peril while actively, or perhaps naively, embracing and supporting the zealots who will use you as they destroy it. Be forewarned, Latter-day Saints, once Christian nationalists control the government, they will come for you. You aren’t the right kind.
LDS, did you see yourselves represented at the US government-sponsored religious event they titled “Rededicate 250”? No. You did not. I understand speaker slots may be limited, but did you see any authority from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in attendance at this event to “rededicate” the United States to the Christian God? You did not. Columnist Jana Reiss thinks LDS authorities opted not to attend, something I hope is correct but wonder about. Perhaps they were not invited at all. Instead, this weekend (May 31, 2026), American LDS will have a Sunday School lesson dedicated to the study of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, using the lens of religious freedom. Unfortunately, I’ll miss it because of family commitment, but I hope every Sunday School classroom has at least one attendee who acknowledges and praises the enlightenment thinkers who inspired the founding fathers. (Read this for a brief primer on the Enlightment thinkers and follow embedded links as you prefer.)
The polls will close very soon. I’m going to make dinner for my family and play with our new puppies, so I’m stepping away…
…And I’m back. Texas Republicans did it. They nominated Ken Paxton, an unabashed snake, a man who betrayed his wife and was impeached by his own party for corruption, bribery, and abuse of public trust, to run against James Talarico. When I finally mustered the wherewithal to google the results, this is what I found:
It wasn’t even close. I’m so ashamed of who “conservatives” have become. The RINOs just voted for Paxton because they support Trump. If you know me in real life and you voted for Paxton, don’t tell me.
Oh, who am I kidding? Those people stopped reading soon after they began if they began at all. I’d say I lost them by paragraph 3, but the truth is, they lost themselves long before encountering this essay.
~~To donate to James Talarico’s grassroots effort to defeat Ken Paxton, please donate here. ~~
[Jesus] replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (Mark 7:6: 6)
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As time goes on, I believe in Zion less and less, in that it can be established in real life an idea, to the point where I am not sure Joseph Smith was not just moving the goal post when they failed in their project. This seems to confirm my observations. In any case, it does not affect my testimony as I have learned long ago not to rely on ward members, salvation is an individual manner, and I rely on the gospel and doctrine, if I relied on the conduct of other members, I would have left long ago. Christ offers me peace, but I can’t say that for fellow humans who are literally putting party over God, and leading to a satanic rule.
A 16th Century Greensleeve, thank you for leaving a comment. I did edit it by removing the link to the Youtube video. Let’s not share outside links, please.
I’m not sure if you mean a “satanic rule” of the church or the US, but I think you mean of our nation. I wouldn’t call it “satanic.” That’s a word with very unique connotations to my mind, but I know others interpret it in other ways. I agree that what is brewing in Washington D.C. is contrary to free expression and religious liberty. I consider that an evil, just as it seems you do.
My apologies for leaving the link. I was refering to the nation, and I was using the term satanic in a hyperbolic way. I was meaning to imply that the devil could gain more influence if he convinced mass groups of people to put politics above God, or make politicians their god (as seen with Paula White Cain types), which he is currently doing.
My state recently passed a law requiring the posting of the ten commandments in every public school classroom. The ten commandments are not generally posted even in most religious spaces. I attended BYU and I don’t remember the commandments anywhere on campus, let alone in every classroom. I teach at a Catholic university. We have a crucifix in most classrooms, but the ten commandments nowhere. I’ve never seen them in any LDS church (maybe in a seminary room in an Old Testament year, but I don’t remember it). For that matter, I don’t recall seeing the ten commandments in a church of any denomination.
If we can somehow manage to understand history and lead a moral life without having the ten commandments in our churches and religious schools, what can be the necessity of having it posted in public spaces, other than for shoving religious observance where it doesn’t belong?
Texas also requires the 10 commandments be posted in every classroom. Some teachers have added posters celebrating doctrinal ideas from other religions as an antidote.
A very long time ago, when I was finishing up coursework to add a secondary teaching certification to my undergrad degree, I was required to observe public school teachers for a certain amount of hours. I was situation in a classroom that “taught” the student mediation program. Although it wasn’t law to have a 10 commandments poster in the classroom, this teacher did. His wife was also the teacher of my kindergartener. But let me add that he didn’t just have printed poster of the 10 Commandments by the pencil sharpener, I arrived on day to discover the entirety of the walls and a good ammount of ceiling space covered with hand-drawn and colored renditions of either those 10 commandments or scriptures from the NT about salvation. It blew me away and I asked the teacher about it. He assumed me to be evangelical and very proudly explained how he felt his job as a public school teacher was to bring Jesus into the lives of every student. He said it out loud.
Fast forward a couple days and I’m in the classroom with just him, having arrived early and knowing he had a free period. I wanted to talk to him about something not related to the artwork. In rush two upperclass girls and they breathlessly tell him about how they had done as he’d asked and pushed for another girl to leave her church (their words) and start attending with them where she could be saved. It got really interesting as he high fived them and then said the targeted girl’s name. She was the daughter of my bishop and in “my” Laurel class. (I was the YW president at the time.) I was party to them discussing how evil Mormonism is, how sad it is that this young woman was being forcefully subjected by parents who’d succumbed to darkness to live in darkness, and how God had been with these two highschoolers as they attempted to intercede.
I said nothing. This was a rare opportunity to overhear what evangelicals truly thought of LDS. Since I had access to the young woman in question, I figured I’d just talk to her. And I did. No lecture. I just repeated what I’d heard them say about her parents. I felt she should know this was orchestrated. (I happened to know how much she disliked the way Mormons make people into projects.) That was that. On another day, those two girls came back in and told the teacher they’d made no progress with their Mormon target.
I didn’t confront the teacher because heaven knows, I know LDS do this kind of thing all the time. It was at another level because it was teacher-orchestration but I let it go. I have to wonder how many LDS who live in the Bible belt have had the opportunity to hear exactly what the evangelicals who surround us say about us in private. For me, it was a good life lesson.
I am reminded of a Kurt Vonnegat quote: “For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.
“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!”