Warnock: The Bible does not need Donald Trump's endorsement

This year. Easter also comes in the midst of a divisive presidential election, and that highlights a shift in Americans' views on faith and politics. My next guest is a United States Senator, but he is also a preacher and the author of a new book, A Way Out of No Way, A Memoir of Truth, Transformation and the New American Story. Here with me now is Senator and Reverend Raphael Warnock. Happy Easter. Thank you very much for joining me this morning, sir. This morning, of course, he will lead services at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached.

What is the meaning of this day to you? Personally, what will be your Easter message to your parishioners? Well, good morning, Dana, and happy Easter everyone. And before long, I will step into my pulpit and do what preachers will be doing all over the world. And that is putting the eternal message, the Easter message of hope, resurrection and restoration in a contemporary context. The good news of Easter is that evil and injustice will not have the last word in this world that same day. A Bad Friday became the most possible transformation of a Good Friday. The truth will cross over to Earth and rise again.

You describe yourself as a Matthew 25 Christian, referring to the Gospel of Matthew. When Jesus told his disciples, I was hungry and you gave me food. I was a stranger. And you met me with that message of caring about strangers and being welcoming to people from different backgrounds. It seems like a pretty central tenet of Christianity. Do you think that people in this country, not just here and around the world, have moved away from that view of religion? Well, in fact, as you point out, your treatment of your neighbors and your attention to the most marginalized is a central theme. beginning of the gospel.

Jesus mentions it in Matthew 25. But if you really read the Scriptures, you'll see that there are about 2,000 verses in the Scriptures that talk about how to treat the poor. Sadly, you wouldn't know that hearing some of the loudest Christian voices in America today often address the poor in the name of faith. I don't know what Bible they are reading. Jesus said in his first sermon, quoting the Hebrew prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. That is the core of my faith, and it is something I have tried to express not only in the pulpit, but also in everyday events as I represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate.

The senator, the former president, the Republican presidential candidate, once again, Donald Trump, celebrates this Holy Week by posting a video in which he encourages people to buy a $60 Trump-endorsed Bible. Listen to what he said. Every American

need

s a Bible in their home. And I have many. It's my favorite book. It is the favorite book of many people. I am proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again. The group selling that Bible says it paid to license Trump's name and likeness, meaning he is making money from the sales. What do you think about that?

The Bible

does

not

need

Donald Trump's

endorsement

. And Jesus, in the last week of his life, expelled the money changers from the temple. Those who would take sacred things and use them as cheap relics to sell in the market. The sad thing is that none of us are surprised by this. This is what we expect from the former president. If he

does

n't sell us steaks, he sells us a school whose title isn't worth the paper it's written on. If you're not selling us, the school is selling us sneakers, and now you're trying to sell the Scriptures, at the end of the day, I think you're trying to sell the American people a bill of goods.

And that worked in 2016. Although it didn't win the popular vote, not even in two 2016. It didn't work in 20, 20. And I don't think it's going to work in 20, 24. I don't know if you've seen it, but this Bible that is selling Donald Trump also includes the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Constitution. Experts say this is in line with a growing right-wing acceptance of Christian nationalism, which is the idea that the United States should be a Christian country. What do you think about that movement and Trump's apparent acceptance of it? Well, I'm a proud American. I love my country.

And one of the principles of my country that I love is the separation of Church and State. And so I try to use my faith and the values ​​derived from it to participate in a pluralistic democracy that embraces the great principles, I believe, that are elevated by many religious traditions: love, justice, equity, compassion for others, Donald Trump is doing what he's always done. And this time, it's a longshot because the people who buy those Bibles might open them up where he says things like, Thou shalt not lie. You will not bear false witness when he warns about wolves in sheep's clothing.

I think you should be careful. This is risky business for someone like Donald Trump. I don't know if he's heard his friend, the Reverend William Barber, talk about this, but he says that Christian nationalism attempts to sanctify oppression and not liberation. He calls it a form of heresy. What do you think? I mean, is this a concept that seems to be growing, something that is seen as dangerous? Well, again, I believe in the separation of Church and State. And unfortunately, in our country right now, we are seeing religion being used again. As another proxy, as a tool in the cultural wars.

And very often it is hidden in language, in the guise of religion. But Jesus said you will not judge the tree by the fruit it bears. I consider people's depth to be piety, not because of their pronouncements, not because of the fact that they use the Bible as a symbol. But how do they treat the poor? How do they treat the most marginalized? Those are the people Jesus sent. And that is the faith I embrace every day. And it is something that is urgently needed in our country at this time when those without vision are trafficking in division.

Republicans attack President Biden for recognizing today as Transgender Day of Visibility. I want to make it very clear that this day of transgender visibility is always March 30. The first is since 2009. This president has marked it every year since he has been in the White House. The date of Holy Week changes year after year. I don't need to tell you that the House Speaker called Biden's announcement abhorrent and said it betrayed the central tenet of Passover. What do you say to that? Well, apparently the speaker finds trans people abhorrent and I think he should think about that.

The fact is, as you said, March 31 has been a date to uplift transgender people who endure violence and intolerance. Easter, the date changes every day. But this is just one more example of people who have and don't know how to guide us, trying to divide us. And this is the opposite of the Christian faith. Jesus sent him to the margins. He sent it to the poor. And in a time like this, we need voices, particularly voices of faith that use our faith not as a weapon to defeat other people, but as a bridge to unite us all.

That's what Martin Luther King Jr. did. And I'm honored to preach from that pulpit every day. It's a faith that blesses me and my work as a United States Senator trying to limit the cost of insulin so people can afford it. Trying to make sure that first-time homeowners can buy a home and that our kids aren't so swamped with student debt that they have a mortgage before they have one. This is how my faith informs me every day. Senator, Reverend Raphael Warnock, thank you very much for being here again, especially on this holy day. I appreciate it.

Happy Easter.