Boston religious leaders and community members reflect on the role of religion in President Donald Trump’s policies, following a bishop’s call for mercy amid several executive orders passed by Trump during his first day in office.

Preaching to the president

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde delivered a sermon Jan. 21 during a prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral directed at Trump.

Budde urged Trump to “have mercy upon the people of our country who are scared now,” referring to immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.

Trump said the prayer service was “very boring and uninspiring” in a TRUTH Social post Jan. 22, writing that Budde is “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater” who “brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way.”

Darrell Goodwin, executive conference minister for the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ, said Trump’s response is appropriate “for someone who is anti-all things that Jesus stood for.”

“This faith is supposed to be comfort to those who are already uncomfortable, and it’s supposed to make those who are already comfortable uncomfortable,” Goodwin said. “I can’t think of a better response to [Budde] appreciating the real gospel.”

Some Boston community leaders understood Budde’s sermon as a critique of Trump, while others deemed it counterproductive or unintentionally political.

For special occasions, such as a presidential inauguration, Episcopalian sermons traditionally end with a “charge,” said Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College and an Episcopalian priest.

“Some people talked about it as being overtly political or putting the focus on herself or on President Trump,” Joslyn-Siemiatkoski said. “I actually saw it as kind of authentic to a preaching style that maybe not everyone is familiar with.”

Thomas Groome, professor of theology and religious education at Boston College, applauded Budde.

“If she was going to represent Christian faith, if she was going to represent her Episcopalian tradition, she had to speak out in favor of mercy and care for the downtrodden,” Groome said.

Boston University Freshman Colin Sharpe, a member of BU College Republicans, said Budde’s sermon was problematic for using Christian principles to “attack” Trump.

Sharpe also said Budde’s liberal stances on issues, like abortion, do not reflect traditional Christian principles, making her sermon problematic.

“It’s kind of hard to lecture someone based off of Christian principles when you don’t uphold to the most important tenets of what was traditionally considered to be Christianity,” Sharpe said.

Bishops Julia Whitworth and Douglas Fisher of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts issued a joint statement to members of their congregation supporting Budde’s sermon.

“Preaching the moral truth of Jesus Christ is every bishop’s duty no matter the risk involved,” they wrote. “We are grateful for Bishop Budde’s courage, humility and faithfulness.”

Christian rhetoric for a Christian base

Trump often invokes Christian rhetoric, as in his election victory speech where he said God spared his life for a reason after his July 13 assassination attempt, and “that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.”

Trump also endorsed “God Bless the U.S.A Bible,” which features his own name on the cover.

A 2023 study by the University of New Hampshire found Christian nationalism key to Trump’s success.

Goodwin said Chrisitian nationalism — a theology he said is “anti-queer, anti-Black, anti-women, anti-human beings” — consumed perceptions of Christianity.

“It is a perversion of Christianity,” Goodwin said. “I might even call it ‘churchianity,’ not Christianity, a sense that one’s particular church gets to rewrite its understanding of the gospel.”

Sharpe said he does not think basing politics and law on Christian values violates the separation of church and state.

“Chrisitian principles are basically good, and if the public supports it, and if the government wants to create those laws, I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be created,” Sharpe said.

Groome said certain values of Christian faith, like compassion, are the founding principles the U.S. is based on.

“There’s a separation of church and state which is wise, but not a separation of faith from life,” Groome said.

Groome said Trump’s statements about immigrants and painting them as “horrendous, dangerous people” is “enormously irresponsible” to Christian, Jewish or Islamic perspectives.

Joslyn-Siemiatkoski said the fact Trump’s personal ethics seems to violate social norms is part of his appeal. He referred to “Cyrus Theory,” which is based on the pagan emperor Cyrus who restored the people of Israel their land.

“There is a swath of Christians whose desire to see their theological views and scribes in public policy are willing to overlook the personal failings of President Trump,” Joslyn-Siemiatkoski said. “Sometimes you need a Cyrus figure, someone who appears not to be righteous, to come along to advance your theological slash political agenda.”

Jewish community conflicted

The Israel-Hamas war has split Boston’s Jewish community over Trump, even as a ceasefire deal was announced.

“Jews around the world are connected to Israel,” Rabbi Schmuel Posner of the BU Chabad House said. “We’re going to vote for somebody whose pro-Israel.”

Posner said Jews’ political affiliation is further influenced by the Israel-Hamas war, as he’s seen support or opposition of Israel translate into support or opposition of the Jewish community.

“Pro-Israel and pro-Jew, or anti-Israel and antisemetic sort of became married together” Posner said. “There’s really no reason for that to be, but it’s a very personal thing for any Jew living in the United States.”

Michael Weingarten, treasurer of The Boston Synagogue, said Trump’s supporters “want to make America a Christian nation.”

He said this is concerning for Jews as a minority religious group, as Jews “have felt threatened by the left” since the Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023.

“[Trump] wants to empower Christianity more over other religions, which, to us, is against the First Amendment of the Constitution,” Weingarten said.

Weingarten also said he has noticed a “new wave of antisemitism” coming from the political left.

“The bigger threat to the Jewish community is coming from the left and not from the right, but when you have Elon Musk mimicking a Nazi salute, that’s a real threat too,” Weingarten said, referring to a Jan. 20 rally.

Eruption of executive orders

A day after Budde’s sermon, Trump signed 25 executive orders, including widespread reforms to immigration and gender identity.

One expanded the Department of Homeland Security’s power to deport undocumented immigrants and cut from “sanctuary” jurisdictions which protect these people.

Goodwin said Trump’s executive orders are concerning, because churches are “sanctuary spaces” — not just for immigrants but for anyone who enters them.

“When you mix policy and faith, and then remove the ability to have that sacred space, then what you will do is have churches that are raided on Sunday,” Goodwin said.

Another executive order focused on gender identity, calling for the federal government to define sex as only male or female.

Carey McDonald is the executive vice president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, which they said has decades of commitment to supporting non-discrimination. McDonald said Trump’s executive orders are “heartbreaking.”

“To see someone use their platform of power to violate so many of the values that we hold dear and that our members all over the country hold dear is dispiriting, and it’s designed to be dispiriting,” McDonald said.

Faith for the next four years 

Religious organizations have a unique role because they are protected by the First Amendment, McDonald said.

“We have a role as religious communities of looking at the long arc of history and calling out injustice where we see it and helping people do the same,” McDonald said.

Tufts University sophomore and President of Tufts Democrats, Zach Zinman, said it is important to “have an open mind as to people’s religious views.”

“When we’re more understanding of each other and are willing to have conversations with each other, our democracy is stronger,” Zinman said.

Joslyn-Siemiatkoski said older generations remember the time before Trump “when things like separation of church and state and the norms of a liberal democracy were agreed upon.”

“What most concerns me is that the undermining of those sorts of norms … get forgotten,” Joslyn-Siemiatkoski said. “My hope is that generations prior remind this current young generation that everything that’s happening is actually not normal.”

Goodwin said religious communities must stick together and not forget they have power. Referring to Budde’s sermon, he said he hopes others speak out against the Trump administration’s actions.

“May we all be ignited with the spirit that is within [Budde],” Goodwin said. “If millions of people are doing the same, then this administration and these policies and this will, won’t be as strong as it has perceived itself to be.”