Washington (AFP) – Americans celebrate Independence Day on Tuesday, and to mark the occasion President Donald Trump tweeted a partisan video clip of a church choir singing a song based on his campaign slogan.
“Make America great again / Lift the torch of freedom all across the land / Step into the future joining hand in hand / And make America great again,” sings the choir of the First Baptist Church, a megachurch in Dallas, Texas.
The 2:15 clip was taken from Saturday’s “Celebrate Freedom Rally” at the Kennedy Center in the US capital.
“Your music honors our heroes more eloquently than words could ever do,” Trump said at the rally.
The church is led by pro-Trump supporter Robert Jeffress, who was at the event.
Christian conservatives living in “deep red” states like Texas are among Trump’s staunchest supporters.
At least one self-described evangelical Christian took exception with the song.
“Pledging allegiance to God and to America in the same breath, melding together the kingdom of God and self, they pray a blasphemous prayer to a red, white and blue Jesus,” said Jonathan Aigner, a Methodist director of music ministries.
Writing in Patheos, a website discussing faith issues, Aigner dismissed Jeffress as a “presidential lapdog,” and decried “how tragically this prayer cancels out the prayer of Jesus himself.”
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