Donald Trump is a sodomite. So are Elon Musk and Stephen Miller. Together, they engage in this abomination before the eyes of the Lord.
Are you also guilty of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Are you sure?
Our nation has become a country of Sodomites. Truly, I say unto you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for the United States.
Continuing to ignore this disgusting sin hastens the downfall of civilization and leads us toward heathenistic barbarism. We who claim to be Christians must root out this deadly sin and dedicate ourselves to abolishing it.
But before engaging in a crusade to eradicate this sin from our shores, it behooves us to closely examine how the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is manifested in our presence. However, to do so leads to an inconvenient truth for Bible thumpers: The reason fire and brimstone rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah isn’t what has been preached from pulpits for centuries.
Genesis 19 recounts the story of two angels traveling to Sodom. But when they arrived, they did not find hospitality, except at the home of Lot, Abraham’s nephew.
Later that evening, the town men went to Lot’s house, banging on his door and demanding that the two strangers be handed over so they could “know” them. “To know” is a biblical euphemism for having a sexual relationship.
Lot begged that this evil act of rape not be done because the strangers had taken shelter under the shadow of his roof. Although he did offer his two virgin daughters, telling the townsmen to do with them whatever they wanted. To save men, women are, apparently, always expendable.
When the townsmen attempted to forcefully take the two strangers, the angels struck them with blindness, warning Lot and his family to flee the city, for the wrath of God would soon rain down. Sadly, God did not punish Lot for offering his daughters to be raped. It seems that threats against men are the only acts that warrant divine punishment.
But God did obliterate these cities of iniquity for their wickedness. Because the men wanted to gang rape the two strangers, preachers over time have linked the sin of Sodom with the practice of same-gender loving relationships. To be a Sodomite, then, has come to mean being a homosexual.
However, to claim Genesis 19 as a condemnation of homosexuality is to be ignorant of what the scriptures say. Several places identify Sodom as a symbol of evil. But what is this evil it symbolizes?
According to the prophet Ezekiel:
Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters. She did not strengthen the hand of the poor or the needy. Also, they were haughty and did abomination before me (16:49).
For Ezekiel, Sodom’s sin is evident. It was an unwillingness, as a result of pride and haughtiness, to share their abundance with those who were poor and marginalized.
For the prophet Isaiah, the acts Israel committed during his time were the same ones that led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Referring to Israel as Sodom and Gomorrah, the prophet says:
Hear the word of Yahweh, O rulers of Sodom, listen to the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah! What use is it to me your many sacrifices? . . . Your palms are full of blood. Wash yourselves, purify yourselves, remove the evil of your doings before my eyes. Cease doing evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice, reprove the oppressor, judge the orphan, contend for the widow (1:10-17).
Again, in Isaiah, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is described as a lack of justice done in the name of the orphans and widows. They are the most vulnerable members within a patriarchal society because they are not under the care of a man.
Deprived of a male protector, they cease to hold any standing in a male-centered society. This is why the Bible makes their care the responsibility of all the people. “Orphans and widows” have come to symbolize the community’s most marginalized members.
The most vulnerable members within the U.S. today are the undocumented, racially and ethnically disenfranchised, and the nonheteronormative “other.” According to Isaiah, Sodom’s downfall was its refusal to bring justice to the least of these. Sodom was punished for the dominant culture’s failure to provide hospitality to those who resided on its margins.
In the biblical world, hospitality meant more than simply being neighborly. It went beyond entertaining friends and family.
Hospitality was a carefully orchestrated social practice of receiving strangers and making them guests. Because strangers (like orphans or widows) lacked legal standing when visiting a community, their protection sometimes depended on an established community member serving as their host. Sodom’s offense was its refusal to recognize these ancient social traditions, which brought dishonor not only to Lot’s guests, but also to his household.
The prophets reminded the people of these ancient traditions and warned them that hospitality was to be extended to the stranger among us. Dishonoring the orphan, the widow, the alien–in short, those who were disenfranchised–became the mark of a godless nation.
Trump, therefore, is a sodomite. He is legally reinstituting white supremacy with policies that dismantle the safeguards of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Musk, the wealthiest man on the planet, is a sodomite because he is taking the food out of the mouths of the poorest children on the earth.
Miller is a sodomite because he has orchestrated the mass deportation of the strangers who dwell among us.
The real question is whether you condone or condemn the sin of Sodom. Are you a sodomite too?
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado, and a contributing correspondent at Good Faith Media.
