Alligator Alcatraz, the detention center created in the Florida Everglades by the current administration to house undocumented immigrants, is just the latest example of Donald Trump’s long history of cruelty and racism. MAGA diehards can even buy Alligator Alcatraz merchandise to flaunt their blind devotion to Trump. Yahoo!

Here’s the irony: Many of Trump’s most ardent supporters proclaim themselves to be devout Christians, even though it could be easily argued that Donald Trump is the least Christian president in history. During Trump’s inauguration, Evangelist Franklin Graham prayerfully gushed, “When Donald Trump’s enemies thought he was down and out, you and you alone saved his life and raised him up with strength and power by your almighty hand.”

When House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked where he stood on the issues, he said, “Well, go pick a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.” I daresay that Johnson’s real worldview revolves around doing Trump’s bidding, no matter how unhinged or unChristian. Full stop.

Sadly, 80% of white Christian evangelicals (perhaps better described as Christian Nationalists) have consistently supported Trump over the past decade. Hmmm … unless I’m missing something, Jesus Christ would not have been a big fan of Alligator Alcatraz. Indeed, pushback from atrocities like the concentration camp dubbed Alligator Alcatraz and the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill” that gives tax cuts to the rich while cutting services for the poor suggest that not all Christians share the enthusiasm for Trump and Trumpism demonstrated by Franklin Graham, Mike Johnson or white Christian Nationalists.

Benjamin Cremer, a Wesleyan pastor, theologian and writer based in Idaho, wrote, “When I see senators praying for the passage of a bill that will harm the poor, the sick, and the hungry, I think of Isaiah 1:15. ‘When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.'”

John Pavlovitz, former American youth pastor and author, minces no words: “If there’s a hell, it should be filled with people who claimed faith in Jesus while trying to strip the sick of care, the terrified of refuge and the vulnerable of protection and reveling as if this was a righteous victory.”

An anonymous writer took it even farther: “They draped the cross in an American flag and called it faith. Preached Jesus but bowed to power. Turned the gospel into a weapon and called it patriotism. This isn’t Christianity, it’s idolatry. If your church serves a political party more than the poor, it’s not a church. It’s a cult.”

Catholic Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice Florida says, “When we use terms like ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and advertise the fact that there are pythons and alligators out there guarding it, this kind of language creates a hype that I think no human being really deserves.

“At one point, before I was in the seminary, I worked and lived in the Soviet Union. I can’t help but say to myself: With what we are doing now in Florida, and they’re talking about building others, are we not doing the same thing? That bothers me. It bothers me a lot, because it was wrong then, and it is wrong now. I think we could rise above things of that nature, but we have allowed it to happen.”

Let’s take a time out to present the New International Version of Psalm 10:2-7.

2. In his arrogance, the wicked man hunts down the weak,
Who are caught in the schemes he devises.

3. He boasts about the cravings in his heart;
He blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

4. In his pride the wicked mane does not seek him
In all his thoughts there is no room for God.

5. His ways are always prosperous;
your laws are rejected by him.
he sneers at all his enemies.

6. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

7. His mouth is full of lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.

Hey, Trump supporters, whether you call yourselves Christians or not, do these verses remind you of anyone? Take your time.

Sean Rowe, presiding bishop and primate of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, has taken a leadership role in calling out the policies of Trump and his administration: “When we are awash in propaganda, even our resistance can be bound by its definitions and incline us to see the world in the same categories — foreigner and neighbor, cisgender and transgender, white and people of color, Christian and Muslim — that we seek to transcend.

These historical lessons are urgent. Churches like ours, protected by the First Amendment and practiced in galvanizing people of goodwill, may be some of the last institutions capable of resisting this administration’s overreach and recklessness. To do so faithfully, we must see beyond the limitations of our tradition and respond not in partisan terms but as Christians who seek to practice our faith fully in a free and fair democracy.”

Rowe took an even stronger stance when he recently wrote: “Once the Church of presidents, the Episcopal Church must now be an engine of resistance.”

Matthew Scott, the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal church in Brunswick since January, moved to Maine from western Pennsylvania. He’s long admired Sean Rowe, who once served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

As a parishioner at St. Paul’s, I suggested to Reverend Scott that Rowe’s call for the Episcopal Church to be, in effect, an engine of resistance might be a good topic for a sermon and/or an open forum. He responded, “I think it is a provocative call to explore. How, and maybe as importantly, what do we resist as followers of Jesus? Definitely worth time.”

I agree with Matthew Scott. Now is the time for people of any religion — or no religion — to think deeply about what it means to be an American and, as important, a citizen of the world. Can we? Will we? Time will tell.

David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. dttreadw575@aol.com.