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.
{{/usCountry}}The 2:15 clip was taken from Saturday’s “Celebrate Freedom Rally” at the Kennedy Center in the US capital.
{{/usCountry}}“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.”