Go back where you came from!

Jonathan Merritt

Religious News Service

Donald Trump's incendiary tweets have ignited a religious firestorm. On Twitter he told the Prince of Darkness to "Go back where you came from!" In a follow-up tweet, he added insult to injury by saying, "Go to hell!"

Pushback was fast and furious. In protest, Washington National Cathedral flew in Mick Jagger to perform  "Sympathy For The Devil" at Evensong. Pope Francis ordered a black Mass at St. Peter's basilica. 

Michael Bird denounced the tweets as "racist!" Russell Moore said "This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Pres. Trump is a xenophobe!"

N. T. Wright, in a learned open letter, corrected Trump's faulty demonology. "Anyone conversant with Second Temple literature can tell you that hell is not where Satan came from. Heaven is his place of orgin."

In a joint statement, Jemar Tisby and Thabiti Anyabwile said Trump's latest remarks underscore the pressing need of white evangelicals to have a conversation about reparations for the dark side, which lost their homeland after they were kicked out of heaven. No wonder they go around possessing people! 

In a rare dissent, Mark Levin expressed concern that Trump's critics were taking the devil's advocate routine a little too seriously.