I was also raised in right-wing conservative Christianity. It’s kind of the ultimate insider’s game, isn’t it? Not only do you have a free pass in your pocket, but you’re set apart - special and privileged.

In the church I grew up in, like in so many others, we were taught to view “the world” as an evil and scary place. They were them, we were us, and of course us is ever so much better.

Tribalism.

To add a bit of nuance to your clear theology, conservative Christians often believe that saying the sinner’s prayer does more than just give them a free pass to heaven; it allows the spirit of God to inhabit them and change them.

So to many right wing Christians, a person indulging in “sin,” even if they call themself a Christian, may well not actually be saved. After all, the spirit of God would never tolerate homosexuality, so that homosexual can’t be saved. He just thinks he is.

Which is just another reason for the asshole-ishness, if I may speculate and coin an awkward word.

Well, I’m not really speculating. Growing up, I heard those exact arguments applied to everyone from LGBTQ people to women who wore pants and wouldn’t “submit to their husbands.”

You know.

The kind of Christianity I grew up in and that is so popular among Trump supporters is indeed practically designed to produce judgmental assholes.

It is of course nothing like what Jesus taught or what is first followers spread throughout the Greco-Roman world.