Whose commandments is the Republican Party following?

Doug Thompson says (July 8) that Republicans agree “on guns and abortion [but] that is a short checklist.” Indeed, and it makes me wonder again why the base is so largely made up of evangelical Christians, 81 percent of whom voted for Trump.

Guns aren’t in the Bible — they weren’t invented yet. Abortion is not mentioned in the Old or New Testament. Nor was abortion ever a big issue for Protestants until the 1980s. Thanks to political operators, anti-abortion now looks to some folks like the main tenet of Christianity.

The words “poor” and “poverty” appear 446 times in 384 separate verses in the Bible. “Justice” appears 1,576 times in 1,379 separate verses. I guess only liberals quote those verses.

Some people are upset about a broken monument but not about the breaking of actual commandments by the leader of our country. For instance (paraphrasing) No. 9 says “Don’t lie.” But see http://www.politifact.com/ personalities/ donald-trump/.

No. 8 says “Don’t steal.” Trump has been sued hundreds of times by small businesses for stiffing them — stealing their labor.

No. 10 says “Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife.” What about a man who gropes women without their consent? Or is this behavior covered by No. 7, “Do not commit adultery?”

An article says Christian right leaders are now elevating political pragmatism over moral principle. Pragmatism is a nice word for it. Another one is hypocrisy. Or power-mongering. Or perhaps Machiavellian.

So what have Evangelicals gained from their pragmatism? First, hopes of overturning Roe v Wade. Of course, that wouldn’t end all abortion — only legal, safe abortion. Let women die for their sins! But don’t make taxpayers pay for their delivery or feed their babies.

Tax breaks for billionaires are in the works. Let’s see, what does the Bible say? “You can’t serve both God and mammon.” Oh well.

We’ve withdrawn from the climate change treaty to save American jobs. Yet solar already employs more people for electricity generation (43 percent) than coal, gas, and oil combined (22 percent). “You shall not pollute the land in which you live.” Numbers 36:33

The government will keep harassing and deporting immigrants. “You shall not deprive a resident alien … of justice.”

Congress will keep trying to repeal Obamacare. We can’t have universal health care like the rest of the world does. Why? Because we might turn into a social democracy like Sweden, which is No. 1 on the Forbes list of best countries for business, has maintained peace and neutrality for a century, and offers 16 months of parental leave. Oh, the horror!

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Is that part of the Republican platform? CORALIE KOONCE Fayetteville