-Did Trump Really Say He Was an Atheist in 1989?

                                  (Image: Wikipedia)

There is a meme that has gone viral on social media claiming that Donald Trump identified himself as an atheist in a TV interview on the Phil Donahue Show in 1989. According to Snopes and several other ‘truth or fiction’ sites it never happened. Here’s the story from the Blaze:

A meme featuring an old photo of Donald Trump and an apparent quote from 1989 claiming that he’s an atheist has been circulating on social media — but there’s just one problem: Snopes determined that it’s a total fake.

“I have a really high I.Q., Phil, I mean, c’mon,” the quote reads. “It’s impossible for me to not be atheist.”

The quote is attributed to a 1989 episode of “The Phil Donahue Show,” but Snopes noted in a post on Wednesday that the photo of Trump came from an Oprah Winfrey interview, that Trump wasn’t on the Donohue show that year — and that there’s no evidence that the statement is legitimate.

“We found no evidence that Trump uttered this phrase, and no evidence that he even appeared on ‘The Phil Donahue Show’ in 1989,” Snopes explained.

Read the whole article>

Response: I am not currently a supporter of Donald Trump. When he began to come across as an evangelical Christian during the current election campaign I really wondered considering his past. Then when he said that he reads the Bible more than anyone else I had a real problem with his audacity. But I also have real problems with folks like Pope Francis who want to question whether he is a Christian or not.

The lesson here is that folks really do need to be careful what they accept on the social media and pass on as truth. In this case it was an outright lie.

During the last visit to America by Pope Francis there were all sorts of outrageous quotes that he supposedly made at a White House reception that were passed on by many but turned out to be totally false. I have also occasionally seen a false meme on Facebook where the Pope seems to indicate that ‘all religions are the same.’ 

I for one make an effort to research every outrageous quote that comes my way after years of being subjected to falsehoods and ‘Onion-type’ jokes and made-up stories on the Internet.               *Top