Why Evangelicals Support Donald Trump

I am a member of a church populated with many politically conservative Christians who strongly support Donald Trump. Their support remains strong even though he lost the last election, is no longer president, and continues to claim that the election was fraudulent without evidence. As a left leaning sort I am pleased that we have a new president but still have trouble understanding those who express unwavering support for Donald Trump. I am not alone as the link below shows:

Start with this video: https://youtu.be/6ZQmSN1JEJ4

The video is lengthy and I do not agree with all that was said. My point of view is that there are two main reasons that evangelicals support Trump. Like nearly all Republicans, Trump claims to oppose abortion. He has given evangelical Christians a reason to cheer by putting conservative judges on the Supreme Court who may overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. Evangelicals are so strongly against abortion that they have become single issue voters willing to overlook thousands of lies and misdeeds as long as the anti-abortion stance remains in place. All other issues such as tax cuts for the rich, wealth inequality, racism, and a host of other issues are secondary.

The other reason that evangelicals support trump is fear. In spite of Jesus’ admonition to not worry, Christians are afraid of a lot of things. Christians fear losing their jobs to cheap foreign labor. Christians fear losing their jobs to immigrant and illegal aliens coming across our southern border. Christians believe the world is a zero sum game and fear that helping others with housing or overcoming poverty will reduce their wealth and threaten their security. Republicans know this and claim that they will protect Christians from all of these threats.

Christians have forgotten that God is capable of meeting everyone’s needs. They have abandoned trust in God and taken it upon themselves to protect what they have even if it means keeping other people down. Republican candidates offer protection and evangelicals are willing to buy it at great cost to themselves and our country.

God Is Not A Republican Or A Democrat

This is a reprint from Jim Wallis’ 2005 book, God’s Politics. It seems more relevant today than ever before. Before this last election cycle I would not have thought that there could be a sustained assault on the truth causing so many to become unhinged from reality.

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God Is Not A Republican Or A Democrat

“It is the responsibility of every political conservative, every evangelical Christian, every pro-life Catholic, every traditional Jew, every Reagan Democrat, and everyone in between to get serious about re-electing President Bush,’– Jerry Falwell to the New York Times, July 16, 2004

“I think George Bush is going to win in a walk. I really believe I’m hearing from the Lord it’s going to be like a blowout election in 2004. The Lord has just blessed him … It doesn’t make any difference what he does, good or bad …” — Pat Robertson to the AP/Fox News, January 2, 2004

These leaders of the Religious Right mistakenly claim that God has taken a side in this election and that Christians should only vote for George W. Bush.

We believe that claims of divine appointment for the president, uncritical affirmation of his policies, and assertions that all Christians must vote for his re-election constitute bad theology and dangerous religion.

We believe that sincere Christians and other people of faith can choose to vote for President Bush or Senator Kerry – for reasons deeply rooted in their faith.

We believe all candidates should be examined by measuring their policies against the complete range of Christian ethics and values.

We will measure the candidates by whether they enhance human life, human dignity, and human rights; whether they strengthen family life and protect children; whether they promote racial reconciliation and support gender equality; whether they serve peace and social justice; and whether they advance the common good rather than only individual, national, and special interests.

We are not single-issue voters. We believe that poverty – caring for the poor and vulnerable – is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ budget and tax policies reward the rich or show compassion for poor families? Do their foreign policies include fair trade and debt cancellation for the poorest countries? (Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 10:1-2)

We believe that the environment – caring for God’s earth – is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ policies protect the creation or serve corporate interests that damage it? (Genesis 2:15, Psalm 24:1)

We believe that war – and our call to be peacemakers – is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ policies pursue “wars of choice” or respect international law and cooperation in responding to real global threats? (Matthew 5:9)

We believe that truth-telling is a religious issue. Do the candidates tell the truth in justifying war and in other foreign and domestic policies? (Matthew 5:33-37, John 8:32)

We believe that human rights – respecting the image of God in every person – is a religious issue. How do the candidates propose to change the attitudes and policies that led to the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners? (Genesis 1:27)

We believe that our response to terrorism is a religious issue. Do the candidates adopt the dangerous language of righteous empire in the war on terrorism and confuse the roles of God, church, and nation? Do the candidates see evil only in our enemies but never in our own policies? (Matthew 6:33, 7:15, Proverbs 8:12-13)

We believe that a consistent ethic of human life is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ positions on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, weapons of mass destruction, HIV/AIDS – and other pandemics – and genocide around the world obey the biblical injunction to choose life? (Deuteronomy 30:19)

We also admonish both parties and candidates to avoid the exploitation of religion or our congregations for partisan political purposes.

By signing this statement, we call Christians and other people of faith to a more thoughtful involvement in this election, rather than claiming God’s endorsement of any candidate.

This is the meaning of responsible Christian citizenship.

Source

Walis, Jim, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It, Harper Collins POublishers, New York, NY, 2005, pp. xxvi-xxviii

God and Politics

I have always leaned toward liberal political views. I have always attended a theologically conservative church and the church was filled with mostly politically conservative people. I have always felt a bit out of place because of that. It seems to me that a right understanding of the Bible could lead a person to political views that are not in lockstep with conservative thought. This was a thought provoking article:

https://sojo.net/articles/god-still-not-republican-or-democrat

The Pandemic And Church Division

The pandemic has caused division among the people at our church and some families have left to find another place to worship. I never would have thought that the pandemic would divide the church and would have expected people in our church to get the vaccine with only a few holdouts. From this recent article in Christianity Today, it a appears that the split over masks and the vaccine is a common thing among believers.  Some have gone so far as abandoning their church and faith. 

Friendly Neighborhood Epidemiologist Deploys Expert Advice…… | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

My point of view aligns with Emily Smith, the epidemiologist in the Christianity Today article. It hard to understand why people choose not to listen to experts and put themselves and others at risk. There are a few likely root causes that come to mind

First, the Bible is full of characters that are described as stiff necked and choose to go their own way. The early church had a number of controversies that threatened unity in doctrine and practice. People are rebellious and the tendency to act independently of God and and other authority is due to our fallen nature and began in Eden. That is probably the ultimate root cause and would be sufficient explanation for most readers.

I beleive that there are other causes that should be explored. One wonders if this could have been prevented if church leaders would have come out with a strong message about the issue that provided an alternative path that would lead to unity.  Perhaps, but I don’t think so.  Strongly held beliefs and patterns of behavior are generally not changed by a good sermon.

How is it that people who have been part of the church for years and had excellent teachers be so quick to abandon the church and even their faith over this isuue? There are two things that have become entwined with our orthodoxy that have had a corrupting influence.  The first is the decline of science and the rise of alternative medicine.  Perhaps this can be traced back to the drug culture of the 60’s and the blossoming of the new age movement.  Today we have all sorts of natural remedies, herbs, and potions to address our ailments. Amazon offers loads of books on alternative remedies for just about any medical problem you can think of. Chiropractors seem to be the worst at promoting these concoctions and they do this with authority pointing to their medical training and degree from a chiropractic school.  The problem is that the evidence for the effectiveness of these treatments is mostly anecdotal.  Most of the claims made are not supported by a study with a tight experimental design. I have been in chiropractic offices that displayed big posters warning of the dangers of vaccines and claiming that a properly aligned spine will prevent disease.  This is part of the environmental press we are all subjected to and I suppose Christians are as likely to buy into this non-science as the general population.

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There is a distinction between being theologically conservative and politically conservative. These are two different ideas and we should not expect them to be connected. Theologically conservative Christians believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of the Bible. The Bible is God’s revelation to man about himself. Although God used human personalities in authoring the Bible the writings record without error God’s revelation and this inerrancy extends to the very words used. Unless the Bible indicates otherwise, the Bible is to be understood in a literal sense. Conservative Theologians, with this understanding or inspiration, can apply the Bible’s teaching in ways that are quite politically liberal.

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The second corrupting influence is conservative politics.  Theologically conservative Christians have aligned themselves with conservative politicians. I trace this shift to political conservatism back to the Roe v Wade supreme court decision. Since the supreme court decision conservative Christians have studied the case, read up on the constitution, have interest in the law. Christians are right to oppose abortion and conservative politicians claim to be on their side.  This could be a mutually beneficial relationship but these Christians have taken their allegiance to conservative thought too far. The problem is that they have also adopted conservative political values and conflated the constitution with the Bible.  These politically conservative Christians frequently talk about how our country was founded on Christian principles by Christian men. The result is that we now have a Patriot’s Bible and have seen the rise of politically conservative Christian legal personalities like Jay Sekulow. Theologically conservative Christians are likely to believe in politically conservative ideals such as individualism, lower taxes, pulling yourself up from your bootstraps, cutting social programs, individual freedom, free markets, and minimal government regulation.  Therefore. when the government tries to enforce mask wearing at church or in public, it is considered a violation of personal freedom and excessive interference with religious practices. In a politically conservative world it ultimately comes down to survival of the fittest and every man for himself. 

It is dangerous for theologically conservative Christians to adopt conservative political values. The problem is that conservative political values and placing constitutional rights above, or on equal footing with Biblical teaching is incompatible with loving your neighbor.  The natural consequence for the church is division.

It is a relief that restrictions have been lifted and the church can operate a regular program, build community, and perhaps see improved giving.  However, I wonder about the possible downside.  The virus is still present, the virus spreads when large groups gather, and the last statistic I heard indicated that about 40% of the population has not been vaccinated, many of whom refuse to get the shot.  Wouldn’t having a regular service run the risk of causing a super spreader event?  Non-profit marketing experts say that churches would benefit by thinking of their worship services and programs as products. Do you think that Proctor and Gamble would make laundry detergent that would put 40% of the people that use it at risk for getting sick or dying? I know that the church is following the latest Colorado and Larimer County guidelines (I agree with that decision) but I can’t help wondering if the guidelines came about after some political pressure.  The plan sounds a lot like everyman for himself. 

Finally, if I am right about  good sermons and good leaders not being able to stop division in the church (if leadership is not at fault), do you suppose that God is using the pressure of the pandemic to strengthen, preserve, and refine the church in some way?  I think so.