Trump's Faithful Evangelical Flock
Trump's Faithful Evangelical Flock
Rant #8(Opinion)
Originally March 1, 2020; Posted March 10, 2020
It will shock no one to hear that White evangelical Christians in the United States overwhelmingly back Donald Trump's presidency; victory without them would have simply not occurred. Somewhere between 25% and 41% of Americans identify as evangelical or "born again" Christians, meaning that they consider Jesus Christ their lord and personal savior. They constitute a bloc of voters worth roughly 1/4 of the American electorate; in 2016, a full 26% of voters in an exit poll identified as evangelical. This article tries to downplay this group's intense attachment with Trump--if I considered myself evangelical, I would too! The author makes the argument that not every single White evangelical showed up to vote, that statistic doesn't differentiate between White and minority evangelicals, not all of those who consider themselves evangelical go to church, and evangelical is a loose term (which it is--but going out of your way to say you consider yourself evangelical kind of affirms itself).
I don't buy it.
Rant #8(Opinion)
Originally March 1, 2020; Posted March 10, 2020
It will shock no one to hear that White evangelical Christians in the United States overwhelmingly back Donald Trump's presidency; victory without them would have simply not occurred. Somewhere between 25% and 41% of Americans identify as evangelical or "born again" Christians, meaning that they consider Jesus Christ their lord and personal savior. They constitute a bloc of voters worth roughly 1/4 of the American electorate; in 2016, a full 26% of voters in an exit poll identified as evangelical. This article tries to downplay this group's intense attachment with Trump--if I considered myself evangelical, I would too! The author makes the argument that not every single White evangelical showed up to vote, that statistic doesn't differentiate between White and minority evangelicals, not all of those who consider themselves evangelical go to church, and evangelical is a loose term (which it is--but going out of your way to say you consider yourself evangelical kind of affirms itself).
I don't buy it.
I mean, come on. While personally I believe nit-picking semantics can make important distinctions on some subjects, this is a lame argument in this case when everybody knows what is meant when people use that terminology. Regardless of whether or not every single self-identified evangelical regularly attends church service and genuinely does have a personal relationship with God vis-a-vis Jesus Christ, evangelicals form a real demographic that does not necessarily relate to those questions. The facts have remained clear for 3+ years now: White evangelicals overwhelmingly support Trump. Whether they actively vote or not, members of that constituency have somehow thrown their weight behind this president. Virtually no other demographic backs a candidate from either party more unanimously than evangelical Christians backed Trump, and Republicans more broadly, though Trump topped the share of the group than in any other recent elections.
Actually, the self-identifying aspect of evangelicalism kind of proves the point even more clearly: somebody who attends religious services frequently, prays daily, has an intense spiritual belief that manifests in the form of Jesus Christ and Christian doctrine, who fulfills the evangelical checklist--yet they do not consider themselves that type of evangelical, because in America it has a certain distinct demographic that many deeply religious people do not identify with. For example, I have a relative (who I won't specify more) that goes to church almost every day. She prays; she believes sincerely in the salvation that Jesus Christ brings, and that the path there is facilitated by her church. Yet this woman has voted in half a century's worth of elections and very rarely strayed from the Democrats. Though personally pro-life, she says of abortions "that is between them and God." When it comes to government, supporting social programs that feed the poor, expand healthcare, and more recently address climate change rank of higher importance than demonizing gays or stopping abortions.
While the evangelical crowd technically aligns behind religious doctrine, they transcend denominations and really represent something different; a large part of that is defined by their conservatism, which shows itself in many ways. Essentially, evangelicalism is not an ideology as much as an identity. In reality, it requires an intense level of cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy to claim oneself as a serious Christian AND a Trump supporter, and to support Trump because both people's conception of Christian values coalesce...
Undoubtedly, a number of the millions of evangelicals follow the instruction of their religious leaders rather than independently embrace the meaning of spirituality themselves: with this, you get voters prioritizing abortion over a number of other, more preeminent issues. This is not by accident: it is nothing new to see religious leaders using their indoctrination to sway followers into endorsing a political figure, as well as politicians using religion to gain power and legitimacy. It just surprises me still in 2020 to see people so blindly convincing themselves that a Donald Trump and Republican Party in general fights for Christian values harder than the rest. Probably because they both have nothing to do in reality with truly spiritual matters.
Organized religions may convince their followers that somehow the GOP acts in their souls' best interest. Last time I checked though, at face value the Bible and especially New Testament preaches tolerance (like accepting LGBTQ, immigrants, other faiths and races); helping the sick and needy (strengthening the social safety net, healthcare coverage, food stamps, tax policies that favor the average person rather than the rich and powerful); loving thy neighbor (getting climate change under control because it impacts literally every human being on the planet, not locking up kids in cages); the golden rule (equality in all its forms); and so much more, even separation of church and state (when Jesus holds up the coin with Caesar on it and says what it concerns is separate from God, depicted in Mark 12:14-17 and elsewhere).
Evangelical leaders will explain that they take their faith seriously and the Bible contains directives for their political undertakings. Yet the whole Bible mentions homosexuality like twice, one of those times in the same book (Leviticus) that bans eating pork--a thing which virtually every Christian does. Non-Catholic denominations didn't latch onto abortion as an issue until the government took away the tax-exempt status of racially discriminatory religious schools, so Southern leaders weaponized that issue to mobilize their followers to vote Republican. Sound crazy? It is. It's also true.
Hardcore Christians helped found this country as a bastion of freedom and tolerance (albeit exclusive to only Whites and however limited and begrudging, respectively). Abolitionists had a strongly religious constituency, while slaveholders used Christianity to justify owning African-Americans to teach these 'uncivilized' people the ways of Jesus. The labor movement also benefited greatly from Christian leaders and followers. Sure, since time immemorial powerful people and groups abuse religion to gain influence. Nonetheless, its principles--and not just those of Christianity, but all religions--have also inspired people to do good in the world. Maybe religions come from beliefs about goodness if not the other way around; we can debate that ad nauseum. Undeniably, deeply Christian Americans throughout history have initiated great change alongside or even due to their strong beliefs. What happened to that element of Christian devotion in our politics? Yes, I know that other Christians used their religion to justify slavery while others used it as a means of arguing against it, and today, millions of devoted Christians back liberal policies and vote Democratic. Historically, religion has both pacified the masses and legitimized atrocities. Yet somehow today, the most vocal elements of American Christianity--and an overwhelming share of its adherents--openly back Donald Trump.
Thus I say it is warranted to ask: what really makes these people like him so much? Do their politics really have anything to do with their faith, or is it something else? I don't want this to come off as me suggesting that all evangelical Republicans are bad people, or that they have bad motives--but I for one must wonder when this group green lights an awful, detrimental, dangerous president and his actions, what the hell is really going on?
Works Cited:
-The Guardian, 81% of US evangelicals back Trump.
-Pew Forums, 25% of Americans are evangelical
-Gallup, 41% of Americans are evangelical
-CNN, Exit Polls From 2016.
-The Gospel Coalition, Article arguing against the claim that 81% of evangelicals voted for Trump.
-Politico, how evangelicals used abortion politically.
-Pew Research, evangelical midterm voter history 2006-18.
-Pew Forums, evangelical votes in presidential elections.
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