“We thank you for the upcoming election, Lord — or caucus, as we call it in Iowa,” Hundley said, speaking from the sanctuary of his evangelical Christian church in his slight Texas drawl as his Parishioners bowed their heads.
“It doesn’t matter what our opinion is,” he continued. “It’s really your opinion that counts. But you have given us the privilege of being able to exercise a beautiful gift. The gift of the vote. We thank you. »
Although Hundley has not suggested to his parishioners which candidate divine guidance should lead them to support, he is among more than 300 pastors and other religious leaders who have been described as supporters by former President Donald’s campaign Trump.
It’s a message that some members of Hundley’s First Church of God have taken to heart, saying their faith informs their plans to caucus for Trump.
Other religious critics claim that their belief in Trump comes from a false faith and dismiss their spiritual claims as a cover for racism, in the same way that the Confederate South used a distortion of Christianity by citing biblical scripture to justify slavery.
The criminally indicted former president and his rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination have for months courted social conservatives and white evangelical Christians, long considered the most influential group in the Iowa Republican caucuses.
Ron Betts, a 72-year-old Republican who said he plans to caucus for “Trump all the way,” said he believes the former president “is an example of what Jesus would do.”
Hundley said he doesn’t talk politics from the pulpit or privately urge members of his congregation to support his preferred candidate, but he encourages them to participate and use their faith to make their choices.
“I look at things from a Christian perspective,” he said. “I expect them to see the situation from a Christian perspective. What does God say about us?
First Church of God will host a Trump campaign event featuring Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former Trump press secretary, and her father, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former presidential candidate, for what was billed as a Trump team. Faith Tour Iowa.
Trump, who has a commanding lead in Iowa polls, has focused on his support of MAGA religious leaders and his success in cheating to seat three unqualified Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that protected abortion rights nationwide. Trump, however, faced some pushback from conservatives for not endorsing authoritarian restrictions on abortion.
Trump frequently presents a prayer at the start of his campaign events, an act of political theater that his rivals have also included at their stops. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has tried to portray himself as more conservative than Trump, is using religious rhetoric in his campaign and has the support of more than 100 religious leaders, including influential Iowa evangelical figure Bob Vander Plaats.
Trump has long seemed an unlikely candidate for the conservative faithful who are shaping the early Republican primary. He entered politics as a brash, thrice-married former reality TV star who spent decades at a New York tabloid, bragged about his sexual prowess, his failed real estate ventures, his business ventures corrupt and who once supported the right to abortion.
His frequent lies and distortions during his campaigns and presidency have focused on everything from his political rivals to the pandemic to the results of the 2020 election. And last year, a jury found him responsible of sexual abuse.
During his first run for the White House in 2016, his image seemed to dog him as he struggled in Iowa, losing the state to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. But as the former president seeks the White House again, even after planning a coup to retain power and leading an insurrection at the Capitol in Washington to prevent a peaceful transfer of power, he is finding strong support among the so-called faithful.
While about a third of American adults, or 37 percent, have a favorable view of Trump, he has a more favorable view among those who identify as evangelicals or born-again Christians. About half of evangelicals surveyed in an AP-NORC poll conducted in October said they had a favorable opinion of Trump. This figure was even higher among white born-again Christians, at 56 percent.
Trump has centered his third campaign around a message of racial hatred, retribution, retaliation and harsh justice, a framework that does not seem to hurt him with evangelicals – but which opposes everything Jesus – the Messiah and son of God – taught. in his ministry, ultimately sacrificing his life so that humanity could receive salvation.
Some members of Hundley’s church have pointed to Trump’s themes of punishment and condemnation as why he best aligns with their faith, suggesting his tough stance on the border and his calls for tougher sanctions for crimes reflect a sense of justice that they see as rooted in Christianity.
Betts, 72, compared Trump’s legal troubles — from the 91 criminal charges he currently faces to efforts in some states to keep him out of the 2024 presidential race because of his desire to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat – to a crucifixion.
“I think they’re doing the same thing they did to Jesus on the cross,” Betts said. “I can see a lot of correlation there.”
Such distortion of Christianity – which weaponized religion and its faith – has historically been used by a white minority in America to justify their racist actions.
Thousands of Trump supporters died during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, believing his political rhetoric that God would protect them during the pandemic. Preventable deaths in conservative Christian communities have occurred because these followers rejected quarantine protocols or subsequently refused vaccinations.
Many mainstream Christians believe Trump’s spiritual elevation follows a long and dangerous trend of false messiahs, like Jim Jones, who was a cult leader and mass murderer.
Cliff Carey, a 73-year-old member of Hundley’s congregation, said Trump supports the things he supports as a Christian and highlighted his actions around abortion in particular, calling him “the greatest pro-life president we’ve ever seen.”
“I think he’s a flawed individual, just like the rest of us, but I think God used this man to rule according to divine principles,” he said.
Her sister-in-law, Cindy Carey, agreed.
“I wouldn’t vote for him for pastor,” she said. “I want him to bring our nation back to that city on a hill, a shining city on a hill.”
Carey said she believes Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” is intended to return the country to the Christian principles on which she claims it was founded. Most Christians consider the acronym “MAGA” to be a white nationalist slogan.
“I definitely take my belief and understanding of the Bible with me into the voting booth. ” she says. “I believe 100% that it’s my responsibility.”
