In my personal life, I have an aversion to advice and even human contact. I react the same way to these two expressions. If someone touches my arm for the sole purpose of kindness, I tend to scratch it, as a former partner observed. If someone brings their advice into my life, I often do the same thing: scratch them. Another friend once told me that the only way to stop me from jumping in a puddle was to tell me to jump in it. At 47, I don’t really want to jump in puddles, but if someone told me not to, I have to admit I probably would.
Addressing this element of my own intimate human experience may help explain the love affair between Donald Trump and American evangelicals. Trump is the “bad boy” that many liberals warn Christians about — and now he seems even more dangerous. the more they like it.
Another way to look at it is that a person only ends an unhealthy relationship if they come to that conclusion on their own. Evangelicals will never abandon Trump because of a clever argument from Rachel Maddow or a brilliant takedown from Bill Maher. Such a rupture, if it ever occurs, must come from within the evangelical movement itself.
Nor can the impetus for a break come from the most progressive or left-wing elements of the Christian Church. Most left-wing Christians have neither the courage nor the strength when it comes to denouncing their evangelical brethren. There is an understandable reluctance to condemn people with whom they feel connected by faith and whom they hope to redeem. But in fact, by watering down their attacks on evangelical philosophy, they are losing the respect of the evangelical community they wish to win back.
I have read a lot about the Civil War and it is clear how divided the Christian faith was 160 years ago around the issue of slavery. Far too many people were willing to embrace a perversion of Christian theology that justified the brutal enslavement of human beings. Yet the Northern Christian Church played a central role in the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, providing consistent ethical and moral clarity in asserting that black people needed and deserved freedom and full citizenship. What I am saying is that in every generation, Christians are faced with a choice. This is as true today as it was then.
By the 1860s, both camps believed they were faithfully following the gospel of Jesus Christ. But some chose to support oppression, murder, rape, and genocide, while others fought for equality and sought to express forgiveness, repentance, love, and grace.
The only way we will see this kind of change today is a movement from the evangelical church itself. But there’s a big problem: Evangelicals need to do something that, so far, most simply don’t want to do. They must reject the last 50 years of political posturing, at least adopted and approved by the evangelical Church and its leaders. They must reject the very foundations of the political program that has given the evangelical church so much power, even as its absolute numbers in society continue to decline.
My appeal is to the community of evangelical believers, some of whom know that they must now reject the teachings of their pastors and turn away from superficial and self-destructive reasoning. I want cheaper groceries and gas as much as the next unemployed, working-class former evangelical minister – but I’m not willing to sacrifice my morality, or what I consider my true faith, to get them.
As Christians, we believe that one day we will all face the judgment of our creator. What will we tell him about the decisions we made during this dark time in America? “We loved you, Lord, and we loved our neighbors, but we forgot that part for a while because inflation made us uneasy and we thought foreigners were taking over our country.”
As Christians, we believe that one day we will all face the judgment of our creator. What will we tell him about the decisions we made during this dark time in America?
In their hearts, believers do not think it will go well with Jesus, who was tortured to death by cynical politicians who gloated in his death, and yet offered them – and all of us – forgiveness unconditional. Jesus embraced the poor, the sick, the strangers, the hungry, the prisoners and the oppressed. That’s not my opinion – go read his words for yourself.
Sooner or later, evangelicals must save their own souls by standing up for a better America and a better version of the Christian faith. This may be painful for some people, but the true nature of our faith is to love others and do more for them than for ourselves.
In all honesty, I can understand the contrarian view taken by many evangelicals more than most people. Even now, I feel the temptation to take advantage of Trump ridiculing the “liberal media” and those who mock my Christian faith. This malicious approach may be the way of the world, but if the Christian faith is to persevere, it can only do so by rejecting the current American culture of resentment, vengeance, and selfishness.
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At the risk of repeating myself, the Christian faith is based on love, forgiveness and grace. Without these elements, it is something completely different and it is no longer the preaching of the message of Christ. Rejecting Donald Trump and what he stands for is not the end of the fight to save the Christian faith in America, but it is a good place to start. If evangelical Christians truly want to save this country and redeem the message of Christ – as I believe most of them do – they must begin by renouncing the Antichrist who has led them this far into darkness.
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by Nathaniel Manderson on evangelicals and the right
