How Could So Many White Evangelicals Support Trump?

Like many others on November 8 2016, I was horrified. It wasn’t just the practical joke of a situation that helped a man like Trump gain office. It was that I was ashamed of the politically motivated evangelical Christians who helped get him there.

I was born in the United States, and I’m a Christian. It’s inevitable that my home country and my faith play a foundational role in how I see the world and where my heart is. Both labels have baggage attached. But I can’t remember a time when the baggage had made me feel so ashamed.

Eighty percent of white evangelical voters supported Trump.

Of course, the two-party system of the United States is a place where voters are often forced to choose the “lesser of evils”. Many quarters of the country were not feeling heard. Certainly, this was true for the Republican Christians, who were increasingly concerned about religious liberty. (This was true for other religious groups, too.)

But it’s not just that the vote fell so far in Trump’s favour. What’s worse is that white evangelicals continue to support and defend Trump.

Public figures like Jerry Falwell Jr. and Franklin Graham are vocal supporters of the President. They say that Trump has been catapulted to power through prayer – that Trump is a flawed human who can be used by God. “Profane but still ordained”, like Churchill.

Meanwhile, the chasm in the church has yawned deeper.

Many African-American evangelicals are walking away from their church. Millennial Christians are horrified and are backing away from the evangelical label. Other Christians are standing up to resist this polarisation of their faith. Prominent evangelicals are calling out that Christian Trump voters will face an “ethical challenge” (!).

It seems the white evangelical church in the United States has hit a crisis point. And as an American and a Christian, there are so many reasons why the relationship between evangelicals and Trump has made me frustrated.

Evangelicals have effectively staked their reputation with Trump

Jesus wasn’t a Republican.

Nor was he a Democrat, actually. Jesus was never about political gain or a “kingdom of this world”. He wasn’t obsessed with winning personal freedoms. He didn’t lead a rebellion against the oppressive forces that would eventually conspire to crucify him. His disciples who followed him didn’t do this, either – despite many of them being killed for their minority beliefs.

Not only is Christian faith not about political power – it’s about giving power to those who have none. Jesus’ beliefs turned political powers on their head, asking for the “first to be last and the last to be first”, that being great in God’s kingdom is about serving others.

The Bible repeatedly tells its readers to stand up for the widows and orphans of the world, to protect the oppressed and the sick.

And you don’t need to know the Bible to notice that Trump is morally loose, insensitive and lacks humility. Not exactly a Christ-like example.

It damages the moral credibility of the church

For a group that thinks of themselves as the “Moral Majority”, there’s a sense that Republicans traded whatever high ground they had for access to the White House.

This is a group that could have been regarded as the moral voice of reason. Instead, they seem to be defending – loudly – a President who was intrinsically linked with the alt-right, who made casually racist and sexist jokes, and was courting their favour for power.  Ultimately, all that was not enough to sway them, and evangelicals talked themselves around to the immorality of a man who they’re supposed to respect.

As recounted in the New York Times:

[The] white evangelicals [who] voted for Mr. Trump … cheered the outcome, reassuring uneasy fellow worshipers with talk of abortion and religious liberty, about how politics is the art of compromise rather than the ideal. Christians of color, even those who shared these policy preferences, looked at Mr. Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants, his open hostility to N.F.L. players protesting police brutality and his earlier “birther” crusade against President Obama … In this political deal, many concluded, they were the compromised.

Not every evangelical may be racist, sexist or agree with Trump’s morals. But when racism and sexism are not deemed valid enough reasons not to vote for someone, what’s the difference?

I just have to wonder: Is it possible not to do some soul-searching if you are jostling alongside white supremacists to bring this man into office? Are these Christians reading the same Bible as me?

It’s hypocritical

Franklin Graham once wrote to condemn Bill Clinton’s extramarital behaviour during office. Years later, Franklin Graham is now defending Trump’s indiscretions with Stormy Daniels as a private matter that’s “no one’s business”.

What a depressing double standard. It’s an unfortunate trend that white American evangelicals can be opportunistic with their support.

Two incredible polls from the Public Religion Research Institute show how widespread this is. In 2011, researchers asked voters if “an elected official who commits an immoral act in their personal life can still behave ethically and fulfil their duties in public and professional life”. Just 30 percent of white evangelical Christians agreed.

By July of 2017, that percentage had shot up to 70 percent. Evangelicals had suddenly shot from least likely to agree that private lives didn’t impact public performance, to most likely.

No wonder, as non-Trump supporter Tim Keller reflects sadly, that “evangelical” is becoming synonymous with “hypocrite”.

Final thoughts

It was difficult to write this article. It could come across as jumping on an anti-Trump bandwagon.

But it seems that, more and more, the church’s reputation is becoming damaged by unforced errors. It’s as though we’re becoming driven by fear by losing our place in society, more than by compassion.

My fear from all this is that, once Trump is gone, there’ll still be a chasm that may not be easily fixed. Christians will still have to deal with the fallout of supporting him – or being perceived to support him. It’s not something I think people will forget easily.

In an open letter, David French asked Trump-voting white evangelicals:

… there are now millions — millions — of our fellow citizens who despise us not because we follow Christ … but because all too many fellow believers have torched their credibility and exposed immense hypocrisy through fear, faithlessness, and ambition.

Soon enough, the “need” to defend Trump will pass. He’ll be gone from the American scene. Then, you’ll stand in the wreckage of your own reputation and ask yourself, “Was it worth it?”

For me – it wasn’t, and it’s not.