WHAT REALLY BOTHERS ME, PART III THE BIBLE OR TRUMPISM: EVANGELICALS, YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

Respectfully, I cannot agree with everything evangelicals believe in or stand for, but as a rule I’ve never disrespected them – but then Jerry Falwell, Sr. started something which eventually put Donald Trump in the White House. Today there are millions of professed evangelicals who are not only gravely disappointing me, but also, and much worse, are besmirching the Christian faith in America by trading Christianity’s central and most precious asset, the Bible, for secular governmental power under the leadership of an unchurched, immoral, mendacious extremist.

Evangelicalism was, and to the remaining sensible ones, still is a Bible-based, salvation-centric movement relying on preaching and sharing the faith through good works and witnessing. It was never meant to be a political movement designed to muddle the line separating church and state, much less to take control of the state. Evangelicals used to take literally these words of Jesus recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke: “. . . render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Moreover, evangelicals instinctively know the core mission Jesus gave to the future founders of his church: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28: 19-20). Jesus gave this, his “Great Commission,” to a small group of politically powerless disciples, and not political operatives.

The story goes that, when two of Jesus’ disciples asked to be his top lieutenants when he comes into his kingdom, he answered:

“[W]hoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of
Man did not come to be served, but to serve . . .” (Mark 10: 43 – 45).

Jesus makes it emphatically clear that he neither wanted nor needed Caesar’s power in spreading God’s kingdom. But now, Trump evangelicals want to use America’s governments, both state and federal – through the coercive power of statutes, executive orders, regulations and court rulings – to convert our nation’s citizens into being like them; and those who will not go along will be pushed to margins Jim Crow-style. In effect, you might say, they have left God’s side and gone over to Caesar’s.

Sixty-four percent of white evangelical Protestants are adherents to, or in sympathy with Christian Nationalism, a populist movement that views the country’s founding documents as “divinely inspired” and intended for Christian men to preference Christianity.

Sixty-four percent of white evangelical Protestants are adherents to, or in sympathy with Christian Nationalism, a populist movement that views the country’s founding documents as “divinely inspired” and intended for Christian men to preference Christianity. Nevertheless, they are willing to elect impious heads of state so long as they support their right-wing causes, which include white supremacy, shunning the LGBTQ community and embracing the dominance of men over women.

Trump evangelicals continue to push the myth that America was founded as, and is meant to be, a Christian nation. History tells a very different story. In 1776, while virtually all Americans professed to being a member of some Christian denomination, there was no unified or universally acknowledged Christian faith. When America was being colonized in the 17^th Century, Protestants and Catholics in Europe were still at war. When America declared independence, it was in the Age of the Enlightenment, a time when Deism, the forerunner of modern-day Unitarianism, was popular. Deism is a religious philosophy which, among other beliefs, doubts the divinity of Jesus; believes that humans know God only through reason and nature, not revelation; and believes that God created the universe and then left it alone to function on its own. Four of our first five Presidents, as well as Benjamin Franklin, were influenced by Deism. Jefferson published his own version of the New Testament, a heresy to literal Bible believers, and in the Declaration of Independence he referred to God as “nature and nature’s God.” This is hardly the stuff of today’s Evangelicalism.

Moreover, the words “Jesus Christ” and “Christianity” are nowhere mentioned in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. “Religion” is mentioned only twice in the Constitution, and gives no evidentiary support for America being a Christian nation. Truth be known, much of the “divine inspiration” within the Constitution came from pagans such as Aristotle, Polybius and Cicero. The founding fathers rejected America having a national religion and counted on Christianity, and all religions, to stand on their own and lend their support to the promotion of civic virtue. The First Amendment established a national policy of tolerating a pluralism of religious worship and practice, including non-religious views such as agnosticism and atheism. Nevertheless, Trump evangelicals today cling to this sentimental but false notion of a Christian nation, infuse it with Trumpism, and brand themselves America’s Christians.

What bothers me as much as Evangelicalism descending into Christo-fascism (Remember how well that worked in 1930’s Germany?), is that we find evangelicals turning away from those Biblical principles which apply to the role of government. Trump evangelicals seek more Federalist Society judges, more rights and privileges for Christian-leaning corporations (e.g., Hobby Lobby) and institutions (e.g. private schools and colleges), and allowing Christian proselytizing in public schools and government buildings. But, as I see it, pushing that kind of agenda detracts from what they profess to seek the most – salvation. I’m not in any way suggesting that Trump evangelicals are going to hell. That’s not my call. But I am suggesting that by following Trump they are at risk of stepping further away from the religious principles that made them choose Evangelical Christianity in the first place.

Do Trump evangelicals honestly believe that Donald Trump, a convicted felon, an adulterer and an unrepentant cheater and grifter, will emulate God’s “foundations of righteousness and justice,” proclaimed over and over in the Psalms? Will Donald Trump abide by Micah 6:8: “He (God) has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”? I could go on and on with dozens of Bible texts that convict Trump and his team of apostacy, hypocrisy, blasphemy, bigotry and heresy. Yet evangelicals, by the millions, are still going to play for Team Trump because they claim, and therefore I have to believe, that “If you’re a Democrat, you’re not a Christian” By the way, that quote is not made-up hyperbole. It’s real.

Undaunted by the specter of no longer being a Christian, I offer the Bible passage which I believe best articulates why I’m on Kamala Harris’ team – the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, found in Matthew 28: 31 – 46 (See link below). In essence Jesus tells us that by serving “the least of our brothers and sisters among us,” we are serving our Lord. And those who do not serve the least among us? Well, they will “go away to eternal punishment.”

Evangelicals, the book Donald Trump was known to have kept at his bedside table was not the Good Book. It was a bad book – Mein Kampf. Please choose sides wisely.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025%3A31-46&version=NIV

Suggested reading: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, American Evangelicals in the Age of Extremism, by Tim Alberta, published by Harper Collins (2023)