I rarely write about political matters. This time, things are different.
As I reflect on this election and our historical moment, maybe for the first time I feel that simply expressing my support through voting is not enough. I’ll resist the temptation to call this election the most important of our lifetimes. However, to me, it clearly calls for greater engagement than previous ones. Also, in this case, there is no doubt in my mind that one outcome is much worse than the other. This is not just about policy or even a candidate character but a battle for the soul of our nation. It is about who we are as a people and our role as Christian citizens in service of the common good.
My contention is simple: voting for Trump is the worse option a Christian (evangelical or otherwise) could make. I would go even further: to reject Trump’s Christian nationalism even as it seems against the self-interest of the evangelical church, is the most powerful act of gospel witness in the public square. The way of Jesus compels us to go against the natural order of political power. If evangelical Christians care most about changing hearts then the best way is through cultural influence not political power. Some times, we must give up power to gain influence. Lose a battle to win the war.
Intended Audience
With few exceptions, most of my evangelical brothers and sisters that voted for Trump, did not like him as a person. Many abhorred his tweets, disapproved of his lifestyle choices and acknowledged his sick narcissism. Unlike George W. Bush in the early 00’s, he is not a guy you casually “want to have a beer with.” Many were scandalized by his immoral behavior. Yet, they were convinced that putting up with all that was worth it to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency. They often cited some specific reasons and rationales for this decision.
In the following sections, I will address each of these most-cited reasons and demonstrate that, upon closer scrutiny, they do not hold water. In short, they are mirages, fabricated arguments to appease the conscience as opposed to legitimate reasons to tolerate the president’s misdeeds. Because they have been repeated so often without challenge, they became a truth of their own.
By now, most voters had made up their minds but I want to speak to those who are still undecided. Some of them, who voted for the president 4 years ago, are now rethinking their decision. For this group, I offer this blog as one data point in their honest discernment process on who to vote for in this election.
Voting for Trump will NOT Save Babies
Let me put it bluntly: you have been duped. A few decades ago some fundamentalist preachers and market savvy political operatives came up with a brilliant strategy. They saw the Roe vs Wade decision as a pivotal point and decided that the top (and only) priority for Christian voters was to overturn it. At a national level, it meant electing presidents that would pick conservative judges for the supreme court that would eventually overturn that ill-fated decision.
This strategy was a “win-win” for both sides. Republican candidates got unquestioning support from a significant voting block and in return all they had to do was pick conservative judges when the existing one died. They could invade countries abroad, torture prisoners, wreck the economy, reinforce inequality at home and be downright corrupt as long as they came through with their side of the bargain.
For evangelicals, the strategy provided clarity and absolution from guilt. They did not have to think critically about which party to support, or which candidate to vote for. All they had to understand was the following: 1) abortion is murder; 2) one party is trying to end it through judicial nominations and restrictive politics; 3) the other party supports abortion; 4) therefore, the Christian choice is clearly to vote with the first party. They would show up to vote every four years to save the nation and then go back to saving souls in the remaining years with a clear conscience that they did not vote for baby killers!
If this was not clear before let me say it here: voting Republican will not end abortion! The very premise that we could do so is misguided and simplistic. It is more about a pernicious political strategy than biblical truth. If you care about unborn babies do work for a society in which abortion is the last resort. Help the mothers who are making these choices, call for restrictions where appropriate, build pregnancy crisis centers and make an argument for fetus rights in the public square.
In other words, get engaged in the process instead of selling your vote for so little. Don’t settle for this false choice that one party is for saving babies while they other is for killing them. And above all, do not let any religious leader make you feel guilty for voting for the alternative. There are biblical reasons to vote for one party as much as there are for another. There is room in the household of God for progressives and conservatives.
The Cyrus argument is NOT a valid “Biblical” reason to vote for Trump
Another commonly held justification is what I call the “Cyrus argument.” It alludes to the Persian ruler praised in the Bible for allowing the Jewish people to return and re-populate their lost national territory. In Biblical terms, God used him to fulfill his promises of restoring Israel. He was not Jewish and not necessarily a benign leader. Using this metaphor, evangelicals see Trump as a “non-Christian” political leader that will advocate a conservative Christian agenda, returning the US to its supposedly Christian past.
In certain aspects, the 45th president has proven to be really supportive to the conservative agenda spelled out in the previous section. He appointed a record number of conservative judges and multiple circuits, supported moving Israel’s capital back to Jerusalem and sided with conservatives in civil liberty issues. In the surface, the Cyrus metaphor has worked.
Yet, at further examination, the metaphor breaks down quickly showing a lack of knowledge of historical context and bad application to our present situation. It is important to distinguish Ancient world politics with our modern situation. First, the Jewish people had no choice in Cyrus rise to power. In other words, they did not elect him. This is an important point because democracy spreads agency across the population as opposed to ancient monarchies. That means, those that elect a president also become responsible for his or her behavior.
Second, I get disgusted as how this Cyrus argument became cover for Trump’s most egregious words and actions. It went right along with the saying “I am not electing a pastor but a president.” This pernicious statement allowed leaders to justify scandals and minimize misdeeds at an appalling fashion. This is the same voting block that years ago blasted President Clinton for his character failures now happily supported and justified a much more immoral president. This inconsistency did not portray biblical faithfulness but instead it revealed a dark secret of evangelical political involvement, namely that the means justify the ends. In Roosevelt’s words: “Trump may be a SOB but he is our SOB.”
When I saw Franklin Graham refuse to criticize the president’s policy on immigrant detention that literally put kids in cages, it made me sick. While not all evangelicals agree with him, he is representative of the evangelical voter. Like him, many evangelicals actually took on a harder (and more cruel) stance on immigration as a way not to challenge their Cyrus.
That is simply scandalous and exposes the dark side of political alliances. When you start aligning so closely with a political party, your religious convictions start changing. Suddenly, compassionate evangelicals take on heartless political positions that neglect the least of these. Separation of church and state was not conceived to defend government from religion but the other way around. Our founding fathers understood that religious convictions could easily be co-opted by malignant political motives.
Conclusion
In this blog, I covered two of the most often cited reasons for supporting Trump by evangelicals. In the next one, I want to cover more pragmatic reasons and how those also do not hold water. For now suffice it to say: support for Trump does not equal biblical faithfulness. Quite the opposite, at its core it represents a betrayal of fundamental biblical principles of compassion, hospitality, love for the neighbor and a commitment to truth.
If there is any silver lining for this contentious political period is the unmasking of the unholy alliance between evangelicalism and Conservative politics. For at least 4 decades, these two were often seen as synonymous with each other. This can no longer be the case. It is high time for evangelical Christians to recover their authentic voice in the public square rather than settling for the poor counterfeit of conservative politics.