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I was recently sitting in an interfaith gathering when a woman openly shared how exasperated she was by the upcoming presidential election. It's hard to believe that in less than a month, America will be voting for its next commander-in-chief.
What's harder to believe are our options in selecting said president. That was what was causing this woman such frustration at our gathering. In a moment of honesty and defeat, she openly asked,
"Are Harris and Trump really the best presidential options for our nation?"
I admit that I have asked myself the same question multiple times over the last few months. This election feels like it has a dark shadow cast over it. For example, Americans aren't voting for a vision we believe in; instead, we are voting for the vision of America that we most want to avoid.
I want to avoid trying to convince you who you should vote for. Nor do I believe there's 'only one candidate Christians can vote for.' In full transparency, I think both candidates are pretty horrible.
However, I do believe a Donald Trump presidency will be disastrous to the American Church. To not keep you in suspense, let me answer the question the title of this article asks.
I do believe the American Church will survive another Trump presidency. However, the institution that remains by the end of said presidency will be nothing more than a social club with some religious language sprinkled in it. Any witness, authority, or prophetic voice the church once had will be gone.
Issues That Drove Evangelicals to Trump in 2016
80% will forever be burned into my mind. That was the percentage of evangelical Christians who voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Interestingly, among white evangelicals, the more often they went to church, the higher their support for Trump was.
I remember watching the Capital insurrection on January 6th and being taken aback by the number of crosses, flags with crosses, and a big yellow sign with the phrase "Jesus saves"written across it. On January 6th, the evangelical church had a 'coming out party' at the Capital. It was during the insurrection that it became clear to me that American evangelicals fit hand in glove with everything Trump represented.
Just so this detail isn't overlooked, the white evangelicals who attend church the most are...pastors! Though I couldn't find specific data that verified the percentage of pastors who voted for Trump compared to their congregants, I found a University of Chicago article that shows the reasons pastors gave to justify their vote for Trump.
There were five reasons evangelicals gave to justify their vote for Trump in 2016.
- The Economy: More than any other issue, evangelicals supported Trump, believing he would improve the economy.
- National Security: 89% of white evangelicals named terrorism as a chief issue determining their vote. To be clear, this was the highest-ranked concern among the top five issues.
- Immigration: The issue of immigration was tied closely to terrorism. Remember the wall that was supposedly going to be built?
- The Supreme Court: 70% of white evangelicals considered the nominees for the Supreme Court a core issue.
- Abortion: As a bit of a surprise, only 52% of evangelicals listed abortion as a concern influencing their vote for Trump.
I'm going to leave the five mentioned above out. Instead, I will unpack how each issue can be understood through the following three lenses: its impact on women, integrity, and violence.
Impact on Women
Based on Trump's character and past behavior, it makes perfect sense to me that during Trump's 2016 - 2020 presidency, he was adamantly 'pro-life.' His nominating of very conservative Supreme Court justices led to the eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade. For evangelicals, this was a massive win in their 'fight for the lives of the unborn.'
In reality, Trump could care less about a religious cause to ban abortion in the name of life. Trump is a good ole boy doing what was in the best interest of enabling 'boys to be boys.'
Let's not forget that the same Donald Trump who is credited for reversing Roe v. Wade is the same man who famously said,
"I'm automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it ... You can do anything... Grab 'em by the p----. You can do anything."
Trump is the type of man who doesn't respect boundaries or a woman's bodily autonomy. In the eyes of Donald Trump and, tragically, many evangelical pastors, women are still treated like pieces of meat and something to be objectified.
Currently, evangelicalism is dealing with an epidemic of sexual abuse scandals involving women and minors. In the last few years, celebrity pastors have included Robert Morris of Gateway Church, Aaron Ivey of Austin Stone Community Church, Bill Hybels at Willow Creek Community Church, and Andy Savage. If you want a snapshot of how prevalent this epidemic is within the American Church, visit The Roys Report and count the articles referencing pastors involved in sexual abuse.
In my experience and based on conversations with women who have left the church, they view the church as one of the unsafest spaces a woman can enter. Not only do most churches in America still not allow women roles in leadership, but tragically, they are still objectified and often spiritually, physically, and mentally abused. All in the name of God. It's truly sickening.
Does a Trump presidency make the church's current sexual abuse epidemic worse? I can't say that with any data to support my claim. Anecdotally, I do believe when the leader of the free world can objectify women with their words and actions without consequence, it increases the temptation for other like-minded men with power to do the same.
Impact on Integrity
The four years of Trump's presidency were my last as a pastor or in a full-time ministry capacity. It was heartbreaking to see the number of relationships broken, the trust lost, and the trauma caused when congregants learned how many fellow church members supported someone with such a lack of moral integrity.
COVID-19 was horrific. To many of us, it felt like living through an apocalypse. One unintended consequence of the pandemic was how it became the justifiable excuse Christians could use to get the hell out of the church and never go back.
Teaching from the pulpit and acts of service ring hollow when there is such a juxtaposition in messaging. From the pulpit, the church's message declares compassion, empathy, love, and justice. But our politics and actions declare a message of lies, deception, belittling, ends justifying the means, and power-seeking.
As Bob Marley famously said, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time." Eventually, Christians had enough and were no longer willing to play the fool in the name of 'being a good Christian.' When the church has been called to be accountable for betraying Jesus' teachings and model in pursuit of power and bowing to Caesar, it has chosen Caesar over Christ every time.
Historically, the church's integrity is strongest when it has the prophetic ability to stand up to domination systems and power structures. It is at its weakest when it succumbs and tries to integrate within those structures. When the church gets in bed with Caesar, it always becomes more like Caesar than Caesar becomes like Christ. Another Trump presidency means an even deeper commitment to Caesar's will.
Impact on Violence
More than any other trait, Donald Trump has shown he doesn't have a de-escalating bone in his body. The only thing he knows how to do is pour more gas on an already blazing fire. We have seen how he responded to blatantly racist violence during his first presidency. When a diverse crowd peacefully protested in Charlottesville was attacked by white supremacists, Trump nonchalantly claimed "there were good people on both sides."
As mentioned above, on January 6th, when a golden opportunity was given for Trump to advocate for a peaceful transition of power, he once again took the low road. He stoked the flames of rage and violence. Now, it's not just America and our domestic issues at play. A Trump presidency in 2024 means trusting this man to navigate a war between Ukraine and Russia, genocide in Palestine, bombings in Lebanon, and renewed atrocities in the Congo.
It seems unreconcilable for the institution that claims to worship the "Prince of Peace" to have such loyalty and commitment to a man who only knows how to escalate conflicts.
Before wrapping up, I want to address what may be legitimate questions or just the little voice in my head whispering, "What about Kamala?" It's worth stating again: I'm not trying to tell anyone how they should vote on November 5, 2024. I have also said that I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, as Trump's and Harris's policies feel eerily like two sides of the same coin.
When it comes to the American Church, I believe a Harris or third-party (Jill Stein, anyone?) presidency gives the church a glimmer of hope to recognize who we have become. With each tick of the clock towards November 5, 2024, the American Church stands at a crossroads: Will it muster the courage to rediscover its soul or continue its dance with the shadows of power, losing itself in the process?
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Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! If my work has served you or you want to contribute to creating authentic faith connections, consider becoming an Authentic Faith Advocate.
Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! If my work has served you or you want to contribute to creating authentic faith connections, consider becoming an Authentic Faith Advocate.