Why evangelical Christians should not vote for Donald Trump

(Note: This article was published in the Sunday, January 21, 2024, edition of our local paper, LNP/LancasterOnline. The Sunday edition has the largest circulation of any of the paper’s editions, 47,000. Maybe this message will reach a few people, at least.)

This segment is entitled: Why Evangelical Christians should not vote for Donald Trump

I came to faith at the age of 10, thanks to my saintly, evangelical Christian mother and the wonderful congregation at New Holland Methodist Episcopal Church.

To keep me on the straight and narrow, my mother (who never drank, smoked or swore) convinced me to attend a conservative Christian school in upstate New York. Most students were from churches that adhered to literal interpretations of Scripture. I was one of the few who came from more liberal churches. To my mother’s list of prohibitions, my school added: no playing pool, no movies, no tight pants, no dancing, no hard rock, no gambling, no interracial dating.

Early my first year, I ran for class president. On election eve, my opponent stopped by my room to say, “Don’t worry about the election tomorrow, ’cause you’re going to lose.” “Why?” I asked. “Because you’re not spiritually prepared to be freshman class president.” I lost.

It took only a little while for me to understand that my brand of Christianity was too liberal for my classmates. They saw my path to faith as too vague. Liberal Christianity, they told me, leads people to things like situational ethics, in which the end sometimes justifies the means in matters of morality and behavior. God sees only black and white, they said, with no room for gray. An act, a thought, is either right or wrong, based on God’s laws. I didn’t share those views then and I don’t now. But I respected the sincerity with which my evangelical friends expressed their beliefs and I admired the strength of their faith. That’s why I was absolutely stunned when so many evangelicals lined up behind a blatantly immoral man like Donald Trump, and voted in 2016 to put him in the White House.

I’ve spent the last eight years, trying to understand it. Here’s what I think I’ve learned so far.

Much of the blame, I believe, must be laid at the feet of evangelical ministers such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell Jr., Franklin Graham, Paula White and the many local pastors who echo their views, who are hungry for political power. With a few exceptions, these leaders have played on dissatisfaction among many evangelicals over cultural changes like legalized abortion and protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community. These ministers of the Gospel have fanned the flames of moral and religious resentment to convince evangelical believers that the only way to reverse the trends is to trade the gentle, loving Jesus for the macho version — a Jesus who’s mad at liberal culture and is not going to take it anymore. That Jesus, many evangelicals have come to believe, will use anyone and anything to restore the Christian nation they imagine once existed. That anyone arrived in the form of Donald Trump.

And Trump was only too pleased to serve their purposes, as long as they voted for him. Trump has an undeniable, almost uncanny, ability to play on the discontent of many Americans — especially evangelical Christians — to win their unflagging support, by promising to fix all of the things they’re upset about. Many evangelicals are so desperate to see their values rescued that they’re willing to believe Trump is a hard-charging messiah, tasked by God to restore the nation, by whatever means necessary. (See the many right-wing memes depicting Trump with Jesus’ hand on his shoulder, or sitting by Jesus’ side.) In other words, the ends now justify the means — the very moral thinking my evangelical classmates condemned so thoroughly.

These fed-up evangelicals have become blind to the danger Trump poses. Unlike any other presidential candidate, Trump has no moral or religious compass to prevent him from abusing any segment of our society he feels inclined to punish or destroy. Shortly after he took office, 27 mental health professionals warned us that he is a malignant narcissist who should never be allowed anywhere near the levers of national power. To help us understand the seriousness of the matter, the experts listed the characteristics and behaviors a malignant narcissist exhibits: exaggerated sense of self-importance; lack of empathy; manipulative behavior such as charm, flattery or deceit; aggression, including emotional abuse, verbal abuse or even physical violence; a belief that other people are conspiring against them; and deriving pleasure from the pain of others. Anyone who’s been paying attention should have no trouble seeing Trump’s very unchristian behavior in the list.

Some evangelical Christians, especially those inclined toward Christian nationalism—the belief that ours is meant to be governed as an explicitly Christian nation—aren’t willing to acknowledge Trump’s problematic conduct because they are single-minded and rigidly partisan. (Take for example Pennsylvania state Representative Stephanie Borowicz, who was recorded saying she won’t work with Democrats on legislation because what they stand for is ”vile, perverse…the opposite of God’s word.”

My evangelical mother’s faith was built on morality, goodness and kindness. Her faith never would have permitted her to vote for a man who ignores God’s laws and condemns so many of God’s children. The rub, for all evangelicals who long for change, is that you can’t employ a faithless autocrat to achieve your ends without turning your back on the fundamental principles of true Christian faith. My mother would have prayed for Donald Trump’s soul, but she would never have voted for him. May we all do the same.

Pace.