[Note: This is the second attempt to send. I understand that people received a garbled email earlier today.]
Evangelical Christians are Trump's most reliable supporters.
Trump's character is no secret. His sincerity as a fellow person-of-faith is doubtful. Yet they support him.
Trump isn't one of them, but he came through for them. He delivered on abortion this week.
Today's Guest Post is from a Christian who does missionary work worldwide and hands-on charitable work with the homeless in the Seattle area. He no longer calls himself an "Evangelical." The word now describes a political orientation, not a religious one, he told me. John Coster writes that Evangelicals understand it to be God's will that abortion be ended. Trump's assault on democracy was not the important thing for them. Ending abortion is. And God is getting it done--with Trump's help.
John Coster studied Theology and Society at Regent College while continuing his career managing multimillion dollar real estate development and construction projects in the tech sector.
Guest Post by John Coster
Like many people of my Boomer Generation I was raised in the American conservative Evangelical tradition. I was taught that the two spiritual crises of the day were reflected in: (1) banning school prayer (with Madalyn Murray O'Hair, justified or not as the villain) and; (2) Roe V. Wade. The big sin was “moral relativity” and we were taught that there are certain absolutes that cannot be compromised. There are many more social issues of course, but apart from belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, abortion and school prayer were the central threats. Dobson’s Focus On the Family and other groups made these their main source of concern and it had a powerful galvanizing effect across church denominations.
In an Evangelical Sunday School or Christian School we are taught about God’s eternal Kingdom, and how throughout history God blessed or judged nations because of the people’s level of faithfulness to God. To understand how seemingly-pious people could be bedfellows with someone as immoral as Trump, you need to appreciate the biblical view that throughout history, God has used flawed people to achieve his purposes. God is not a respecter of any leader or governmental system. In this worldview, national (biblical) holiness takes precedence over other any other “rights” or form of government. The nation’s very existence depends on it. Otherwise, we - the people of God's Kingdom - will be punished. Indeed, we are being judged already.
What struck me as I watched and read the public response to the Supreme Court decision is the deep sense of moral outrage on both sides, which seemed to be focused on whose "rights" are being protected. The "pre-born" or the mother? The Second Amendment gun-buyer or the innocent gunshot victims? The right to express/promote religion in publicly-funded schools or not? (Wait until the "wrong" religions want public funding.)
The inconsistencies of both ends seem lost in the fog of emotion and tribalism. The Right wants a hands-off government with minimal regulation - except in certain issues like abortion. The Left wants more hands-on government - unless it steps on personal freedom (like "choice.")
I haven't asked any of my family or friends who were one-issue-pro-life Trump supporters if they think the risk of losing democracy as a form of government is worth the Roe reversal trade-off, but consistent with the Evangelical view of God's judgement, I suspect they would choose losing democracy. Their moral imperative of life trumps even the best governance model the world has seen.
Of course, I would ask them if they thought moving to autocratic leadership (name your past or present autocrat) produces the most morally virtuous society. They are making a choice in risking democracy this way, and choices have consequences.
yes my fundamentalist right wing family cousins are all in for discarding democracy unfortunately