I believe the results of last Tuesday’s mid-terms were good news for America for many reasons, one of the important ones being that Donald Trump is no longer the only voice of power in Washington.
But as good as the defeat for Trump and his Republican minions was for the country, for me it would be even better if Trump’s defeat opened the eyes of partisan evangelicals to what their support of Trump is doing to Christianity.
Before the election I said that a Republican defeat would be the country’s metaphorical way of telling partisan evangelicals to go to hell.
A better alternative would be for them to see the error of their ways, for them to do some soul searching so they might understand what calling themselves Christians ought to mean.
How I wish I had an opportunity to speak to partisan evangelicals. If I did, the first thing I would ask them to do is to explain how someone can claim to be Christian and at the same time support racism.
That is precisely what they are doing in the uncritical support they are giving to Donald Trump.
Trump makes no effort to conceal his willingness to play on people’s racism to gain political advantage.
He did it when he embraced “birtherism” as a political tool when he first began exploring running for president. Whether he believed it or not, he sought to use it to his advantage.
Since then he has engaged in “dog-whistle” politics that sends a message to white voters that they can count on him to try to keep all those rapist and criminal “brown” people out of the country.
But it’s not only Trump that uses racism for political advantage. Republican legislatures have passed voter laws intended to reduce minority participation in elections, something not only racist, but downright anti-American.
The truth about partisan evangelical support of Donald Trump means they are lending their voice to racism being used for political purposes, and that is something no genuine Christian could or would do.
“So why do they?” is the question they need to answer. In the meantime, the rest of us who know racism and being Christian cannot exist in the same sentence need to say unequivocally that partisan evangelicals are not real Christians.
I know, that makes liberals wince, but it’s time for progressive Christians to stop trying to make nice with evil.
I cannot think of anything more evil than claiming to be Christian while supporting a political candidate whose past business practices says he is a racist, but who is certainly willing to use racism to his political advantage.
Let’s add to this the fact that partisan evangelicals also support Trump’s immigrant family separation policy.
That in the name of a good and loving God they can see such an evil policy implemented and not be enraged by it suggests their moral blindness has reached the level where you have to wonder if there is any chance of redemption for them.
Their support of that policy was enough for me to want to tell them to go to hell for sure, but their continued support of Trump after the policy was exposed went beyond the pale.
When taken together, racism and support for family separation – along with numerous other reasons – forces the rest of us with the tough, but necessary choice of calling out partisan evangelicals for being the pseudo-Christians they are, Christians in name only, Christian hypocrites, or whatever way we want to describe them.
Under no circumstances should partisan evangelicalism be considered a legitimate expression of Christianity. It is bogus Christianity peddled off in the name of “family values” and “pro-life” slogans that are empty of any true Christian content.
At this point it really doesn’t matter if partisan evangelicals are doing what they are doing wittingly or unwittingly. The result is the same. They are betraying the values by which all people who sincerely desire to be Christian live.
So here is the hard truth about partisan evangelicalism. It is Christian propaganda, pure and simple, so let’s not play games with them or ourselves by pretending they are simply exercising their right to believe what they believe.
By that standard there are no standards, that being Christian means whatever you or I say it means.
If I malign Jews as Christ-killers or want all Muslims banned from the country as anti-Christian or label refugees walking thousands of miles in search of a safer and better life as a caravan of invaders, I can still claim to be a Christian.
Such thinking is, of course, absurd, but it does serve to underscore the necessity of accepting the hard truth that not all Christians are Christian.
Only when we do will the Christian community have the clarity it needs to speak boldly about what being Christian really does mean.
But what say ye?
linnposts.com 
You voiced my thoughts and frustration perfectly. I have begged for explanations from Trump supporters who claim to be Christians, but they give me no answers. Thank you.
That’s because they have no answer. I think deep down they know they are wrong in doing what they are doing. They just cannot regain their balance to choose being Christian over being Republican partisans. But we can keep hoping while standing firm against them. Thanks for the comment.
20 years ago I quit calling myself a Christian but a Protestant. It was because of the so called Christian Right and I wanted no part of it. I got lots of flak but continued my effort to be a follower of Christ.
You are hardly alone. There is a reason 75% of self-identified Christians don’t attend church on any regular basis, but most churches fail to address the real reason for this situation. It is theological at is core. That is why mainline Protestants have allowed evangelicals to run free without challenging what they believe and what they are doing theologically, the results of which is the dichotomy between being a Christian and being Christian. You want to be the latter. My guess is, you got tired of the church focusing on the former. You can be Christian outside the church for sure, and that is what counts. Thanks for telling some of your story.
Near where I live, there’s a computer repair shop that’s run by an evangelical christian. I don’t know what church he attends, but a month or so ago he put a notice in the shop window. On this notice were printed all of the names by which Jesus is called: “Wonderful counsellor…the Son of Man…the Saviour…” I kept looking down the list, and yet one word was missing. That word was ‘servant’. I could have walked into his shop and (in a friendly way) challenged him on this, but for some reason I didn’t.
Later, when I walked past the same shop window, the notice had gone. Perhaps someone had challenged him?
Nigel, I think when you have to advertise that you are a Christian, you are likely not one.