The Trump Disaster: Driving Evangelicalism into the Ditch
Amidst the decades long emergence of various forms and strands of post-evangelicalism, The era of the Trump presidency appears to be a watershed moment leading to a sharper divergence of paths between the American conservative political evangelicalism and a growing number of ex-evangelicals that are exiting this ever shrinking tent.
The Covid pandemic affected our lives in many ways, notably, restricting public gatherings and increasing our dependence on the internet for communication and human interaction. At the same time, the cultural influence of Trump populism pushed the conservative evangelical movement more to the right and more out into the open in its political expression, bringing into the light a church subculture in which conservative politics often overtakes Jesus-centered values.
It is a historical enigma that Trump, someone who was not only not known as a Christian but was also widely regarded as not really even a moral person, somehow attached himself to the evangelical political movement and rode a wave of evangelical support to election to the presidency. Many words and much ink has been spilled trying to explain this contradiction by offering that evangelicals "held their nose" in the face of Trump's character issues and pulled the lever based on big picture conservative agenda items. Two facts fly in the face of this explanation and serve to support the conclusion that evangelicals are really not that bothered by Trump's character and in fact are drawn toward his racist and xenophobic rhetoric and ideology: 1) Trump was chosen in 2016 not only over Clinton but over all the other Republican candidates, and, 2) Trump was favored at virtually the same level of support from evangelicals in 2020 as 2016, after all of America and the entire world had observed him at work for four years. Simply stated, evangelicals really like Donald Trump.
It cannot go without mention that Trump's actual behavior as president was even worse than the historical Trump in terms of his leadership methods, interpersonal behaviors, and the consistently and dramatically dishonest content of his communication, culminating in his effort to derail the 2020 election and subsequent failed coup d'etat against the peaceful transfer of power.
The ethically and spiritually baffling move by conservative evangelicals to embrace the Donald Trump presidency (reported to be near 80% in both elections) along with the accompanying populist surge of Christian nationalism and the growing resistance to efforts to address racism have all served to alienate many progressive or liberal minded Christians and drive them out of environments that have increasingly come to be defined in the language of evangelical culture wars.
Only the most discerning observers of culture could have anticipated that Trump’s election would energize a fundamentalist populism and awaken the white power movement which was seemingly lurking only slightly below the surface of American culture. On this wave of Trump populism, the conservative church has strengthened its alliance with far-right politics in espousing U.S. exceptionalism (U.S.A. as God’s chosen country) and Christian nationalism, while displaying almost complete loss of interest in racial reconciliation and responsibility for the past and lingering evils of white supremacy and systematic racism.
A missed opportunity
For a time during 2020, there appeared signs of a sea change indicating an opportunity to rally around activism against race-based violence in the United States. In this season of opportunity, the public cultural expression of U.S. Christianity – seen through its leading public voices, major denominational initiatives, or banner-carrying mega-churches - never really entered any conversation of reconciliation. And seemingly in the quiet of the night, or more likely, in the fervor of Trump populism, evangelicalism seems to have gone in the exact opposite direction. The concrete exemplification of this is the legislative focus on tilting future elections by restricting the ballot and on legislative attempts to eradicate teaching of America's white supremacist history and lingering systematic racism from our educational institutions from the elementary to the university level.
Restricting voting rights
At least nineteen states passed legislation in 2021 to make voting more difficult. Public support for this legislation is based on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. There is no evidence that voter fraud had any negative impact on our elections and specifically on the presidential election. The tenacity of the belief that there was widespread fraud merely highlights the fact, exemplified more dramatically in Donald Trump than any historical U.S. leader before, that one can say anything and one can believe anything - regardless of factual truth - and like minded people will follow you in that belief.
Political control of education on race history
According to ABC News (March 2022), 35 states have proposed legislation placing restrictions on race education, and about half of these have passed such legislation into law. Given the torturously slow progress on race relations in our nation’s history, and after the events of 2020 that brought race violence to the forefront of our consciousness, it is totally baffling that in 2022, anyone would think “what we really need in this country is for state legislatures to pass laws restricting the teaching of race history.”
Restricting LGBTQ rights
Data maintained by the ACLU has identified 474 bills in approximately 35 state legislatures proposed to restrict LGBTQ rights in the areas of civil rights (including marriage), free speech and expression (, schools and education (restricting speech, print, and content on sexuality and gender), availability of health care, public accommodations, and the abilities of local governments to pass their own civil protections in these areas. While I do not here claim that all of this legislation lacks merit, clearly the trend represents an extreme emphasis of conservative legislative efforts (clearly motivated and supported by religious beliefs of conservative evangelicals) to exclude LGBTQ freedoms from the public sphere. Apparently, the general populace is not bowing down to this effort in many states 105 of these bills have been defeated. 47 bills have been passed into law (in 16 states) and 322 are either introduced or advancing.
Stuck in 1950
As a generation of young evangelicals are being schooled by Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk, evangelicalism seems to be stuck in the confines of a version of church informed by modernity, rationalism, patriotism, and a primarily middle-class Caucasian version of the American dream. This expression of the church is regressive in the approach to race, gender and sexual identity, and justice, as well as the concerns of the scientific community about human impact on the environment and global climate. Out of step on these issues, or for many, merely practicing a safe strategy of avoidance, evangelicalism continues to focus on an individualistic righteousness and doctrinal conformity to evangelical orthodoxy over attention to forms of historical, corporate, economic and systemic injustice, i.e. “social justice.”
As noted, this evangelical ethic is nationalist and protectionist in posture on immigration, favoring strict limitations on immigration and restriction of legal avenues for the acceptance of refugees. Rather than a New Testament ethic of “welcome the stranger,” evangelicals often buy into the rhetorical narrative of immigrants as drug dealers and dangerous criminals. Rather than living up to the motto of the Statue of Liberty… “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” evangelicals embrace an ethic of “build the wall.” In the larger historical sense, rather than continuing to expand and extend the ideal vision of the Declaration of Independence to all, we find an emphasis is on protecting what is “mine,” what is “ours,” and restricting respect, rights, and privileges only to those within an invisible circle of approved status not to include those of LGBTQ or transgender identity, immigrants, or others not deserving of the freedom and prosperity enjoyed by the privileged class.
Many conservative evangelicals believe a myth that theirs is a historic orthodox Christianity that has existed unchanged for centuries, the cornerstone being the interpretation of inerrant Scripture as an unquestionable authority. "Not so" is the growing realization of the deconstructing community, itself emerging not as a fad but with deep roots in activism, religious practice and praxis, and academic study of Scriptural texts and history. Those willing to ask question and look deeper into history are rapidly learning and discovering a great diversity of theological perspectives going back to the origins of the Christian faith on issues such as the nature and authority of Scripture, and doctrines of Christology, soteriology, eternal destiny and the afterlife. These authors, podcasters and communities are rapidly cross pollinating and sharing resources and are on the verge of forming local in-person discussion groups to stand alongside the many affirming churches that have been quietly developing and demonstrating beliefs and practices of openness, activism, and inclusion for decades and in some cases for over 100 years.
Gatekeeping and Thought Control
Note on doctrinal control in a community: In and of itself, the practical need of monitoring the publicly accepted and allowed doctrines and theological beliefs within a community is understandable if not necessary. A common experience of those who find themselves deconstructing, however, is that contrary beliefs are challenged by church leadership with the unquestionable authority of an inerrant scripture, by questioning the authenticity of faith, and by use of manipulation to gain conformity or ostracism for failure to conform. The one not conforming is often labeled as a heretic or as unchristian, and authors experience malicious canceling of their teachings and writings by questioning their motives and labeling them as an enemy of faith. For nonconformity in general, there is often the threat of damnation to Hell, a powerful, intimidating, and often traumatic experience for those with subordinate status, including children, youth in vulnerable stages of development, parishioners, volunteers, and people in general who have been enculturated to depend on group approval for their personal well being.
Against any Christian Theocracy
This religion based thought control is commonplace and may seem entirely appropriate to many. The recognition by many of the inherent potential for abuse and manipulation, leaving many with deep trauma, drives much of the exodus from this community. To the extent that leaders may consider monitoring and restricting the beliefs of individuals, at the very least, such behavior should be confined within the boundaries of the criteria for membership and leadership within specific local communities of faith. In the public square, these notions may be argued for in an open court of reasoned debate, but the claims to absolute authority shall be challenged by those who no longer recognize authoritative claims of individual interpretation as binding (e.g. "I am right on the authority of an inerrant Bible"). In the realm of law, these efforts to codify the moral positions of segments of the evangelical church as legally binding for the society at large will be vehemently resisted in light of the protections of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and the prerogative of a republic to govern itself by commonly shared moral standards rather than the religious dictates of a minority of its citizens.
Any evangelical inclined toward theocracy is urged to refer to the works of Roger Williams as an expression of the ideals and principles espoused in the Bill of Rights prohibiting the state establishment of any religion. Williams signed the Declaration of Independence and founded the State of Rhode Island on clear principles of the separation of church and state.
Voting legislation: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/state-legislatures-work-restrict-voting-rights
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/politics/voting-laws-restrictive-map-october/index.html - “19 states passed this year laws to restrict voting, new tally finds.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/map-anti-critical-race-theory-efforts-reached/story?id=83619715 – “Map: Where anti-critical race theory efforts have reached.
https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights?impact= "Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures," ACLU, Updated May 2, 2023.
Edmund S. Morgan. Roger Williams: The Church and the State. W.W. Norton and Company, 1967.
Edwin S. Gaustad. Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America. Judson Press, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1999.
James Calvin Davis, editor. On Religious Liberty: Selections from the Works of Roger Williams. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, London, England, 2008.